Matthew 13: The Hidden Treasure and the Joy That Leaves Everything Behind

Introduction

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field." At the 4 p.m. teaching service at Kensington Temple in London, Michelle Bennett continues the series "Texts That Linger" with two very short parables from Matthew 13:44-46: the treasure hidden in a field and the pearl of great price.

She puts these stories back in their context. Two weeks earlier, the church reflected on the parable of the weeds, then the mustard seed and the yeast. Jesus then leaves the crowd, goes into the house and speaks to his disciples. It is to them, those who have already followed him, that he tells these two linked parables.

Michelle Bennett says right away what she will not talk about: the question of who finds the treasure, in other words predestination. She focuses on the man who, having found the treasure, responds with joy. And she asks each person the question: when you see the Kingdom, does it fill you with so much joy that you let go of everything else?

Message Outline

1. A Treasure in a Field: A Dream Within Everyone's Reach

In Jesus' day there were bankers, but only for exchanging and lending money. There were no safes and no strongrooms, except perhaps in the temple. Houses were hardly protected, so people buried their treasure somewhere they could find it again.
The two most likely reasons to bury a treasure were an imminent invasion or a long journey. In both situations you might never come back. That is why there are so many family stories about a treasure found, along the lines of "my mother's friend's uncle found a treasure worth forty oxen."
The man in the parable is in an uncertain position. The treasure is in someone else's field. If he takes it, he can be accused of theft. If he is a hired worker, his employer can claim it. The only way to be sure is to buy the field, and to do that he has to sell everything he has. So he is probably not rich.
He does not sell because he is forced to, but because the joy of owning this treasure outweighs everything he has. Buying the field is not paying an entrance fee to the Kingdom: Jesus stresses the value of the treasure, which is worth more than any sacrifice made to have it.

2. Unexpected People Who Grasped the Kingdom

The Old Testament tells the stories of unexpected people who encounter the Kingdom. Rahab sees the immense army on the other side of the Jordan and understands that God is at work. She says, in effect, "I want that," and she gives up her whole life to join what God is doing with Joshua.
Ruth, the Moabite, a worshiper of pagan gods, attaches herself to her mother-in-law and to the God of Israel. Rahab and Ruth both appear in the genealogy of Jesus.
Obed-Edom of Gath is a Philistine, from the people David had been fighting some twenty years earlier. When the ark is brought back to Jerusalem on a cart and the man who touches it dies, it is left in his house (2 Samuel 6). He recognizes the value of what he has received, and the rest of his story shows him included among the Levites, as a gatekeeper.
In this way Jesus connects with the spiritual history of Israel and the dreams of his listeners.

3. The Flawless Pearl: A Kingdom Beyond the Ordinary

Jesus says "again": what he adds builds on what he has just said. The two parables contrast with each other, but they go together and form a single picture.
The Greek word for the merchant, emporos, gave us the word "emporium," a shop filled with goods from other countries. He is not a local shopkeeper but an international trader, probably wealthy, well traveled and respected, who has spent his life buying pearls.
Today, cultured pearls are produced by the hundreds. In those days they were considered more precious than diamonds. You had to dive hundreds of times to find an oyster with a pearl in it, and perhaps one perfect pearl out of a hundred. This one is flawless, round, smooth, without the slightest scratch: it would take several lifetimes to see one like it.
Michelle Bennett tells how, about twenty-five years ago, Kensington Temple wanted to buy a building in North Acton. The agent came back and said, "It doesn't matter how much you offer, the other buyer will pay any price, because he wants it for personal reasons. You want it for practical reasons." The merchant is like that buyer.
The field and the pearl are the stuff of dreams: the Kingdom goes beyond the ordinary. You do not come across it every day. Many came to Jesus to be healed or to listen to him, but few became committed disciples, because few saw the Kingdom.

4. Joy, the Engine of Letting Go

Both men feel joy simply from seeing the treasure. Knowing it exists fills them with joy. That joy is what drives them to sell, and selling everything is not a hardship for them.
Michelle Bennett quotes Hebrews 12:1-2: Jesus, "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame."
For Jesus, the treasure, the thing that would bring him great joy, was having us in his Kingdom. It was worth giving everything, enduring pain, humiliation and death.

5. The Kingdom Is Open to Everyone

The two men could not be more different: a wealthy, independent merchant and a worker who is probably hired and not well off. The Kingdom is not reserved for those for whom doors open easily, nor for those who have free time.
In the Gospels, the blind man Bartimaeus follows Jesus, and so does the rich Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph hides his faith until the cross; there he steps forward and asks for the body of Jesus in order to bury it. A woman, not necessarily rich, but with an alabaster jar of great value, pours it over Jesus for the sheer joy of seeing it on him, not to get anything in return.
We should not assume that the rich are not interested in the Kingdom, or that the poor need it more. "God can bury the treasure right in front of them," in Parliament, in the palaces of kings or in the unemployment offices.
One man searches, the other stumbles on the treasure by chance. To those who search, God promises to be found: Jeremiah 29:13 ("when you search for me with all your heart") and Deuteronomy 4:29. Paul, for his part, thought he was doing right by persecuting the disciples, until the road to Damascus. He sees the Kingdom and immediately preaches in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:20).

6. God Sees What You Leave Behind, but Not Everyone Loves the Kingdom

Jesus understands what his disciples have left. Peter, Andrew, James and John immediately left their nets (Matthew 4:18-22). When many turn away, Peter answers: "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). God is not blind to what you give up in order to follow him.
You may not sell everything in terms of money, but how much do you leave behind with joy? At the last women's weekend, Michelle Bennett saw women let go of things with joy, because they had caught a clearer glimpse of the Kingdom.
Zacchaeus wants to see the celebrity passing through town and climbs a tree. Jesus tells him he is coming to stay at his house (Luke 19). Zacchaeus understands right away and gives half of his possessions to the poor, and pays back four times as much to those he has wronged.
The rich young man, by contrast, wants to "have" the Kingdom. The verb used suggests something you wear, like an ornament added to your life. For the field and the pearl, Jesus uses the verb "buy," tied to the marketplace, the same one used to say that Jesus has redeemed us. Faced with the price, the young man walks away sad: he does not see the value of the Kingdom.
It is not for us to judge who is Zacchaeus and who is the rich young man. As in the parable of the weeds, God himself will deal, at the right time, with those who only pretend. Keep loving the Kingdom and seeking God.

7. The Hundredfold: A Life of Joy Where Everything Is Possible

In Matthew 19:29 Jesus promises that whoever has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or land because of his name will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. The word translated "whoever" leaves no one out.
God does not count in sums of money. Michelle Bennett jokes: if she left a job paying 30,000 pounds a year, would she have to find one paying 3 million? The hundredfold is first of all the joy of the Kingdom.
Imagine the merchant: every morning he looks at his pearl and it brings him joy. He has to rebuild his business, but he does not grumble, because every day he can gaze at something very beautiful.
In those days, treasures were buried in jars, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, hidden in caves and found around 1948. Paul speaks of a treasure in clay jars (2 Corinthians 4:7). The man in the field saw only jars, without knowing everything they contained. Once the treasure is dug up, he does not wonder how he will live: he will work his field. Joy becomes the inspiration of his whole life.
Michelle Bennett shares her testimony: when she was young, she worked in finance and earned a very good living. She saw God at work in downtown Birmingham and took two years off to serve there, among the city's children. Broke the whole time, she nevertheless loved that time almost without reservation. Afterward, every job in finance seemed deadly boring to her. She ended up serving God in four different areas and has experienced "things money cannot buy."
In the Kingdom, it is as if God were saying: "The world is your oyster. What pearls shall I bring into your life?" She has seen it at the women's weekends, with young people and at Bible school, where very unexpected people have graduated and are doing amazing things.
The man with the treasure cannot lose, and neither can the merchant. The Kingdom is a kingdom of joy, beyond your imagination, better than all the Christian biographies you have read. Why could your life not be just as beautiful? On a keyring she received at the weekend, she read: "Faith doesn't make things easy, but it makes all things possible."

Key Takeaways

The treasure and the pearl are worth more than any sacrifice made to possess them. You do not buy the Kingdom: you receive it with joy.
It is joy, not compulsion, that drives both men to sell everything. For Jesus too, the cross was endured "for the joy."
The Kingdom is open to everyone: rich or modest, seekers or those taken by surprise, God can bury the treasure right in front of each person.
God sees what you leave behind for him. But not everyone who sees the Kingdom loves it, and it is not your place to judge.
The promised hundredfold is not a financial calculation: it is a life of joy where everything becomes possible with God.

Personal Application

What do the pearl and the treasure in your field look like in your life?
When you see the Kingdom, does it fill you with so much joy that you let go of the rest, or are you content to wear it like an ornament?
What have you already left behind to follow Jesus, and do you believe God has seen it?
Are there people around you whom you judge too rich, too busy or too far away to see the Kingdom?
If you feel tired, will you take the time to say: "Lord, show me your Kingdom, reveal it to me more"?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the parable of the treasure hidden in a field mean?

For Michelle Bennett, this parable does not describe an entrance fee paid for the Kingdom. Jesus stresses the value of the treasure, which surpasses any sacrifice made to possess it. It is the joy of having found it that drives the man to sell everything, not a calculation or an obligation.

Why does Jesus tell two parables, the treasure and the pearl?

The word "again" links the two stories: the second builds on the first. A humble worker stumbles on a treasure by chance, a rich merchant finds the pearl he had always been looking for. Together they show that the Kingdom is offered to everyone, whatever their status, to those who search as well as to those who were not searching.

What does God promise to those who leave everything for the Kingdom?

In Matthew 19:29 Jesus promises the hundredfold and eternal life to whoever has left something because of his name. Michelle Bennett explains that God does not count in sums of money: the hundredfold is first of all the joy of the Kingdom and a life where everything becomes possible with God.