Episode Transcript
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These parables that Jesus tells today aren’t
about straight-forward business transactions.
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Nor are these parables about how much
we can own or possess or control.
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These parables are about the opposite of this
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– they are actually about
what takes possession of us.
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In the first parable, we hear of someone
– maybe a labourer working in a field
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– finding a buried treasure.
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This probably isn’t as fanciful as it might seem.
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In the days before banks
and financial institutions,
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the only real way to protect your
money was to hide it – to bury it.
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So perhaps finding buried
treasure wasn’t that unusual.
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What is unusual is what happens next.
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The finder doesn’t claim the
treasure – he buries it again,
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sells everything and buys the field.
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It's not the treasure itself
that has taken hold of him;
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it’s the joy of discovery.
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In Jesus’ world, finders are indeed keepers,
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but not keepers of things
– they are keepers of joy.
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Then there is the hard-working merchant
who makes his living looking for pearls.
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This isn’t just a job; he has a love of pearls.
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And in amongst all the pearls that he's seen,
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there is one that he values beyond compare.
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For all the routine of his job,
something jumps out at him;
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it takes hold of him and he lets everything
else go in pursuit of the priceless pearl.
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Jesus tells us to be prepared for surprises
amongst the ordinary routine of life.
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If we pay attention, we will be astonished.
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What marks all these parables is the joy
of surprise and the freedom that it brings.
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This is their greatest discovery.
