Treasure

 “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.  
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like
a merchant in search of fine pearls,  

who, on finding one pearl of great value, 
went and sold all that he had 
and bought it.”

Matthew 13:44-45 (ESV)

This is one of my favorite passages, but sometimes I get frustrated with how people interpret it.

They like to say that the treasure in the field is us.  Us.  And they say that God was so excited when he found us that He went off and sold all He had in order to buy us.

My problem with this interpretation is that the parable says, 

the Bible says, 

Jesus said, 

the words say:  

 “The Kingdom of God is like a treasure.”   

God’s kingdom is a treasure.  The man who apprehends this truth joyfully casts aside worldly distractions to pursue the kingdom of God, to pursue God Himself.  Putting it the other way around simply does not follow the sense of the words in the text.

Anyway, the second story does mean what they want the first one to mean.  We know because the second one says, “The Kingdom of God is like a merchant in search of pearls.”  Here we see the Lord (symbolized by the merchant) seeking His people, and spending the blood of His only begotten Son to buy them for Himself.

These two stories are side-by-side because they are two sides of the same coin.  God is a treasure of infinite, unfathomable value for us, and somehow, by some strange, inexplicable miracle of grace, we are a treasure to Him as well, worth the sacrifice of His beloved Son.