"The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

         Jesus concludes this section of teaching with three very short parables: the hidden treasure, the Pearl and the net. Klyne Snodgrass wants us to see that the treasure and the Pearl, images of the great gift of the Kingdom of God, are placed between the images of judgment found in the explanation of the parable of the weeds and wheat and the parable of the net filled with fish. He states, "The good news of the Kingdom is ignored at one's peril." So today we want to take seriously this caution that Jesus expresses about waiting too long to commit our lives to him, of holding off on receiving the gift of salvation.

The parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl are twins – two images with the same meaning. They both speak of making a commitment of our whole lives. They speak of risk, of finding something of such great value that we do not think of security or safety but sell all in order to gain the prize.

A man is digging around on someone else's property for some reason, when he comes upon buried treasure. We think of pirates finding buried treasure, usually on desert islands. But in Jesus' day it was quite common for people to bury their valuable possessions, especially in time of war or when the tax collector came around. Sometimes people died and had not told anyone where the possessions were. They could lay hidden for many generations, and then suddenly someone would find the treasure. It was like winning the lottery.

We would probably question the legality and the morality of what this man did. He should have told the landowner what he had found before he bought the land. Was his action unethical?

There is a fair amount written both from the Roman and the Jewish perspective about ownership of buried treasure, when the landowner is not aware of it until it is discovered. What this man did was probably legal and most likely would have been considered legitimate by those who heard the parable. The point they would have heard Jesus making, according to Snodgrass, is that "he found something hidden worth all he had, and he took all necessary measures to acquire it."

If we can say that what the man did was probably legal and at least not considered immoral, it is still at best an example of very worldly thinking. The man is more greedy than honest. The fact is that the landowner does not receive full value for his land. I wonder if Jesus is using a story that was in the local news of the day in order to make appoint about the Kingdom of God. Maybe there was a man who stumbled upon some treasure, and maybe he was somewhat greedy or wise to the ways of the world. Jesus is saying, "If you can have some admiration for him, and say 'clever fellow,' why is it that you are so slow to embrace the Kingdom of God and commit your life to it? If someone, not especially good, can risk all he has to get a little richer for a time, why is it that you have such difficulty committing your whole life to gain that which is eternal?"

The story of the Pearl is easier for us to understand. Here is a fellow who is a merchant. That is a worldly but not an immoral occupation. It is simply a life in which he tried to "buy low and sell high." There is certainly some skill to it. If you don't know what you are doing you can easily "buy high and sell low," and there is only so much of that you can do.

So we have some admiration for this merchant who carefully uses all his skill and experience to search in markets and want ads for an undervalued pearl. When he finds it, he risks all he owns to purchase it. Then he is impoverished, but he holds the pearl, and he sets out to find a buyer.

Jesus uses these two worldly examples to talk about the nature of commitment. There are some people who see the value of the Kingdom of God and wish to become citizens. They come to understand who Jesus Christ really is, and they see how believing in Christ and following Christ brings life. They come to believe that Jesus is indeed the way the truth and the life. But then they hesitate, they delay. These are people of personal integrity. They are honest and realistic about the meaning of commitment. They know to make a whole life commitment to Christ will close other doors, other opportunities. They know commitment to Christ changes how you live, how you think, how you act. They may lose friends or family or even business. They know that when Christ comes into your life there is a confrontation with the power and allure of sin and its rewards. They know that following Christ sets you on a course of Bible study and prayer and service. You give your life away. You no longer follow your desires.

So, commitment is a risk. What if I am wrong? What if I miss out on pleasures and rewards and friendships because I follow Christ? My own experience of talking to people who have come to a place of commitment and then hesitated, who have waited in order to see how life goes, is that in the delay something else comes along to take the place of Christ. There will be another commitment that replaces the kingdom of God.

The Pietists were keenly aware of the issue of delay in responding to the call of Christ. Lina Sandell's song "In the spring time fair but mortal" says,

"Open now before the autumn sweeps the summer's flowers away. Open while the sun is shining, all too brief our earthly day."

The Pietists realized that in every person's life there are opportunities when we are ready to receive the Savior. There is not a sense of hurry with salvation. It is not a matter of pressuring people into being saved, or using guilt or manipulation of emotions to force a commitment. The Holy Spirit deals with each of us in his own time. God does not grow impatient with us. But there is an awareness that when God's time comes in your life, you then respond, you must answer. The Savior knocks and waits, but you need to respond. If we hesitate or delay overly long, we can miss an opportunity. This is not out of fear that Christ will leave us. But something else will come along. There are other voices that call for our lives, for our commitment.

It is as if some spend their lives walking by the store that has the pearl in its window. They want to own it and know its value. Yet they in fact spend their money at the "dime store," where the goods shine and sparkle, but are truly worthless.

It is also possible to substitute going to church for life in the Kingdom. We can keep Christ in view, singing the hymns, reading God's Word, praying and listening, and yet never make a commitment to Christ, never truly receive the Savior.

Faith is a risk. There is no doubt that you lose some of which you take great pride in, and you lose all of that which holds you in bondage. Faith feels unfamiliar, hard to grasp, hidden. It means letting go of that which has held you up. But in Christ there is power to repent, to change, to be renewed. The promise of God is true. There is no power that can separate us from the love of Christ. There is a time for decision, for commitment to Christ. Do not hesitate or delay when Christ calls you to believe.

"Come to the Savior, make no delay; here in His word he's shown us the way; here in our midst he's standing today, tenderly saying 'Come!'

"Joyful, joyful will the meeting be; when from sin our hearts are pure and free; and we shall gather, Savior, with Thee, in our eternal home." (Green Hymnal #225)

Amen.