Friday FOCUS August 01, 2025 by Rev. Norman
The Kingdom of Heaven: Like Treasure in the Field
Christina (Tina) McKinlay
July 31, 2025
Treasure in the Field
The Kingdom of Heaven: Like Treasure in the Field
Reflection on Matthew 13:44-46
In this past Sunday’s Gospel, we heard how the disciples asked Jesus how to pray. Jesus responded to their request by telling them that they should begin their prayer with the words: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come....
Jesus teaches us to pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven.
Shortly after teaching the disciples how to pray, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a treasure hidden in the field.
When a man found it (we are not told how) he buried it again since anything found, rightly, belonged to the owner of the field. He then went and sold all that all that he had and bought the field so that he could enjoy the treasure he had found.
Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is said to be like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
We see in the Lord’s Prayer that we should pray for the Kingdom of Heaven to come.
Now in Matthew chapter 13 we are told that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure or a precious pearl that is so valuable that it would be worth selling everything you have to gain it.
What is this Kingdom of Heaven that for which we are supposed to pray? Where is it to be found?
When we hear the phrase ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ too many of us, I fear, think ‘pie in the sky when you die.’ They think of the Kingdom of Heaven only in other-worldly or next-worldly terms. And, true, there is an eschatological, not now or not yet, sense to the phrase.
But the stronger message, I believe, has to do with the here and the now.
If we want to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven we need to do our part in bringing that Kingdom about in this world and in this life.
To be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven is to recognize Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and to submit ourselves willingly to his reign—not a part of us, some of the time, but all of us, all the time.
To be a subject of Jesus is to allow him to reign over our hearts—and when he does, we naturally commit ourselves to building up his kingdom. And Matthew 13 teaches us, there is nothing more precious, more valuable, more important or rewarding than doing just that.
As subjects of our Lord and Saviour we are called to be kingdom-builders—witnessing to Christ’s love for all people—in our words and in our actions.
We do our part in building the kingdom whenever we welcome the stranger, extend a kind word to the lost and the lonely, ease the suffering of the poor and the marginalized, forgive a wrong, stand up for justice and proclaim peace.
Every time we do so, the kingdom becomes a little more real, a little more present—and nothing the world offers on its own could be more precious, more satisfying, more important than that—not even the greatest of earthly treasures or the finest pearls.
Norman+