Hidden Treasure

Heyyyy you guyyyyyyssss!

One of my all-time favorite movies is The Goonies. I suspect that's because, at the heart of it, is a boy (or several) who is on the verge of losing everything he has ever known, but finds a map to hidden treasure. I would also venture to guess that at one time or another, every boy has dreamed of stumbling upon a pirate's map, locating the X that marks the spot, and setting out for untold adventures. The pay for his heroic actions? A life beyond his imagination--riches untold. Escape from the harsh realities of life.

Matthew 13 tells the parable of a man who finds a treasure in a field. He buries that treasure, sells everything he owns, and then buys the field from an unsuspecting farmer. Buechner (2009) writes, "'He'd give his right arm for a treasure like that, and for the Kingdom of Heaven--Listen,' Bebb says, 'He'd give ten years, twenty years, off his life. You know why? Why because the Kingdom of Heaven, that's what it is. It's life. Not the kind of half-baked, moth-eaten life we most of us live most of the time but the real honest-to-God thing. Life with a capital L. It's the treasure a man spends all his born days looking for, no matter if he knows it or not. The Kingdom of Heaven, it's the treasure that up to a man finds it, every other treasure that comes his way doesn't amount to spit.'"

Perhaps that's it. Our desire for buried treasure is also the desire for the hunt. The longing for riches stems from the fact that we know deep down there's more to life than what we're currently experiencing. We're searching fields and caves not for gold and silver, but for life--life with a capital L. The Bible calls it life abundant. The only way to find that kind of life is through Jesus. I think if we were to truly understand that, we'd sell everything we have, give it away, burn it if we had to, to get to Jesus. Maybe our treasure isn't marked with an X. Maybe it's marked by a cross.