Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 176 · June 25
Hid In A Field
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”
The field looks like every other field on that road, and it is priced like every other field on that road. That is the whole point of the story, and it is why the man says nothing to the owner.
Two people read this parable and get stuck in different places. One hears the words selleth all that he hath, and starts doing the sums on what would be left. The other hears for joy thereof and cannot remember the last time joy was what moved him toward God.
To the first: Jesus never asks anybody to price the field. He reports what one man did after he had seen what was in it, and the selling is a consequence rather than a condition. Paul does the same accounting in a letter years later and does not sound like a man who lost anything: what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. A line later: I count all things but dung, that I may win Christ. To the second: notice that the man in the parable hides the treasure and buys the field, and Jesus attaches no comment of any kind to that. The joy is reported as a fact about him. It is not set as an entry requirement for you, and the parable next door has a merchant doing the identical thing with no joy mentioned at all.
Show us what is in the field, Father. We have both readers in us, and we have been told the price and never once been shown the treasure, and the price is all we can see from the gate. Amen.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 176 is The Strong Tower (Proverbs 18:10).