At church, we’re doing a sermon series about the parables of Jesus. On Mother’s Day, Pastor Kurt Petersheim preached on two of Jesus’ shortest parables, which come back to back in Matthew 13:
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The kingdom 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 kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13:44-46 (ESV)
Kurt explained that these parables served in part as a way for Jesus to explain what His kingdom was like, upending the Jewish expectations of what the Messiah was supposed to be without revealing that He is the Messiah:
When He says, “The kingdom of God is like…” He’s saying — and this is where we need to lean in, and this is where the Jewish people would lean in — He means, “This is the nature of the kingdom of God that you guys have been waiting for. Here’s the nature of it. And here’s the qualifications to enter into it. You wanna enter into it and be part of the kingdom? Here’s what that will look like.”
That’s why Jesus told these parables, and that’s why He would start many of His parables, as you read through them, you’ll hear Him say, “The kingdom of God is like…” And then He’ll give the parable. Because He’s not so much wanting to expose Himself as the Messiah in that moment.
In fact, He goes to great lengths throughout a lot of His ministry to hide the fact that it’s Him, that He’s the king, that He’s the Messiah, even though He’s doing miracles, He’s teaching amazing things, He’s clearly expressing and exposing authority over creation.
But He does a lot of work actually to keep that quiet, because He knows if He were to just come right out at the beginning of his ministry and walk up and just, instead of preaching about the kingdom of God, about the nature of the kingdom of God, if He were to just walk out and go, “Hey, I’m the Messiah. Here I am.” He knows that that right there comes with some preconceived notions in the Jewish people about the Messiah and what His kingdom would look like. And that would then come with expectations on Him and how He should act according to their preconceived notions.
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Kurt warned the congregation not to overanalyze these parables and read too much symbolism into every element of them. Instead, we should look at the big picture and realize that Jesus is speaking about the value of the kingdom of heaven, which is interchangeable terminology with the phrase “kingdom of God.”
Here’s why the Kingdom of God is supremely valuable: because it is the revelation of God to us. That’s why the Kingdom of God is supremely valuable. It reveals his character, his nature. The Kingdom of God is about God’s power and authority. It’s about God’s story and God’s activity in this world. The Kingdom of God is about God’s plan of redemption.
And the Kingdom of God is important, the Kingdom of God is supremely valuable because it is the revelation of who we are and why we exist, and how we are to live in right relationship with God. That’s what it means to be in the Kingdom of God, to understand who I am in relationship to him, and what I must do to be saved. And thirdly, the Kingdom of God is valuable because in the Kingdom of God is inaugurated and fulfilled and consummated in the person of Jesus.
That’s why Jesus told His followers, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18b, ESV).
Recommended: Sunday Thoughts: The Awe of God
The Jewish people believed that the kingdom of heaven was open to them simply by their birthright, but Jesus made it clear throughout His ministry that “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15, ESV).
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As Kurt put it:
That’s the nature of faith. There’s an actual action involved in the faith, right? I repent, I’ve turned my life over to Him, and I believe Him. I believe His good news. And then, as we live in Christ, we live a new life oriented around Him. This parable is highlighting the value of Christ and His kingdom and the truth that no one enters the kingdom of God by being Jesus-adjacent. You do not enter the kingdom by being around Jesus.
You don’t enter the kingdom by sitting in a church chair this morning. It’s not how it works. You don’t enter the kingdom ’cause your grandma’s a Christian. You don’t enter the kingdom ’cause you know Bible verses. You don’t enter the kingdom because you’ve done the Bible studies or you’re in a Growth Group. You don’t enter the kingdom because you’re a pastor.
You enter the kingdom because you value the King, and you cling to Him as your all in all by faith. And that reorients everything about your life, doesn’t it? It changes you. Changes your want-tos. It changes your desires. It changes your passions.
Y’all, saving faith looks like a merchant who finds a pearl and goes and sells everything for that pearl. It’s the “I gotta have it.” Saving, that’s saving faith. “I gotta have you, Christ Jesus. Nothing else.”
Selling everything for the treasure of the kingdom of heaven looks like Paul’s words:
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But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11 (ESV)
Recommended: Sunday Thoughts: Repentance
Kurt circled back to the first parable and noted where Jesus says that the man buys the field with the treasure in it out of joy. That’s the same joy we experience when we “lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely” (Hebrews 12:1, ESV) to follow Jesus.
“That is joy that you can stand on forever that will not go anywhere because that treasure cannot be taken, stolen, lost, broken, or rusted out,” Kurt said. “That’s a treasure that’ll never fade away. It’s Jesus, the King of the kingdom.”
Then he asked, “Do you value Him above all else?”
That’s the question we must ask ourselves every day.
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