‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure…’ (Matthew 13:44)
At first glance this parable might seem strange to us and indeed that the man’s behaviour displayed traits of selfishness and greed. However, Jewish law at that time clearly stated that should a person find scattered produce or money then these would become the property of that person. A bit like finders keepers…
However, that aside, perhaps the real lesson for us here is that we have a man who, in his joy at what he had found, was willing to give up everything else in his possession to ensure that he could hold on to this new treasure. So the question we need to ask ourselves is this. What are we willing to give up, what sacrifices are we prepared to make, in order to ensure our place in the Kingdom of God? Or put another way; is there anything that we would find difficult to give up, any sacrifice that we would be unwilling to make?
However, there is also one other thing to consider here. When we look at this parable again it seems to suggest that the man found this treasure as he was going about his day to day business. He wasn’t look for it as such, he simply came upon it as he was going about his everyday life. So too God can be found as we go about our everyday lives. As we have seen in the last two short parables, His Spirit is at work at all times – and it can work in mysterious ways, leading people to the Kingdom in the most unexpected of ways at the most unexpected of times.