Matthew 13:44 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 13:44

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(Synoptics: Matthew 13:44) This is a remarkable parable for this reason: though it is so short, it is so packed full of wonderful truths. It begins with the mention of the kingdom of heaven. What is that? It is the kingdom which is distinct from all kingdoms of this world. It is an exalted kingdom, high above any earthly kingdoms. But isn’t the whole world Christ’s kingdom? In a sense, yes; God works everywhere, and Christ is the rightful Lord of all. But this world is like a province which has rebelled against its rightful king. Are not all people in his kingdom? No. Only those who come across it, and resign their interests in this world’s kingdom in order to gain a place in God’s kingdom. The picture is of a man who sells all he has in order to gain one thing. The kingdom of heaven is a heavenly institution composed of many, over which God rules, and those who are in his kingdom have seen the importance of it. We cannot earn membership of his kingdom, but we must be prepared to give our lives for it.The Greek word ‘treasure’ means deposit. Here, a fabulous treasure that has been buried by some previous generation and forgotten about. How it got to be buried is not an important feature of the parable, but we can imagine that someone in the past had perhaps buried all he had in his field for safe keeping, and had told nobody what he had done. He had then died unexpectedly and no one knew of the existence of the treasure in the field. When it is later found, it is a total surprise. The field then passes into the hands of someone who does not know what is buried in it. But nearby, let us imagine, is a poor tenant farmer. He has some land of his own, but it is not particularly fertile; the soil is not good, and he scrapes together a living. He is barely able to support his family and so decides to obtain additional land to extend his business. He cannot afford to buy, so he rents this field. But he then makes remarkable discovery. As he is working the land, his spade hits a container and finds buried treasure. The tenant farmer is astonished. He realises it’s great value. This will allow him to buy proper maintenance of his family, education perhaps for his children, and he promptly reburies the treasure and fills in the hole again. If he is to become the rightful owner of that reassure, he has got to buy the field where it is hidden. But to do this will require him to sell all he has. He is not a wealthy man, and he does not have any spare cash, so he is going to have to do something usual. He is going to have to sell all that he has: his home, his existing land, his animals, his tools, and any other possessions he has – he wouldn’t need these again. Only by doing so will he have enough to pay for that field. There was no wavering – he sold up at once. How he explained this to his wife and family is not clear. Those who knew what he was doing would have regarded this a very strange behaviour, but there was a good reason for his action. So all that he had before, all that was expendable, had to go, and by doing this he obtained the asking price for the field. It was an irreversible transaction. Having sold all that he possessed, he could not go back on what he had done. All depended on obtaining the field containing the treasure, and once he obtained it, then the reason why he had acted in this peculiar way would become clear. So he bought the field and the treasure was his. What he paid would be far less than the value of what he gained; the treasure was worth vastly more than what he sold in order to purchase the field. This man was not looking for anything. He never dreamed of finding treasure. He just stumbled across it quite by accident.

Application

When we hear the gospel and understand it for the first time, it is a great surprise to us. We were not expecting to find such treasure, and we were not aware that such a treasure existed. We hear the preaching of the gospel, and we hear of what Christ has done for sinners, and it is like finding a treasure which we were entirely ignorant of. We may have heard of Jesus Christ and even become familiar with Bible language, but the value of the gospel never dawned on us. But this time as we listen the Spirit of God enlightens us, and we see what we had never seen before. Christ is like a great treasure whose value is unknown to the world. You cannot go to anyone who belongs to this world and make enquiries about him, about where to find this treasure, because the world does not know of his existence; it does not know who he really is. You must hear this from those who have been taken out of the world and have themselves entered into his kingdom. They can speak of what they know. When God gives us understanding, we see that all the greatest problems we face are solved by the gospel. Happiness and security are all found in Christ. To possess him is to possess all that we could possibly desire: a friend in heave, guidance through this life, and eternal security in the world to come. We understand his message of salvation.

At the same time we realise we could never earn a place in his kingdom. When the tenant farmer considered what he had found, he knew he could never have earned the value of that treasure. The most he could do was scrape together all he could and to buy the field. We cannot buy salvation, represented by the treasure. The important point is that we must be willing to give up all we have for it. I will part with all I possess in this life. There are things I have got to sell in order to come to the Lord. If I desire a place in the kingdom of God, then I must surrender all I have. To come to Christ for salvation is like a transaction, but it is a transaction in which we ‘buy’ something which is vastly more valuable than anything we could afford. The truth is that Christ has done all that is necessary for salvation, and we do not contribute at all. We receive pardon and life freely. He has gone to Calvary to redeem us from hell; he has cancelled our debt to God by his suffering and death. And yet, by repenting and trusting in him, God gives us the power to become the children of God. Because God has promised to give salvation to all those who come to Christ, then when we come, we have a right to salvation on the basis of his promise. We have ownership of the field by virtue of his promise. And yet the parable highlights that in coming to Christ there is something we must be willing to lose. I have to give up my self-righteousness. I thought I was better than others, but now I see I am no different. I too need the righteousness that comes from God. I must give up my sins. I have not kept the Ten Commandments. I have not killed maybe, but I have hated others, which is a sin in the murder family of sins. Putting sin to death has no merit because it is my essential duty to obey God, but I must be willing to part with sin forever if I am to be saved; Christ calls me to a life of obedience. It isn’t hard to find the Saviour; we must just to give away the old life. We must give up our proud opinions, and speculations, and self-conceits. Like that tenant farmer, we must sell all. You do not do this to ear God’s favour; but these are the only terms on which he will deal with us.

So we pray to God, ‘Lord, make me a new person. I trust only in what Jesus Christ is done for sinners.’ Now I have eternal life. My sinful nature is dealt a mortal blow and I am given a new nature. God now answers my prayer. I can influence family through prayers. I have peace and security because I possess the treasure of Christ. In the parable the tenant farmer purchased gain on earth; we gain a treasure in heaven.

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Matthew 13:44 Commentary and Bible Study