In ancient Palestine there were no banks with safe deposit boxes, and so people often buried their money and other valuables to keep them safe. In the parable of the field, the kingdom of heaven is described as a buried treasure that a person first finds and then secures by selling everything he owns in order to buy it. In the second, the kingdom is described as a pearl of great value that a knowledgeable pearl merchant also buys after selling everything that he owns. Its hard to grasp just how radical it was for Jesus to assert that God’s measure of a person’s worth and status was not their ability to amass wealth, but their firm, unwavering embrace of a new order based on one truth of ultimate value, the truth of the redeeming power of love.
Lord, we know that our things are not the measure of our character, and so we ask that you guide us in the ways of your love, so that we might know the value of sharing the truth of your Word for the healing of the world.
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