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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In today’s Gospel Reading Jesus said “The Kingdom of Heaven is like”, and then He said it again and again—He arguably said it four times in the Gospel Reading’s nine verses. And, Jesus spoke twice of “treasure”, once at the beginning of the Gospel Reading and once at its end. The Gospel Reading’s three parables about the Kingdom of Heaven and its parable-like saying about treasure with reference to the Kingdom of Heaven are all closely connected, and so today we consider them together under the theme, “The Kingdom of Heaven’s Treasure”.
Today’s Gospel Reading gives us the complete third and final section of Jesus’s so‑called “Third Discourse” in St. Matthew’s divinely‑inspired Gospel account. Two Sundays ago we heard part of the Discourse’s first section, “The Parable of the Sower” and its explanation, although the Gospel Reading that day omitted Jesus’s purpose of speaking in parables so some would understand and others would not (Matthew 13:1-23). Last Sunday we heard part of the Discourse’s second section, “The Parable of the Weeds of the field” and its explanation, although the Gospel Reading that day omitted Jesus’s parables using a mustard seed and leaven and St. Matthew’s statement that Jesus’s teaching in parables fulfilled Old Testament prophecy about revealing long‑hidden secrets (Matthew 13:24-43). Today we heard all of the Discourse’s third section, with its final three of its seven parables, the explanation of the last parable, the dialogue about the disciples’ understanding all the parables and that dialogue’s parable-like saying with respect to the Kingdom of Heaven and its treasure.
You may recall that, as St. Matthew tells it, Jesus had sat beside the sea, and great crowds had gathered about Him, so that He got into a boat (probably a fishing boat) and sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach, and then He told them many things in parables, which all constitute the Third Discourse (Matthew 13:1-3). The parable with which Jesus concluded the Third Discourse itself likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a drag-net that had been thrown into the sea (probably from a fishing boat) and had gathered apparently fish of every kind, from which drag-net, when it was full, people, having drawn it upon the beach and having sat down, sorted the good into containers and threw away the bad. And, Jesus explained that so it will be at the close of the age: the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw the evil into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Although the explanation of “The Parable of the Net” that we heard today is similar to the explanation of “The Parable of the Weeds of the field” that we heard last week, there is a significant difference: last week the field was the world, and today the drag-net presumably is the church, as it appears in the world (but compare Habakkuk 1:14-15).
I know, we hear the word “drag-net” and we might think of its referring to the coordinated search that police officers make, and so we might think of the movies and the radio and TV shows titled “Dragnet”, and so we might be hearing Walter Schumann’s theme music right now (dum-de-dum-dum). Maybe that connection helps us here! For, just as Sergeant Joe Friday and his partners apprehended suspects and criminals, so the drag-net of Jesus’s parable brings in the good and bad, and so the church brings in the righteous and the evil. Of course, by nature we all are evil, and so we all deserve the eternal torment Jesus describes. But, the evil in the explanation of the parable are those who lack the righteousness that matters before God—the righteousness that comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. They are the unrepenting and unbelieving hypocrites in the church as it appears in the world, those who outwardly stick to the church but whose hearts, if we could see them, would show that they are not truly a part of it.
At our blood drive yesterday, a grandson of two donors from the Rotary Club was wearing a t-shirt that had on it a treasure map. Maybe you or I have dreamt of finding a hidden treasure and maybe even gone on treasure hunts. Maybe you or I have searched for fine pearls and maybe even paid to open up oysters in search of such a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. Yet, in Jesus’s parables, we are most likely not the ones who find the treasure hidden in a field or the pearl of great value. Rather, just as Jesus is the Sower Who goes out to sow, the One Who sows the good seed, the One Who sows the mustard seed, the One Who makes the leaven work, and the One Who casts the drag-net that gathers fish of every kind, so, too, Jesus most likely is the One Who buys both the field with the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value. Although Jesus does not explain these two particular parables one way or the other, the parables that He does explain lead us to interpret these in light of His action to redeem us. Today’s Old Testament Reading lead us to that same interpretation (Deuteronomy 7:6-9), as Moses by divine inspiration reminds us that, because the Lord loves us and is faithful to His promises, He has chosen us to be His people for His treasured possession, and so He has brought us out with a mighty hand and redeemed us from the house of our slavery to sin. For you and for me, the God-man Jesus gave up everything He had, including His very life. In that way, we are the treasure hidden in a field and the pearl of great value. We do not acquire Jesus, for, on our own, we cannot, but He acquires us. Like the man in the parable, for the joy set before Jesus, He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2; confer Habakkuk 1:14-15)—in order to save us by earning the forgiveness of our sins. By grace through faith in Him we are saved. As St. Paul makes so clear in today’s Epistle Reading (Romans 8:28-39), no one can bring any charge against God’s elect, for God, Who is greater than all things, is the One Who has justifies us, declares and makes us righteous for Christ’s sake, as we repent of our sin and sinful nature and trust Him to forgive us.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus’s disciples, who had earlier asked Jesus to explain “The Parable of the Weeds of the field” (Matthew 13:36), by the end of the Reading said they understood all seven. Indeed, as we heard three Sundays ago, God the Father hid such things from those who considered themselves wise and understanding and revealed them to little children (Matthew 11:25). Jesus trained, or “discipled”, the disciples as “scribes” with respect to the Kingdom of Heaven, and they so discipled their successors, all the way down to pastors today. They, as masters of their houses, or householders, bring out of their treasure what is new and what is old, usually understood as the New Testament Scriptures in light of the Old Testament Scriptures and vice versa, including Holy Baptism and all the observance of all that Jesus entrusts to them (Matthew 28:19-20), which therefore also includes preaching, absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. So, here, in the household that is Pilgrim Lutheran Church, I faithfully preach, baptize, absolve, and consecrate so that, by grace through faith, you all might repent and believe and so receive the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation—being found as righteous when the net is full and its contents sorted out.
Such is “The Kingdom of Heaven’s Treasure”. Repentant believers need not worry about the close of the age. For God is gracious to us through His Son, in Whom we are chosen. As we heard in the Epistle Reading, God foreknew us, predestined us, called us, justified us, and glorified us. Now God uses our various suffering to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ, but through Whom we more than conquer all things, and ultimately nothing is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +