Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving through our year focusing in on Jesus’ parables, we come to a series of three short parables that only Matthew’s gospel includes. These three parables are shared just with the disciples, and they are shared after Jesus responds to the disciples asking for explanation of one of Jesus’ other parables. For this episode, we’ll focus on the first parable in this set of three parables, because while the three parables are all short and similar, each is distinct enough to warrant an episode dedicated to it.

Let’s read the first parable and discover another way Jesus describes God’s kingdom to the disciples. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. In verse 44, Jesus tells the disciples:

⁴⁴ “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.

As we read this one-verse parable, two phrases jumped out to me. The first phrase is how the parable opens. This translation draws a casual connection to the discovery of this treasure. It describes, “A man happens to find a treasure in a field”. Reading this translation makes me think that the man was strolling through the field, and he trips over something hard and realizes that it is the corner of a treasure chest. The way this is described makes me think that the man was not looking for treasure, but that he at least had his eyes open enough to recognize the treasure was there when it tripped him.

When reading the opening statement of this parable from multiple translations, no clues are given to the intentional nature or the casual finding of this treasure. Instead, the parable simply describes someone simply finding treasure hidden in a field. From this detail, and from the fact this is a parable Jesus shared, we can conclude that the treasure that is found is something that we all can find in our lives if we are paying attention. This “treasure in a field” is something that we may have been seeking out, or it may be something we find at a time we are not expecting to find it. Regardless of whether we are actively looking, or whether we stumble onto it, what matters is not that we found it, but what we will do when we have found it.

After the man found the treasure, he has three options. He can bury the treasure and walk away; He can steal the treasure, have the money, but also have the guilt associated with the theft; or He can sell as much as is necessary to buy the field that contains the treasure, which is the legally correct option. If I sold a home to you, and buried in the walls of the home were diamonds and blocks of gold that I was not aware of, when you discovered them, they would legally be yours. I might be upset at myself for not finding the treasure, but it would legally be the property of the owner of the home.

According to the details of the parable, the man doesn’t take any chances that he will not have enough money, so even if he only needed to sell a portion of his stuff, he sold everything because the treasure is that valuable in his eyes. This is the second idea that stood out in my mind as we read this parable.

This man wants this treasure legally, and he does not want any of the guilt associated with simply stealing it. This man knows that a treasure that has been wrongfully gained is not a treasure in the end. The treasures we can have and enjoy the most are the ones that don’t come with guilt or other negative traits.

The man buys the field because he knows that with this treasure, he can gain the life he has always wanted. While we might be tempted to think that simply having money can get us the life we most desire, the truth of this parable is that the kingdom of heaven is represented by this treasure that is hidden in a field. In other words, the treasure that can bring us true fulfillment in our lives is the kingdom of heaven treasure.

If we read this parable from the New American Standard Bible translation, it tells us that “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

The amazing truth of this parable is that the kingdom of heaven is something that we simply must open our eyes in order to discover. The kingdom of heaven is something that we might miss if we are not paying attention, but it is something we can discover if we keep our eyes open for it.

And not only this, the kingdom of heaven is something that is worth selling everything we have in order to acquire it. The kingdom of heaven isn’t a treasure that can be stolen. Instead, it is a treasure that is worth giving our lives for. This is because all that this life offers us is pain and sin that ultimately leads to death. While life may have its good moments, our lives one hundred, or even two hundred years from now will have ended in death – unless we have given our lives for the kingdom of heaven.

When we give our lives to Jesus, He promises to keep us safe through the death we face, and bring us out on the other side into a new, perfect, eternal life that has all the best parts of this life without any of the pain, sin, and death.

The kingdom of heaven is the ultimate treasure, and the first step in finding this treasure is seeking Jesus. Jesus is the way to this treasure, and He is the only way to eternal life!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, be sure to intentionally seek Jesus and God first in your life. Place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus as you choose to open your eyes to discovering God’s kingdom. As Jesus’ return moves closer, be sure you are actively seeking Him in your life so that when He returns, you will be ready.

One of the best ways to get and stay ready is by praying and studying the Bible for yourself. Regular prayer and Bible study helps draw you close to God and it helps you accept God’s Holy Spirit into your life. With the Holy Spirit working in your life, don’t be surprised to discover that God is using you to bring about His kingdom in the world today!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through John’s gospel, after John has finished sharing about the crowd Jesus challenged and how almost all of Jesus’ followers left Him, John moves to focusing on Jesus being at home with His brothers and away from His disciples. We don’t have much context for what set the stage for this event, however what John shares in this event is fascinating.

Our passage for this episode comes from John’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. ² Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. ³ Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. ⁴ For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” ⁵ For not even His brothers were believing in Him. ⁶ So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. ⁸ Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.

Pausing reading briefly, I am amazed at this event and at Jesus’ short conversation with His brothers. As I wonder and imagine the details of this scene, I suspect that Jesus’ disciples had already left to go to the feast in Jerusalem, and this is why Jesus was alone with His brothers.

However, the phrase that really jumps off the page at me is a statement Jesus’ brothers tell Him in verse 4: “For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly.” This statement speaks volumes about where the heads and hearts of Jesus’ brothers were. The statement Jesus’ brothers make is completely true, but this statement also entirely misses the direction of Jesus’ life and mission.

When Jesus’ brothers share this statement, it is solid logic: If someone wants to be known and have a following, they won’t hide their lives away. If someone wants to be known by others, they must step into a spotlight, or at least step out in some way. This statement, given in the context of the whole message Jesus’ brothers tell Jesus, lets us know that Jesus’ brothers did not understand Jesus’ mission as the Messiah. In the minds of Jesus’ brothers, the Messiah needed to be very public and the Messiah needed to be focused on attracting followers in order to kick Rome out of the nation.

However, Jesus understands something that His brothers don’t. Jesus understands that fame and popularity are two very bad motivators. What Jesus’ brothers don’t understand is that Jesus is not interested in being known by the world – at least at this point in His ministry. Instead, Jesus is more interested in fulfilling God’s mission for His life, and God’s mission is one that is both incredibly personal, as well as incredibly sacrificial. Jesus’ mission for His life ultimately gives life to those around Him and to those who accept Him.

In contrast, the mission the first century culture had for the messiah was that he would overthrow Rome in their nation, and this mission required lives to be lost in order to succeed. Jesus’ ultimate mission only had one life to be given, and this life was His own.

Because of this, Jesus opts to sit this festival out, because He knows His time has not yet come, and likely because traveling with His disciples or His brothers will draw too much attention onto Himself.

However, after Jesus’ brothers leave for the feast, John continues in verse 10, saying:

¹⁰ But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret. ¹¹ So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?” ¹² There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.” ¹³ Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

In this passage, Jesus travels to this festival alone, and as anonymously as possible. At the start of the feast, the Jews were actively looking for Him, but they did not find Him. While this feast was happening, people were talking about Jesus and debating among themselves about how important Jesus really was.

At other places within the gospels, Jesus described how He would divide people. This last part of our passage hints at how Jesus divides people. In all this subtle whispering, we see this division take place. One group describes Jesus as a good man, while other people believed Jesus to be leading the people astray.

However, it is interesting from how John describes these whispered debates that neither one of these two groups understands Jesus’ ultimate mission or goal. Instead, the group that believes Jesus to be a good man might not believe much more about Jesus then this.

In an interesting twist, by this point in John’s gospel, Jesus has amassed a huge crowd of followers and pushed them all away. This detail allows this debate to flourish about Jesus because those who believe Jesus to be a good man can focus on all those Jesus has helped and healed, which is a sizable amount, while those who believe Jesus to be leading people astray can focus on the unbelievable claims Jesus made while teaching. Both sides of this debate have different sets of proof, but neither one appears to take any steps towards believing Jesus to be God’s Messiah.

This is the same in our lives today, except that there are now three groups of people. In our world today, there are people who are actively opposed to Jesus and God, and this includes many who simply claim God doesn’t exist and Jesus is not the same person that the Bible describes. Those who believe this line of thinking make up one group.

The second group of people are those who believe Jesus to be a good man and a good teacher, but that history has exaggerated His life and His ministry. Those in this second group know slivers of Jesus’ life and ministry, but they are not open to letting Jesus or God change their lives.

These first two groups are direct descendants of the two groups debating in our passage in John’s gospel.

To contrast these two groups, we have a third group, and this group believes Jesus to be the Messiah, and that Jesus is the way God stepped into history to show His love for us. This third group, which began with Jesus’ disciples shortly after Jesus returned to heaven, changed the first century world. I am a part of this third group, and if you’re not a part of this group yet, consider yourself invited to join. Those who have placed their hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus and His sacrifice for us on the cross can begin a new life with God today, and our lives with God extend forward into eternity!

 As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus and in what He accomplished for humanity on the cross. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are giving the opportunity of a new life with God, a life that we don’t deserve, but a life that God offers to us as a gift if we are willing to accept it. If you haven’t accepted God’s gift yet, this is a challenge to do so today!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to personally grow closer to Jesus each and every day. Through personal prayer and study, discover just how much God loves you and how God showed His love for all of us through what Jesus did for us! While some people point to acts of God that sound negative, angry, or hostile, we should filter all the claims through Jesus. Jesus gives us the best picture of God we can know, and because of this, the best place to begin studying is with Jesus!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!