Sunday, July 26, 2026
Ninth Sunday of Pentecost
Text: Matthew 13:44-52
There is no live stream available for this Sunday. We apologize for those who look forward to joining us online. The sermon preached is below.
The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession. – Dt. 7:6b
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Lead In – The parables of our Lord Jesus are among the most memorable passages in all of Scripture. And yet, their meaning is not always agreed upon, and their meaning can remain elusive. Which reminds me of a memorable quote of Winston Churchill. In a 1939 BBC radio broadcast he famously said of the unpredictable nature of Soviet policy, “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Indeed, that can be said of parables as well.
- Questions Pertaining to the Last Three Parables
This morning we are considering the last three of seven parables in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. And unlike the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Weeds that we looked at the last two Sundays, Jesus does not provide an explanation or interpretation of these three parables. And especially with the first two of the three, the Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Parable of the Pearl of Great Value, there has not been an agreed upon understanding of what the hidden treasure is, or what the pearl of great value is.
Let’s consider the first. We read, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.” A majority of students of the Bible through the centuries have assumed that the treasure is the Kingdom of heaven. Or similarly, we could say that it is the salvation found in Christ. No believer would deny that this is the greatest treasure. We would also not deny that having such a treasure would be of immense joy. Its value would be worth everything we had to secure it, and then some.
I’m not going to say this is a wrong interpretation. But there are a few land mines we need to watch out for with this understanding. For starters, as good students of the Bible we know better than taking any credit for finding the hidden treasure. According to Romans 3:10-12, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” We also know according to Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are not able to purchase our salvation. The passage reads, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
These land minds can be avoided if we are careful. Then we can beneficially take from the parable the immeasurable worth of Christ, His kingdom, and the gift of salvation. So valuable that when we recognize this, we would sell everything we had if in fact we could purchase it.
Interestingly, there is another possibility for the meaning of the hidden treasure. What if it refers to baptized believers? Then it would make the man who finds the treasure and covers it up Christ, our Savior. This would fit with Luke 19:10 which reads, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” And the covering of the treasure would be a protective measure until he paid the price for the right to redeem the treasure, and until He comes again to take us to be with Him.
The land mine to avoid with this interpretation is our thinking we something special on our own, rather than being poor miserable sinners. We only have great value because we belonged to God to begin with. And then by His great love and mercy He has been willing to restore and redeem us. Our value is in what God makes of us. It is not in any intrinsic worth we have apart from Him. Apart from God our worth is zilch, nada, zero, nothing!
I like this second explanation better, but we can draw important lessons from both as long as they are informed by other passages of Scripture. Which by the way, is an important interpretive principle. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. That means we will need to be students of the whole Bible!
And don’t you just love the question Jesus asks His disciples in verse 51! He asks, “Have you understood these things?” And the disciples’ answer is rich! They respond quickly, “Yes.” You betcha! Well, what do you bet they were a little overconfident with that reply? We don’t have to read very far until we come to this in Matthew 15:16 where Jesus says to His disciples, “Are you still without understanding?” Better we all stay humble, open to learning that which we think we already understand, and depending on the illumination that only the Holy Spirit can provide.
- If We Are the Treasure, Then…
I’m going to ask you to entertain the idea that you and I, as baptized believers, are the hidden treasure, the pearl of great value, and the good fish drawn by the fisherman’s net. I have already indicated that we need to dispel the notion that we have any great intrinsic worth apart from Christ. Reduced strictly to raw materials, your body is probably worth somewhere between five to 160 dollars. That’s not nothing! But it’s pretty close.
Any worth that we have is threefold, and it all has to do with God. Number one, we have worth because we are God’s handiwork. Psalm 139:13-14 reads, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” The Creator values what He creates. And according to Genesis 1:27 we have been created in God’s image.
Number two, the cost of our redemption has given us great value. Our sin greatly tarnished God’s handiwork in creating us in His image. But He wanted back what Satan stole with our rebellious complicity in defying God’s Word. 1 Peter 1:18-19 details the great cost for our redemption. It reads, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
And number three, our worth has to do with God’s incredible love and mercy. He delights in showing mercy. He is full of grace. In the words of C.S. Lewis, “God loves us not because we are lovable, but because He is love.” But now that we are loved that gives us true value indeed, especially considering who it is that loves us. We read in 1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
In Israel’s case in our First Reading from Deuteronomy 7, Israel was called God’s treasured possession. The reading makes it abundantly clear that it was not because they were more worthy than any other nation. They were not. It was simply by God’s choice. God elected Israel to be His instrument by which He could bless all the nations of the earth.
Now as baptized believers we have been so chosen. In 1 Peter 2:9 we read, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Chosen as a treasured possession. Chosen to be an instrument. Chosen to be involved in Christ’s mission to save lost sinners.
We do well to remember that our value comes from God. He alone is the treasure beyond compare. There is no treasure greater than Christ, His kingdom, His salvation, His Word, His sacraments, His Church, His love, His mercy, His grace. And hear what Jesus says to us in Luke 12:32, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
- What God Treasures He Protects and Rewards
I have given short shrift to the third parable this morning, the Parable of the Net. Suffice it to say that the fisherman who throws the net into the sea and then has it drawn to shore full of fish is our Lord Jesus. And if ever a parable disabused us of the role we think we might have in our salvation, this would be the one. The fish are drawn. They don’t come on their own accord. And there is a wideness to this net. It draws lots of fish, even those that will not cut the grade in the end. The strong draw of the net is Christ’s sacrificial love poured forth from His Cross. Jesus said as much in John 12:32, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” And in John 6:44 Jesus declared, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
And notice that patience is involved. The separation of the evil from the good, the unrepentant from those who are righteous by faith, and the evil one and his kingdom of darkness from the one and only righteous One whose glory provides the only light we will need, will only come at Christ’s return at the end of the age.
Meanwhile, we need to cling to the promises that Christ is always with us, every step of the way. He covers us with His righteousness. He treasures us as a precious pearl. He draws us with His steadfast love and tender mercy. And we have this glorious promise in our Second Lesson, in Romans 8:35-39: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
A Now a Final Word – Don’t miss the joy that is either stated or implied in the three parables. If it is Christ who finds the hidden treasure or the one pearl of great value, then it is our great joy in being reclaimed. And if it is we who have been guided and drawn to discover the kingdom of heaven we will have joy in finding that which is beyond compare and will bring everlasting joy. And what great joy to be drawn along by the nets of the Kingdom of heaven. We don’t have to find Him or manage to swim to Him. It will suffice to quit swimming against the nets and to patiently await our reward from Him. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.