It was a cool October morning of 2020. After having lived in south Texas for most of my life and even most of that in Kingsville, I had completely forgotten what fall weather in Missouri would be like. That morning there was a small sharp bite to the air. The day before I was awakened to the sight of frost on my truck at the motel in Smithville, Missouri. But this day was a day unlike any day I had ever experienced. A flood of events and emotions are all over the place: my wife was recently released from a multi-day visit in the hospital for what was initially believed to be a heart attack, this morning in Missouri and on the farm was the last morning that my grandmother would ever see her house of 50 years ever again (which was a devastating and trying time for her), along with a lifetime of everything in their house and outbuildings would be quickly taken out and placed onto makeshift tables for the next day’s house-goods sale, we had to get my grandmother and her personal affects moved into a nursing home that morning which the nursing home was closed to the public access due to heightened risk of Covid; and then finally that evening the property, house, and barns would be sold at auction. The evening before some neighbors, without permission, walked through the timber to see what wood and how many of the trees could be cleared…in short, will the cost of the property at the auction be paid back with the clearing out all the trees and turning the land into an open-pasture land for hunting. That evening at the land auction, the auctioneer introduced the land of a home of 50 years for my grandparents and for people to ponder the importance and emotional connection for this land and how it may provide for my grandparents while they will now reside at the nursing home. I had expected for the sale to be slow, methodical, and patient with the offers and bids; it was basically all over within 10-15 minutes. With this auction about to start, my emotions were certainly saddened and my mind abuzz with wishing I had the wherewithal to just tell everyone, “forget the sale, I’m buying it all, goodnight” as if I could somehow in an iron-clad hold I could extend memories, nostalgia, ownership, etc. longer. Did I research if the land could at all ever pay itself back? Did I even consider what to do with the 164+/- acres given I lived 1100 miles south? With a history of financial mismanagement with not having very much funds available often, I knew that the Camelot-period of ready money during Covid would be gone soon (it did end about six months later), and how would I afford the tens of thousands of dollars to rebuild all the fences, tens of thousands to bring the house to code (let alone all the costly repairs to the house and immediate out buildings that had been neglected for over a decade), to say nothing of the taxes, security, etc. needed to protect and keep this ownership entirely within the family. For me, the value wasn’t the land or the house. The value were my 40 plus years of family meals, holidays, hunting opportunities, family get-togethers, etc. I wanted to keep everything in a living time capsule. Everything of that was romantically viewed and was valued way above measure. My grandpa asked how much was the land sold for. I told him. He replied instantly, “They paid too much.” To him, it was home. Actually, to both of my grandparents it was home. It was security. It was their lives. Even if/when times were tight, finances were short, family came and went, the home and land endured endearingly. And yet the Christmas before this sale, my grandpa declared from his living room chair that he would go back to work (he was near 90 then) and sell anything he had just to take care of his wife. To him, yes, the home and land were special and important…but it nowhere nearly as important as the care for his wife. He knew she was not really able to care for herself; he wasn’t blind to her much slower walking, lack of balance, her weaker and more frail. And yet for me, as if I had some special power, if I possessed the land instead of it being auctioned that maybe I could turn back the hands of time and all my relatives concerning that branch of my family would be alive, well, young(er) again, and even perhaps share those fond moments of my earlier life to my wife and kids so they could see it or participate. Yet, sadly and truthfully, allegedly the land is nearly worthless even today. In the 1950s a lone oil well was speculated on one corner of the property that didn’t amount to anything; the limestone, slate, and shale (despite the rock quarry making tens of millions of dollars from the same minerals 50-100 yards away to the east) are worthless; the soil is shallow so you cannot really raise row crop on it; the fences needed a lot of replacing—repairing just wasn’t going to cut it with decades of neglect—so running livestock wasn’t an option yet; despite that 164 acres seemed a bit vast, but due to many rocks poking out from the shallow soil even bailing hay damaged equipment to make it more work than what the hay could be sold; the ponds were mostly silted in so fishing was not going to happen too well; and encroachment of nearby active landowners and development was keeping limitations with how much wildlife was roaming freely on the property. In short, the property was nearly junk land with buildings and a house that were in sad states of repair. But to starry-eyed me who wanted to live in a time when the farm was active and filled with family visiting often as well as I was decades younger, and wishing I could transport my wife and kids to another time in the past when everyone else was young, this land was like how people view Disney or an island paradise: magical or timeless.
Jesus shared a number of parables and word pictures in Matthew 13 to explain Kingdom of God principles. Verse 44 contains an entire event that contains a wealth of understanding. Often while reading these verses in Matthew 13, we go from one story to another to which we pick and choose what is important and discard the bulk of other things Jesus said. And the same is true concerning verse 44 that when we often read this verse we focus on one thing: treasure. We all love the stories of someone who acquired something dirt cheap or through inheritance to only discover untold wealth from a painting, money/gold found, or the investment paid off in huge dividends. Verse 44 says (Jesus speaking), “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” But while pondering this singular verse yesterday morning, a number of things began to be deposited into my spirit.
The first thing was a question: if he found treasure, why didn’t he just take it? We find $20 on the ground, religious people would say “praise the Lord” and then we all would shove it into our pocket and it would probably be spent that day and most likely usually on ourselves (and maybe give a tithe of it). So why didn’t he just say “praise the Lord”, finished unearthing the treasure, and just take it? The answer is that the field—for an honest person—didn’t belong to him. The saying finder’s keepers loser’s weepers or possession is 9/10ths of the law would not work in Jesus’ time. He had to find out who owned the property and if owned is the land owner willing to sell it. If unowned, how could he obtain ownership of this land? And yet the treasure was hidden to avoid anyone else seeing it and ripping him off or taking something that wasn’t honestly acquired before he could get his answers. This means that it took a little bit of time, a bit of effort, and certainly some cost to this (more about this latter thought later).
But another question was deposited into my spirit: why didn’t he just buy the treasure or if he had to, why not only acquire just the small parcel of land where the treasure was? And then after the ownership then he could just take the treasure, sell the land back, and then keep the treasure with the money from the sale of the land? But he didn’t; he bought the whole field. Why? It use my grandparents’ former property, it would be like buying or legally acquiring say a three foot by three foot by maybe three foot deep hole to re-unearth the treasure chest. We are not told what exactly was the treasure or if and how it was contained but because we were all told stories of pirates and buried treasure, we all have that imagery of a treasure chest with a skeleton-key lock in our heads. And so acquire nine cubic feet of acreage out of 164 acres or rather buying 164 acres and basically ignore it for just the special 3x3x3 hole.
And for most of us that seems very excessive when what we only care about is the treasure. But there is something to learn in that. Money doesn’t last. When Jesus shared the story of the Prodigal Son, despite the younger son having pocketfuls and fistfuls of dollars after his father quickly converted this younger son’s share of animals and land value to cash, the prodigal son learned later that money comes and goes. There are some people with the hopes of money or an inheritance that can be converted to cash. We piously say we will tithe but are already pre-spend the promised or soon-to-be-acquired wealth before even ever receiving a penny of it. Yet some people even with the guaranteed promise of wealth is unaware of the debts, deductions, and expenses before inheritors get their portion. To this, they then discover eventually that say a million dollars is now only a thousand dollars. But before this sad discovery, they were making plans of what to buy and do with that money. In the fall of 2015 after my auto accident that wasn’t my fault and having hired an attorney, I had assumed that the person’s insurance would not only cover all the expenses but enough money (for pain, inconvenience, and suffering) to maybe replace my truck that was already having issues with maybe a brand new truck paid in full with perhaps a thousand or so left over to take a small trip some where to treat my family. Instead, I got about $2500 for my wrecked truck from my auto insurance after I turned in my title to them, all medical bills paid including paying the attorney’s office at a huge fraction of the actual costs. In the end, I got a used pick-up truck that I made payments on for years along with having to pay for full-coverage insurance for years until the note was paid off on a new insurance provider because my previous carrier cancelled us after having to deal with the attorneys, $1200 which after paying $800 to my client for the computer that was damaged beyond repair. I netted a whopping $400, bad back and neck pain for years, a truck payment, and the attorney telling me that it would had been better had I been killed in the accident because then they could have gotten more money from the accident. So out the window went my dreams of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a very nice vehicle, perhaps pay off all debts, of course tithe, and go on a small nice trip. All because I looked for the promised treasure given by the commercials to sue and get money.
Further He then deposited into me that the treasure isn’t the valued item but it was the field that contained the treasure was indeed the greater treasure. And the following is why. As money fades and is spent and gone forever, land remains. Usually land increases in value. For example, before Judy and I were engaged we had looked at some ring sets for her. A ring set is a matching set of the engagement ring and wedding band using the same materials, diameter, maker, etc. The particular ring we settled was made with platinum—a precious and very hard metal—and the diamond shape, size, and rings were $1000. What also drove the price high was along with diamond flakes on the sides of the engagement ring, the main diamond was not just a similitude of a diamond or a scratch of a diamond but Judy’s diamond is a certified diamond. Which means that the ring and diamond were to be inspected twice a year and it was a flawless diamond, which means that the diamond has incredible value. Over 22 years ago with much chastising by people who said I spent way too much for a ring. They felt the price of a regular wedding set could had been cut back with a much cheaper gold ring with barely a diamond on it and then use the bulk of the money to buy myself a very nice laptop. After all there is an idea that married people make more money and so a nice laptop to go with my nicer paycheck that I supposedly would make. Since our wedding and on multiple occasions, the saleswomen at the jewelry store where the rings have to be dropped off for inspection, they would insist she needs to sell those rings back to them and “upgrade” to another ring. But why does Judy refuse presently just like I refused back before I proposed? The ring represents an invaluable bond. Additionally and from my perspective, I didn’t marry of who she was then. I married the Judy for whom God would make and continue to make from November 16, 2003 and for decades and decades later following. And for me this required a serious investment at the front end. It doesn’t mean that everyone else’s marriage lacks or won’t last if they didn’t buy an expensive ring. But Judy—then—wasn’t the treasure. Judy, along with her daughter and eventually our son and another daughter, a grandson, and presently over two decades of memories, events, adventures, dreams, callings, and a whole lot more…with a whole lot more, should Jesus tarry, yet to come. That is the treasure.
But for this writing, what is the field? That chosen word is used again in John 4:35 (Jesus speaking and emphasis added), “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest”. The fields are people whose hearts need answers, need hope, need healing, need salvation, need truth, need love, need forgiveness, need mercy, need God. And how they can have all their questions and desires answered is through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was/is the propitiation and redeeming Lamb of God. His whole life and every drop of His blood was the total cost paid in full to save the whole world. I repeat those last words: the whole world. Not just us, not just the twelve disciples, not just those who are of a particular skin color or who natively speak a particular language.
And how they can find Jesus Christ is through our involvement. So God desires to ask us: what do we value? Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34 say (emphasis added), “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. What does our heart treasure? It was Robert Moffat as a young boy when the offering plate went around the church and him having no coin to drop into the plate, placed it onto the ground and he stood in it, to declare I don’t have money but I give all of myself to missions. He served as a powerful missionary in Africa and inspired many to go and/or give. Gladys Aylward placed her Bible on a small table and the few coins which was all she monetarily had at the time to pray, “Lord, here’s my Bible and here is all the money I have and Lord here I am”. She gave all to go to China. She had no mission organization. She had no financiers. She had what she earned just before she left to China and a faith in God to take care of the rest. She sold off everything to live on extremely little—including selling her fancy shoes for two left-feet horrible shoes found in a thrift store—so she could scrimp and save everything because the cost to not go to tell the Chinese about Jesus was less important than her passionate desire to go. And I could list a host of pastors and missionaries whom sold all, gave all, left all for the Gospel…as well as others who gave abundantly out of their poverty and out of their riches for the advancement of the Gospel. And so with that, does our heart beat for the lost souls with them as the treasured field? If so, would we do whatever it took to obtain that field? But if our heart isn’t for Jesus’ field but for just the treasure, or perhaps our heart isn’t for any of that at all, then what do we give of our heart and to what? What captures our heart? I dare say, Jesus said that those whose hearts do not desire Jesus and what is important to Jesus is said in John 10:1, “…he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” In other words we bypass what God has for just a box, or just a ring, or just a piece of land, or just a marriage, or just a church membership sitting in our usual chair doing our usual ministry. Or just to melt into a church unnoticed to not desire relationship and accountability and to then melt out contributing nothing. Is that good enough? To have a job that is just good enough? A family that is good enough? A church religion—allegedly a relationship with God—that is good enough? God’s destiny for all of us is for a lot more.
And so with that and with what we read of that man who desired to acquire the field and treasure to couple with what I did with that ring for Judy and what a host of others who did to go out and do something for Jesus, we sell all (or give all) even if the world says we’re nuts, foolish, naïve, blind, or a failure. I dare say it is because they do not see what we see. Missionaries dream to see people come to salvation and the knowledge of Jesus Christ…but not just for themselves but so that He can be carried, shared, and then those Christians become missionaries in their own rights to carry that vision and desire for the field to others. Just like land has lasting value or inheritable value, this takes great investment. Do we dismiss the need/Call to say as my grandpa did “that’s too much”? Or do we live by the quote of CT Studd (one of my favorite missionaries) who said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
And there isn’t just the upfront investment. When we picture this man buying this field where the treasure is, we most likely picture in our mind an empty field with maybe some patches of grass, a tree somewhere on it with the buried treasure chest in the ground near the tree or where “X” marks the spot. Going back to that land that my grandparents’ had at Blue Mound, unknown to me until a few years ago, the owners just prior to my grandparents acquiring that land in 1970, purchased the land with one desire in 1960 something: to turn it into a large auto junk yard. And so these owners did with two cars were dumped onto the property along with a number of metal gas tanks and some other junk. But when my grandparents bought this farm, the original house was torn down by my grandfather because the house was a dump and falling in. The land then in 1970 was hardly fenced off satisfactorily. Weeds and scrub were all over the place. But just like those things of junk autos, weeds, etc. polluted the land, the lost—just like we are/were—have junk piled in their hearts just like we did/do. Perhaps weeds of regret and bitterness grow. Junk language, words of depression, words of hate or brokenness all spew from their mouths. Broken dreams. To some people’s perspective, a waste land. But what do we see? Do we see people—yes, lost and broken and sick—who if they can come to the Savior, Jesus Christ who is/was the One who gave His all, can in time see a field but a field ripe unto harvest. Will we, as this land owner in Matthew 13:44, sell all (give our all) to acquire our field?
What is our field? Is it our family? Yes. Is it our work place, school, neighborhoods, our city? Yes. Is it another city we can declare His saving and healing Words of love and make known of His spilled blood and resurrection power? Yes. Is it another state or nation with many who never heard of Jesus Christ, ever considered an idea of eternity, or where/what is heaven and hell? To go to a city/state or nation to those who have religion but don’t really have Jesus? To go to a street where Patee House stands (corner of 12th and Penn Street in St. Joseph, Missouri) to see on the opposite corner a broken and frustrated older woman who walked across the street who had needs more than just a roof, some food, a few dollars in her pocket, and her daughter to get a revelation that her live-in boyfriend needs to get off his lazy rear-end and get a job? Yes, yes, YES! That—whoever and wherever—is the field! Will we, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:15, “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls…” even if the cost on our side is greater than the financial reward, applause received, or the fame we could receive back? In humility, will we serve as Paul did with us having to pay the way in Philippians 4:17, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account”? So that we may thusly say in full confidence of God (verses 19 and 20), “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
And in that, perhaps that, too, is the reward for the field and the treasure therein. All be to God so that He is the One—and rightly so—who will always receive all glory, power, majesty, and praise be to our God forever and ever (1 Chronicles 29:11, Revelation 7:12, Jude 1:25, 1 Peter 5:11, and Revelation 1:6). The fields are indeed ripe. But it takes laborers. And it takes investment—beyond token prayers and a few dollars dropped casually into the offering plate—of heart who say the cost is never too high and the effort to the work is too much. Do we see broken, loss, and failure or do we see what God sees? Will our heart truly desire to sell/give all for His field?