10th Sunday after Pentecost 07/24/05 Matthew 13: 31-33; 44-52 Title: One Man's Trash is Another Mans's Treasure
07/24/05
Text: Matthew 13: 31-33; 44-52
Title: One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure.”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from out Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
For the last two weeks we have been looking at some of Jesus’ parables, as they are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. In today’s Gospel reading we will look at the final two parables of Jesus that Matthew recorded.
Two weeks ago in the parable of the sower we found out that we are to throw the seed of God’s Word everywhere. We are not to decide on who is worthy or not worthy of hearing the Word of God.
In last weeks parable, the parable of the wheat and weeds we found out that it is not our business, but God’s business to decide who is a child of God and who is not. God will make that final distinction on judgment day.
Judgment day is a long time off, right? But is it really a long way off? Well it might not be as far off as you might think, for whenever the time comes for you to die, your judgment time has arrived. At that point it will not make any difference if the final judgment day has arrived or not. That is why it is so important for you to live your life in Christ.
In today’s Gospel there are several parables, but I am going to take a closer look at the parable of the treasure found in the field. There is a show on public television that I just love to watch. It is called the “Road Show”. That is the show were people bring their junk, hoping it will be treasure, and where others bring their treasure only to find out it is junk. I love it when somebody discovers that something is worth a ton of money. Their look of surprise and then delight is wonderful to behold.
I have always wondered how you would treat an object that you thought was worth only a few dollars after you found out it is worth thousands. Do you lock it away, or put it out for all to see, or do you sell it? Maybe you just sit in front of it and admire it. I don’t know, but I am sure that you would never look at it in the same way again.
I think that shopping garage sales has gained in popularity because of that show. People go poking around looking for that piece of junk that will turn out to be a treasure. Some people get really good at finding treasure in garage sales and flea markets; they just seem to have an ability to spot treasure in the junk.
Jesus exhibited the same kind of ability throughout his ministry, especially in the use of his parables. It is through his parables, those stories of the ordinary and mundane trash of this world that is hidden the treasure of the Kingdom of God.
In our reading for today we see that God’s love is hidden in the ordinary things of life. The Kingdom seems to be anything but extraordinary. A mustard seed is tiny. The yeast seems invisible and insignificant. The treasure is hidden in the field. The fine pearl is mixed in with the ordinary pearls. And hidden in the net among all the fish that were caught is the finest of seafood.
When we look at our lives, we see only the mundane, the struggle to live the way we would like. As we look back on our lives we see the what-ifs, the dreams that were not fulfilled, the ambitions that were somehow lost, the evil in the world. And we think that if there is a God out there in whom we can trust, he is sure doing a good job hiding. And that gives us a problem, for the God we would like to have is an active God, one that we can see, talk to, and maybe even touch.
But we don’t have that kind of God, at least we don’t think so, because we who are spiritually blind cannot see the Kingdom of God that is at work among us. We are unable for the most part to see what God is doing right under all noses, in the seemingly mundane things of life.
We look in all the wrong places, we read all the latest self help books, the most popular religious books, everything but his Word, all in the hope of seeing God at work, when in fact he is at work in our lives.
I am afraid that too often we just do not grasp the significance of a little baby born in a manager. We fail to see that the tiny mustard seed can produce a mighty shrub that spreads its branches out far enough for birds to build nests in. We fail to see that a little yeast in a huge amount of flour can make a truckload of bread. We fail to see in the weed patch of life a treasure.
Which reminds me of a Texan that was mining gold, but he could never get the pit cleared of some type of sludge. It just kept seeping in and ruining his work. One day a city-slicker from the East came by and offered to buy the land, well the Texan jumped at the chance and sold it to him. Little did he know that that sludge was an indication of oil, black gold, and that the man he sold it to would become wealthy beyond his imagination. That Texan who thought he saw a sucker was actually blind to the treasure that was right in front of him.
We too are blinded to God’s work because we are caught up in instant gratification, with consumerism, with all those things that keep pushing God out of his rightful place in our lives. I am afraid that for the most part we are so blind to God’s work in our lives that too many times we do not see what is right before us in his Word, and in his Sacraments.
Just because we are often blind to God’s work in our lives does not mean that he is blind to our lack of compassion, our grudge holding, our “they will just have to get over it”, or “tough luck” attitude toward those we have hurt, either unintentionally or on purpose. God notices those things in our heart.
There is no doubt that our present and future would be bleak indeed if God had not come into our world as that seemingly insignificant little baby boy. God could not and did not leave us on the trash heap. He wants to turn us into treasure, for he treasures us.
He comes to us today, not as a person publicly doing miracles, nor does he come in flashes of lightening, or claps of thunder, but in the mundane, the broken bread, the wine that is poured out, the water that is splashed in baptism.
He is the mustard seed that will grow into a wonderful bush that is almost tree like. He is the treasure worth giving all for. He is the pearl waiting to be discovered. He is all those things and yet he was and still is rejected today. The world was blind to the treasure he is, and so they trashed him by nailing him to a cross.
As awful as that was, God knew his son was not trash but treasure. He knew that through the trashing that he was taking, he would take the trash of the world, that is you and me, and make a wonderful treasure out of us. And what he treasures will not have to worry about being thrown into the trash dump.
Brian Stoffregain a Lutheran pastor once told a modern day parable designed to be told along with the parable of the treasure hidden in the field. It goes like this. A man finds a treasure box hidden in a field. It is too big for him to carry it home, so he buries it so no one else can find it. He finds out the field is for sale, so he gets together all the money that he can get, he even goes into debt to buy the field, for he knows it will be worth it, once he has the treasure box.
He digs it up, spends hours cleaning the treasure box until it shines like gold. It was a beautiful box, heavily carved and made of the finest materials. He spent hours just sitting there admiring it. He talked constantly about his beautiful treasure box. He would wake up in the morning thinking about the box. At night he would lay in bed dreaming about his wonderful treasure box.
Whenever some one would ask him what is in his wonderful treasure box, he would reply, “I don’t know. I haven’t look inside. But is sure is a beautiful box isn’t it?” To the day he died he never looked inside the box. He never found out what great treasure the box contained.
Brian’s modern day parable is about the way we in the church often emphasize the box rather the real treasure inside the box. Too often we let denominational loyalties, buildings, liturgies, hymn books, creeds, and the confessional books that make up our treasure box become more important than the treasure they contain. For in doing so we let them become barriers to the real treasure which is the Kingdom of God.
I want to close with this thought. It came to me as I reviewed my sermon this morning. It is time to shift our priorities around, so that God is at the top of our list, instead of wherever we have him now. For we do not possess the Kingdom of God, it possesses us. In fact God asks us to be slaves to his kingdom, for it is only when we are slaves to his kingdom that we will learn how pleasurable it is to start to turn lose of our time and money, as we care for those in need of our society.
God has given each of you the most precious treasure, the most precious pearl, all bought at the greatest cost; the life of the Son of God, to hold and to share until the end of the age. Let us then respond to his great gift by devoting our lives to thanking, praising, serving, and obeying Him. Amen.
Text: Matthew 13: 31-33; 44-52
Title: One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure.”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from out Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
For the last two weeks we have been looking at some of Jesus’ parables, as they are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. In today’s Gospel reading we will look at the final two parables of Jesus that Matthew recorded.
Two weeks ago in the parable of the sower we found out that we are to throw the seed of God’s Word everywhere. We are not to decide on who is worthy or not worthy of hearing the Word of God.
In last weeks parable, the parable of the wheat and weeds we found out that it is not our business, but God’s business to decide who is a child of God and who is not. God will make that final distinction on judgment day.
Judgment day is a long time off, right? But is it really a long way off? Well it might not be as far off as you might think, for whenever the time comes for you to die, your judgment time has arrived. At that point it will not make any difference if the final judgment day has arrived or not. That is why it is so important for you to live your life in Christ.
In today’s Gospel there are several parables, but I am going to take a closer look at the parable of the treasure found in the field. There is a show on public television that I just love to watch. It is called the “Road Show”. That is the show were people bring their junk, hoping it will be treasure, and where others bring their treasure only to find out it is junk. I love it when somebody discovers that something is worth a ton of money. Their look of surprise and then delight is wonderful to behold.
I have always wondered how you would treat an object that you thought was worth only a few dollars after you found out it is worth thousands. Do you lock it away, or put it out for all to see, or do you sell it? Maybe you just sit in front of it and admire it. I don’t know, but I am sure that you would never look at it in the same way again.
I think that shopping garage sales has gained in popularity because of that show. People go poking around looking for that piece of junk that will turn out to be a treasure. Some people get really good at finding treasure in garage sales and flea markets; they just seem to have an ability to spot treasure in the junk.
Jesus exhibited the same kind of ability throughout his ministry, especially in the use of his parables. It is through his parables, those stories of the ordinary and mundane trash of this world that is hidden the treasure of the Kingdom of God.
In our reading for today we see that God’s love is hidden in the ordinary things of life. The Kingdom seems to be anything but extraordinary. A mustard seed is tiny. The yeast seems invisible and insignificant. The treasure is hidden in the field. The fine pearl is mixed in with the ordinary pearls. And hidden in the net among all the fish that were caught is the finest of seafood.
When we look at our lives, we see only the mundane, the struggle to live the way we would like. As we look back on our lives we see the what-ifs, the dreams that were not fulfilled, the ambitions that were somehow lost, the evil in the world. And we think that if there is a God out there in whom we can trust, he is sure doing a good job hiding. And that gives us a problem, for the God we would like to have is an active God, one that we can see, talk to, and maybe even touch.
But we don’t have that kind of God, at least we don’t think so, because we who are spiritually blind cannot see the Kingdom of God that is at work among us. We are unable for the most part to see what God is doing right under all noses, in the seemingly mundane things of life.
We look in all the wrong places, we read all the latest self help books, the most popular religious books, everything but his Word, all in the hope of seeing God at work, when in fact he is at work in our lives.
I am afraid that too often we just do not grasp the significance of a little baby born in a manager. We fail to see that the tiny mustard seed can produce a mighty shrub that spreads its branches out far enough for birds to build nests in. We fail to see that a little yeast in a huge amount of flour can make a truckload of bread. We fail to see in the weed patch of life a treasure.
Which reminds me of a Texan that was mining gold, but he could never get the pit cleared of some type of sludge. It just kept seeping in and ruining his work. One day a city-slicker from the East came by and offered to buy the land, well the Texan jumped at the chance and sold it to him. Little did he know that that sludge was an indication of oil, black gold, and that the man he sold it to would become wealthy beyond his imagination. That Texan who thought he saw a sucker was actually blind to the treasure that was right in front of him.
We too are blinded to God’s work because we are caught up in instant gratification, with consumerism, with all those things that keep pushing God out of his rightful place in our lives. I am afraid that for the most part we are so blind to God’s work in our lives that too many times we do not see what is right before us in his Word, and in his Sacraments.
Just because we are often blind to God’s work in our lives does not mean that he is blind to our lack of compassion, our grudge holding, our “they will just have to get over it”, or “tough luck” attitude toward those we have hurt, either unintentionally or on purpose. God notices those things in our heart.
There is no doubt that our present and future would be bleak indeed if God had not come into our world as that seemingly insignificant little baby boy. God could not and did not leave us on the trash heap. He wants to turn us into treasure, for he treasures us.
He comes to us today, not as a person publicly doing miracles, nor does he come in flashes of lightening, or claps of thunder, but in the mundane, the broken bread, the wine that is poured out, the water that is splashed in baptism.
He is the mustard seed that will grow into a wonderful bush that is almost tree like. He is the treasure worth giving all for. He is the pearl waiting to be discovered. He is all those things and yet he was and still is rejected today. The world was blind to the treasure he is, and so they trashed him by nailing him to a cross.
As awful as that was, God knew his son was not trash but treasure. He knew that through the trashing that he was taking, he would take the trash of the world, that is you and me, and make a wonderful treasure out of us. And what he treasures will not have to worry about being thrown into the trash dump.
Brian Stoffregain a Lutheran pastor once told a modern day parable designed to be told along with the parable of the treasure hidden in the field. It goes like this. A man finds a treasure box hidden in a field. It is too big for him to carry it home, so he buries it so no one else can find it. He finds out the field is for sale, so he gets together all the money that he can get, he even goes into debt to buy the field, for he knows it will be worth it, once he has the treasure box.
He digs it up, spends hours cleaning the treasure box until it shines like gold. It was a beautiful box, heavily carved and made of the finest materials. He spent hours just sitting there admiring it. He talked constantly about his beautiful treasure box. He would wake up in the morning thinking about the box. At night he would lay in bed dreaming about his wonderful treasure box.
Whenever some one would ask him what is in his wonderful treasure box, he would reply, “I don’t know. I haven’t look inside. But is sure is a beautiful box isn’t it?” To the day he died he never looked inside the box. He never found out what great treasure the box contained.
Brian’s modern day parable is about the way we in the church often emphasize the box rather the real treasure inside the box. Too often we let denominational loyalties, buildings, liturgies, hymn books, creeds, and the confessional books that make up our treasure box become more important than the treasure they contain. For in doing so we let them become barriers to the real treasure which is the Kingdom of God.
I want to close with this thought. It came to me as I reviewed my sermon this morning. It is time to shift our priorities around, so that God is at the top of our list, instead of wherever we have him now. For we do not possess the Kingdom of God, it possesses us. In fact God asks us to be slaves to his kingdom, for it is only when we are slaves to his kingdom that we will learn how pleasurable it is to start to turn lose of our time and money, as we care for those in need of our society.
God has given each of you the most precious treasure, the most precious pearl, all bought at the greatest cost; the life of the Son of God, to hold and to share until the end of the age. Let us then respond to his great gift by devoting our lives to thanking, praising, serving, and obeying Him. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 11:32 AM
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