Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Matthew 13,44-46. The 9th Sunday after Trinity

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Matthew 13,44-46. The 9th Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Matthew 13,44-46 3913

9. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 054

Pataleon, physician, Martyr 303.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Kantor, † 1750.

George Frederick Handel, Hymn writer, † 1759

28. Juli 2013

1. Grant to us, Lord, we beseech Thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without Thee, may by Thee be enabled to live according to Thy will (The Book of Common Prayer, 9. Sunday after Trinity). Amen.

2. Jesus said to His disciples: „The reign of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the reign of heaven is like a merchant in search of beautiful pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.“

3. In the immediately previous parable of the sower, Jesus explained that He is the Sower, the field is the world, the good seed are Christians (children of the reign) and the tares are unbelievers (children of the wicked one) (Matthew 13,37-38). In this morning’s parables, the man and the merchant is Jesus, the field is the world and you are the hidden treasure and the beautiful pearl.

4. Finding hidden treasures throughout the world is how God operates. Abraham was living his life in the city of Ur (southeast Iraq, west along the Euphrates where it later meets the Tigris and runs into the Persian Gulf). Yahweh chose this Chaldean from Mesopotamia to be the father of a great nation, Israel, whom He richly blessed with covenants, promises and prophets. Yahweh could have chosen any man from Ur, but He saw Abraham as a hidden treasure whereupon He went and got him. Yahweh found many such beautiful pearls throughout history: Samson, David, Isaiah, Ruth and Mary, to name merely a few. Jesus chose twelve from among His disciples, called them to be His apostles and made them the foundation for His new testament Israel and Church.

5. According to worldly standards, such people were not treasured items. Abraham was a sonless idolater, David was the youngest of Jesse’s sons and Ruth wasn’t even Jewish. Yahweh, nevertheless saw them as invaluable gems that He sought out, found and made His own. They were diamonds in the rough that He cut and polished for His use.

6. Each of you were hidden treasures in the world. Jesus looked high and low in the world to find you. He bought and paid for you. He sold all He had to buy the world so that He could acquire you. Jesus paid your redemption price.

7. „The kingdom of heaven is the work of God in Jesus Christ on behalf of his treasured, faithful people“ (Gibbs). It is and must be His work because as Jesus said: »For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the reign of heaven« (Matthew 5,20). Jesus says here that we cannot enter the reign of heaven on our own merits, by our keeping of the law or by our piety. We cannot make ourselves treasures desired by God. Furthermore, Jesus said: »Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the reign of heaven« (Matthew 19,14). Jesus says here that we enter the reign of heaven just as little children who are the joyous delight of their earthly fathers simply because they are their children, likewise we are the joyous delight of our Heavenly Father simply because we are His dear children.

8. In Jesus’ day there were no banks like we know them today where money could be safely stored. Many people would therefore bury their valuables in the ground so no one could steal them. In Palestinian law, however, an unknown hidden treasure in someone field did not make it the possession of the one who owned the field. The treasure was finder’s keepers, looser’s weepers, but the finder could not just dig up his neighbors field and take the hidden treasure. If you found such a buried treasure, then you had to go to the one who owned the field and buy the field from him. Then, and only then, could you take possession of the hidden treasure that was now buried in your field. This purchase is the called the redemption price.

9. Jesus could not just take possession of us, for He had found us in a foreign field. Originally, the world was His created possession, but the devil had craftily orchestrated a hostile takeover so that he was now the prince of this world. Therefore, Jesus had to redeem the world, regain possession of His fallen creation and legally obtain the rights to all the treasures buried therein.

10. The purchase price was exceedingly high, for the Man must sell everything to buy the field. The Apostle Paul itemizes the price paid by Jesus to buy the world: »though Jesus was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be held onto, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a slave, having become the likeness of men; and being found in human nature, He humbled Himself having become obedient to the point of death on a cross« (Philippians 2,6-8). Jesus gladly and willingly paid this ransom price to obtain the world as His. Jesus proclaimed: »the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for everyone« (Matthew 20,28). Jesus explained this ransom price to His disciples, saying: »He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests and scribes, be killed and on the third day be raised« (Matthew 16,21). The ransom price has been paid, and the world belongs to Christ, but the world is not enough

, thus every field is now His possession and every hidden treasure or pearl buried there under is Christ’s to find and own.

11. Thus, the reign of heaven is the work of God in Jesus Christ on behalf of His treasured, faithful people (Gibbs). In the eyes of the God of grace, these sinful, imperfect disciples appear as treasure; yes, as pearls (Gibbs)! In the midst of conflict and opposition, trouble and uncertainty, the disciples of Jesus may rest secure in their identity in Him (Gibbs). You will not be forgotten or abandoned, for the one who has sought and found you is also the one who has come to give His all for you (Gibbs).

12. Let us pray. O Christ, all who You find rejoice and are glad in You; assure us of our salvation through You, so we may say continually: „Great is Yahweh who finds hidden treasures in the field!“ Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Parables of Atonement and Assurance: Matthew 13:44-46. http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar54.htm

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Matthew 13,44-46. The 9th Sunday after Trinity

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