The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

Submitted by Sam Nobles
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

A parable is a story with a lesson.  Jesus told many parables to help people understand salvation, grace, and mercy.  The following is one of the parables of Jesus about a hidden treasure.  

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure – a parable of JesusA man finds a treasure in a field, and then covers it up.  In ancient Israel there were no banks around to keep your money safe like we have today. So, if a town or village was being sieged, the people of the town would bury their treasure together, so if they returned from captivity, they could start over. There are conspiracy theories and urban legends, especially during Jesus’ day, that there were freights of treasure, lying unclaimed from Israel’s captivity to Babylon.  

In his joy, this man sells all he has and buys the field.  To see a man selling everything he owns to buy a field, you would call him a fool, until you come to realize that he has found a richer treasure that is worth more than all he has.  The tendency we have to see a person who is living by the Great Commandment, putting God first over their money, their relationships, their studies, and even their hopes and dreams, and think that their life is wasted potential. You would call them a fool until you come to realize A person who is living by the Great Commandment has found a richer treasure in Jesus that is worth more than all they could ever have.

Missionary, Jim Elliot, put it like this, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Remember the parable:

• This man never would have found the treasure if he had quit walking –
  continue to seek after God.
• This man was not out looking for treasure, but he came across it –
  you never know what is going to show up in your life that will give you a perspective on what is really valuable.
• It was in this man’s joyof what he found that he did not hesitate to pay the cost.

In this parable, a man finds some treasure and immediately sells all he has to buy the field in order to gain the treasure therein. This parable is really about us:

Jesus is the Man, the world is the field, and we are the treasure.

Think about it. When you were saved, how many of you sold everything to follow Jesus? None of us did that. We were simply born again. How? Not by our will, not by our efforts, not even by our desire, but by God. 

God saved us; God elected us; God predestined us. We didn’t sell anything to receive Him. He, on the other hand, gave His life to purchase us. Why was the field (the world) purchased? Did the Lord want another planet? No, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…” He wanted the treasure that was buried in the world. He wanted you.

…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrew 12:2