Yes, in a field. Yes, in a field in Grouville, Jersey. A hoard of coins and jewellery of intrinsic as well as historical value was discovered by metal detector enthusiasts in 2012. The whole hoard contains perhaps 70,000 items and is possibly worth £7 million.
A few miles from St Malo in Brittany and to the east of the River Rance there is a small town called Corseul population 2,000. It’s well worth a detour because of its Roman remains. The Romans built there a Temple of Mars part of which, despite being 2000 years old, still stands amidst beautiful agricultural fields. The Roman street and a museum are in the town centre.
Julius Caesar’s troops conquered Corseul in BC 10. The town’s residents at that time – known as Coriosolites – could well have placed all their accumulated wealth on a boat on the nearby Rance, headed north into the English Channel and beached at Grouville in Jersey where they buried it in the hope of returning to retrieve it.
That would have been a few years before Jesus of Nazareth was born (AD 0) in Bethlehem a few miles from Jerusalem. Roman troops were in Palestine in AD 30, so it was not surprising that Jesus spoke to the crowds (see (1) bold above) about treasure hidden in a field. Such things were common.
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Jesus taught that “(1) the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field….” In other words this treasure, hidden in a field, is what Jesus was speaking about when he announced, at the beginning of his public ministry, “The kingdom of heaven is here.” Hidden treasure in a field? Treasure worth everything I’ve got? Not quite. There’s a subtle difference. The person who discovers this treasure, this hidden treasure of which Jesus spoke, sells everything he has so as to buy, not the treasure, but the field. He could never pay for this treasure – but he is so joyful that he will pay whatever he has – all he possesses – to obtain it. Its value transcends all things – and is all things.
But take another look at Jesus’ words to the crowds. He parallels the kingdom of heaven in three ways. The second parallel looks similar but isn’t. “(2) 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.” The main difference is in the tenses of the verbs Jesus used.
In the case of the person who discovers hidden treasure, that person “is joyful”, “sells” and then “buys” – present tense. In the case of the merchant person, he “went” and “sold” – past tense. Why do you think that might be?
It seems to me that, in this second (2) parallel, Jesus is teaching that he himself is the merchant person seeking THE finest, the best, the goodliest of all pearls. Where will he find that supreme good?
He finds it amongst the very people whom he has created and who, along with the whole of creation, were all seen by God as being “very good”. He gave his all and bought back that one pearl of great value to him from its self-imposed alienation from him. About to die for that person on the cross Jesus said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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So….. (1) is about a person who discovers hidden treasure and out of joy obtains it and everything surrounding it. And (2) is about Jesus who gives his life to ransom one supremely-valuable person from death and alienation from God. What then is (3) all about? “(3) the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind……”
It seems that within the Christian net – even in Jersey today - there are good fish and fish that will turn out, in the end, to have been rotten.
Make sure that rotten fish don’t stop you discovering THE most joyful treasure in the entire world. |
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