about the cost of hidden treasure

I know pretty much nothing about money.

Well, I manage to survive and stuff, and I know when I need to make my car payment and send in rent, but other than that I'm a little bit naive.  Financial information all just goes above my head and beyond my interest.  My hope and prayer is that someday I'll get married to a wonderful man who will make me happy, and who I'll raise a family with, and also who will do my taxes.  I'm planning on slipping the pastor a twenty and asking him to say "Repeat after me -- I take you, Emily, to be my lawfully wedded wife, and I promise from this day forward to take care of all of our financial responsibilities for forever and forever, like paying bills which is really boring, and all other bank related things that confuse you. And I'll never make you do any math of any sort."  

"I do." 

Basically, what I know about money is that you should save it.  And I still seem to live by the rule you learn as a kid when your parents hand you your weekly allowance - "don't spend it all in one place".  

Because that would be irresponsible, right? 

Which is why it's crazy and challenging to me, reading this little bit in Matthew 13 that says "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." (v44)

He goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  

Also, before that statement -- "...in his joy".  

We live in a space where we are told to hoard up treasures of our own designs -- to take take claim over our money, our talents, our resources, our time.  We are told to build storage space for these things in our hearts, because we might need them as defense someday, or maybe because they'll allow us never to depend on anyone else.

This is what our culture tells us -- but what Jesus says is different in every regard.

The cost of the gospel is everything we have.  That was the cost of the field - everything.  The man couldn't have claimed the treasure if he'd sold 1/4 of his things, or even 99.9%. He had to give it all.

I imagine that in doing this, that man recognized the relative insignificance of everything else compared to that treasure.  And I imagine that he learned the magic of surrender, that it leads you to depend on what is mightier and holier than you.

Paying with everything we have doesn't sound like a picnic.  Actually, it sounds scary as hell.  If we want to experience the goodness that is following Jesus, we will have to give things we likely want to hold onto, like our money or our reputations or our gifts.

But it is for TREASURE - the type we simply do not have the capacity to dream up.  And to do this, to give it all up for that, is joy.