Hidden Treasure

In 1938 the King of Saudi Arabia, Abd-al-Aziz ibn Saud, authorized a team of American engineers to explore the trackless desert bordering the Persian Gulf, an arid landscape marked only by the occasional palm-fringed oasis. He hoped they would find water. A tribal leader with precarious finances, Ibn Saud believed the Americans might discover places where he could refresh his warriors-horses and camels.
  
        But the team, from Standard Oil of California, had something else in mind. Oil had been discovered in other countries in the region, and the engineers thought they would find more in Saudi Arabia. Over several years, they drilled more than half a dozen holes without result. They could easily have given up in frustration. Instead, they decided to see if going deeper than normal might make a difference. So, they set up their equipment again at well number 7 and dug deeper than they had ever dug before. They burrowed all the way to a depth of about 1600mtrs and finally hit the first sign of what would turn out to be the largest supply of crude oil in the world.

        Oddly enough, the King did not appear to appreciate the discovery at first. He ignored the news about the oil for an entire year afterward. Finally, he and his retinue arrived in a caravan of 400 automobiles at the pumping station of Ras Tanura in time to witness the first tanker hauling away its cargo of Saudi crude. This discovery would change everything.

        Up until this time, the primary source of income in the Saudi kingdom came from servicing pilgrims in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city. But even the first shipment of oil produced wealth beyond all expectation. The lives and lifestyles of Arabian bedouin would never be the same. This isolated country with no other exportable product now became a major factor in global politics. The Saudi royal family became major players on the world scene. Their wealth became a crucial factor in Middle East politics and the bargaining over global energy supplies. The stage was set for the events of the late 1970s.

This story reminds me of two short parables Jesus told in Matthew 13:44 & 45, where a vast treasure was accidentally discovered in a field. As for the Saudi’s, the discovery was life changing. The truth as it is in Jesus is a great treasure that will change your life and open before your all the riches of eternity. In each of these parables Jesus is showing the immeasurable value and worth of finding the kingdom.

Both parables follow a similar pattern. Each parable begins with an everyday object of enormous wealth, but its full value is unseen or unrecognized. Then someone discovers its true worth. Finally, that person trades in all that he has to purchase the vast wealth unrecognized by others.

Likewise, both parables have a similar meaning. Each parable shows how the kingdom of heaven has enormous value; and how it is readily available for any who would fully commit their lives to invest in its riches. Many, however, either balk at the price or fail to suspect the incredible opportunity to gain eternal wealth.

Note that Jesus, in these parables is not implying that we can purchase the gift of eternal life, but that it worth committing evertthing we are and have to obtaing the goal.

This hidden treasure is what the kingdom of heaven is like. The field is not cheap. It will cost us everything we hold dear to buy it. But the everlasting return is immeasurably worth the investment. That is why we too can be like this man and part with our treasures with joy. What we receive in return is of so much greater value than what we are giving away that we cannot wait to part with it so that we may gain the kingdom. But it takes trust in Jesus and faith to see the true value of the kingdom hidden in the everyday fields of life. This is what Jesus urges for His disciples. He is teaching them that the rewards of the kingdom are worth giving up everything to follow Him.

We must choose between our earthly treasures and the treasures of the kingdom. It would have been impossible for the man or the merchant to both keep their goods and gain what they desired. They had to choose which treasure they would possess. So must everyone make their own choice between the mortal treasures of earthly kingdoms (its honours, its pleasures, its approval, etc.) and the eternal treasures of the kingdom of heaven.