Hello and welcome to the STC Daily Podcast, my name’s Abby, I’m part of the staff team at STC and it’s a real privilege to be opening the Bible and sharing some of my thoughts with you today.

REFLECTION:

The passage that we’re looking at is Matthew 13:44-58. Today I want to focus on verse 44 – the parable of the hidden treasure, which reads:

“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.”

Now, the Kingdom of heaven is a phrase that we bandy about quite a lot, but sometimes it can be confusing when we stop to think about what Jesus is actually referring to. In his teaching, Jesus never explicitly defines what the Kingdom of heaven is, but uses parables like this to teach us and give us a glimpse into what God’s kingdom is like. If it’s helpful, I think of the kingdom of God as what God’s been pursuing for his people since the beginning, it was established forever through Jesus’s death and resurrection and will fully come to pass when Jesus returns. Chris Wright, in his book the Mission of God, brilliantly sums up the kingdom of God, he says that it means justice for the oppressed, it will bring true peace to the nations, it will put an end to poverty, want and need, and provide everyone with economic viability, it will mean satisfying and fulfilling life for families, safety for children, and fulfilment for the elderly…and all of this within a renewed creation free from harm and threat. – what a kingdom that will be!

In this parable of the hidden treasure, the man who discovers the treasure, this kingdom that we’re talking about, knows that it’s something that’s worth giving everything up for – the man sells everything he owns in order to follow Jesus and join in with his kingdom.

I wonder if you’ve had a moment when you’ve realised just what it means to be part of God’s kingdom, and you know that it’s worth giving everything up for, to pursue the values and mission of God? For me, there was a moment when I had just finished sixth form and I was on a short-term mission trip in Peru. We were taking communion one Sunday and, I don’t know if it was something to do with, at the time, not understanding the language and just being in a completely different setting to what I was used to, but as I took the bread and the wine I was struck properly for the first time really of just what Jesus had done for me in dying on the cross, and the freedom that he had given me, and I felt really challenged in that moment about how I was living my life in response to that. That was the moment when I found the metaphorical treasure in the field and sold all I had to buy it. It led me to deferring my place at university for a year and, it’s a story for another time, but each stage after that including what I went on to study and my work since I think has been impacted by choosing to surrender everything to God in that moment.

Now I’m aware that in one sense this can paint a very rosy picture. As I’ve been reading and thinking about this passage again I’ve been wondering about what happens after that mountain top moment, once the man discovered the treasure and sold everything he owned – does the reality of what has just happened sink in, does he suddenly panic about what to do with all the treasure he’s gained, are there moments further down the line when he maybe wishes he hadn’t sold everything he had, when what he’s gained doesn’t feel worth it, does he wonder what might have happened if he had never stumbled across the treasure? Unfortunately we don’t get any more of the man’s story in these verses in Matthew and I realise I’m speculating slightly, but I think what God’s been reminding me as I’ve been thinking about these verses is that surrendering everything to Him isn’t just a one off moment.  Yes there’s that moment where we discover the treasure and fully say yes to Jesus,