Audio of the sermon is here:

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            We’re going to have to get used to the treasure being hidden. We should know this; we’ve only had a couple millennia to learn it. But every generation has to learn it again and get used to it. The treasure is hidden. It’s not obvious. It’s hidden like wheat among the weeds in the field of this world. It’s hidden like a treasure in the field. It’s hidden like one pearl among many others. It’s hidden like good fish in a net together with the bad fish. We’re going to have to get used to the treasure being hidden.

            It’s hidden, but there is a man who finds the treasure, re-hides it, and then goes and sells everything in order to buy the field. It’s hidden, but a merchant finds it, sells everything, and buys that pearl. There’s only one Man who can purchase the field of this world, and it’s not you or me. Jesus does tell a rich man to see everything he has, give it all to the poor, and he will have treasure in heaven, and to come, follow Jesus. But the rich man doesn’t sell everything in order to purchase that treasure in heaven. Eternal life with the Creator who has made us is, without a doubt, the greatest treasure. But buying it is not something you can do. This treasure is beyond your pay-grade. For you and me, there is no permanent or lasting treasure here. Do not store up on earth treasure for yourself, where moth and decay destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Indeed, treasure up for yourself treasure in heaven, where no moth and no decay can destroy, and where thieves cannot break in and steal, because it is safe with Jesus. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And if your heart is in treasure in this world, whatever it is, it will go away with the treasure, which can be destroyed, stolen, broken, or just plain worn out. But you cannot buy it. You cannot purchase it, no matter how much you sell, or give, or earn. There is only one Man who can purchase the field of this world, and He has already done it, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. He has purchased the whole world, and He has purchased you, so that you might be His own and live under Him and serve Him in holiness and righteousness forever, just as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity.

            He chose ancient Israel to be His precious and treasured possession, not because they were more numerous, or better, or more powerful, or known to all the peoples of the Ancient Near East, or even because of their location on prime trading routes. He chose them, He says, for one reason only: because He loved them, and He was keeping a promise that He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He chose them and brought them out of slavery in Egypt, baptized them in the Red Sea, and brought them to the Land of Promise, in spite of everything. He loves, He keeps His promises, He chooses. And so He chose you, simply because He loves you. He is keeping His promise. He chose you, Paul says, in Christ before the foundation of the world! You are precious to Him, treasured by Him, because He loves you and keeps His promises. He found you, and purchased the field of the world, so that He might gather all His creatures back to Himself.

            But all of that is hidden from the world, just as He is. Notice that hidden is different from invisible, although He is that too. Invisible just means He can’t be seen. He is hidden, however, not so that He will not be found; but so that He will be found exactly where He has chosen to be, by those whom He has chosen. And He speaks that word to you today to make sure you know that He means you. He is hidden except to faith, clinging to His promises, in spite of everything. And His Church is hidden, too; His Kingdom in heaven is hidden here on earth. And that causes us all sorts of difficulties. But it’s nothing new. The Son of God was hidden as the Son of Man. His chosen disciples had doubts, confusion, uncertainty. They did not always understand. They often went in directions opposite to His teaching. The servants in the parable wondered why there were weeds if the Master had sowed good seed in His own field. Why are things like this? What is God doing? Why isn’t it clear? Why doesn’t He make things clear in the way that I want Him to, or to others, so that it would be obvious? Why does the Church so often look exactly like the world around it? Or why does the Church align itself with the world’s agendas? Why is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church hidden under Christians’ sins and death and the cross of suffering and weakness and foolishness? All of this because God hides His Church in this world, and it cannot be seen directly, but only by the marks Jesus has left: His Word, His absolution, His baptism, His supper. And to believe the Church is present there is beyond what anyone can do by human reason or strength! This treasure is hidden indeed!

            But it will not always be this way. That’s the promise Jesus gives here. The day is coming when He will send His angels and bundle the weeds to be burned, and throw out the bad fish. That is not for us to speculate about, to wonder who are those weeds or who are those fish. That’s not the point at all. This is a promise given to His beloved, chosen disciples, the treasure He found and gave everything to gain. Because right after this, the hiddenness of the treasure is going to be made abundantly clear. Jesus goes back to His own hometown, and He is rejected. God hidden in the flesh of this particular man. And then John the Baptist, the messenger of this hidden God, is going to be beheaded. What kind of treasure is this? And then Jesus Himself is going to be hidden in suffering on the cross, and hidden and buried in death and that grave. But He’s going to rise from the dead. He did rise from the dead on that third day.

            The servant—you, me—is not above his Master. The Church is hidden now, but so also are you, His glorious and treasured possession, hidden. You are hidden under doubt, confusion, weakness. You are hidden under sickness and suffering. You are hidden under sin and death. And you will be hidden in the ground when you die. But you will stay hidden just as little as Christ will be hidden on that day. Every eye will see Him. Every tongue will confess that He is Lord of the field of this world. And He, in His joy, will dig you up, raise you from the dead, and you will shine like stars in the Kingdom of His Father. On that day, nothing will be hidden and everything will be revealed: Jesus in His glory, you in the glory you have from Him, and all creation, which He made and will restore. Thus it is that even hidden in the midst of all this stuff—like sheep to be slaughtered—there is nothing on this earth, nothing anywhere, not even death itself, that will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, because of which He chose you according to His promise, and will keep you until that day of revealing what has been hidden.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

— Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 7/24/26