“Lost and found” series–“WOULD GOD EVER WANT SOMEONE LIKE ME?”
In the 1850s gold fever gripped Australia. People from all over the country, and many from overseas, rushed to Victoria in their thousands with high hopes of striking it rich, excited by the prospect of finding a nugget that would set them up for life. For an annual fee of £1, miners arriving to the goldfields could purchase a ‘Miners’ Right’ which gave them the right to a parcel of land on which they could build a cottage, establish a garden, and graze animals on vacant Crown land. Most importantly it also gave them the right to dig for gold.

One of these was John Deason, a tin dresser in Cornwall, England, who arrived in Australia in 1854 with his wife Margaret, and colleague Richard Oates. Deason purchased a Miner’s Right by which he was lawfully able to own 50 acres of land in Moliagul, Victoria. Seven years later, Deason was breaking up the ground when his pick struck what he thought to be a stone just an inch under the surface. It was in fact gold! Deason concealed his find until evening, when he and Oates dug the nugget out and when it was dark, brought it to Deason’s hut covered up on the back of a wagon. There they put it in the fireplace and stayed up all night, breaking quartz off for 10 hours to reveal the gold. Deason had discovered real treasure indeed. At 66kg, it remains the largest nugget ever discovered and would later be named ‘The Welcome Stranger’[1].

It’s incredible that Deason initially stood on top of this giant nugget without realising it, buried just an inch under the surface beneath soil and leaf litter. It’s not a dissimilar situation to that of the man in the field in Jesus’ parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

When Jesus first taught this parable, burying riches would not have been surprising to Jesus’ audience. The practice was relatively frequent due to war and the risk of losing personal possessions during invasion, or political instability where excessive taxation threatened the family inheritance. People would bury their treasure on their land in an earthen vessel to hide it for safekeeping. It could happen that after the owner died, others didn’t know the hoard was there until accidentally stumbled upon years later.

Jesus says that the purpose of this parable is to teach what the kingdom of heaven is like—that is, what God is like and how he goes to work. Jesus teaches these heavenly truths by using earthly realities—earthly realities that his first audience would be well familiar with, like the practice of burying one’s wealth in their backyard. So how does this parable, and the one of the fine pearl, help us understand truths about the Kingdom of Heaven?

The main way has historically been to see the treasure as representing Christ and his gospel. When a person comes to faith, and discovers Christ and the gospel, they recognise it as such a treasure and give up all they have to follow Jesus.

Of course, it’s true that Christ and his word are indeed a great treasure. But I don’t think Jesus intends the treasure in the parable to represent himself and his gospel, for three reasons:

1. The treasure in the field is an inanimate object. It has no life. It has been buried there. However, Jesus, of course, is not a lifeless object, waiting to be found, nor is his word stagnant, but living and active. Jesus is the one who goes out and does the seeking and finding, sending out his word to gather his people to himself.
2. The natural human condition is one in which we are opposed to Jesus and his divine message of truth. This is precisely why human beings need salvation! Selling everything one has to have treasure in heaven is not possible for anyone in our natural state. Jesus said: “What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
3. Jesus tells this parable to teach us what the Kingdom of heaven is like—what God does. There is only one person in the parable—the man in the field, who discovers the treasure. This character must represent God, and not us.

So if the character represents God, and not us…what—or who—does the treasure represent?

The treasure represents God’s people. It represents us. You are the treasure!

Perhaps you might think this could never be possible! Perhaps you know someone who thinks God would never want them…that they could never belong in God’s kingdom and be treasured by him. Perhaps you’ve thought that at times yourself.

The doubts that God would ever want us, let alone treasure us, are usually for two reasons. One is a person’s sense of guilt and shame for some terrible way they have ‘messed up their life’. People in that situation often think that their sins and mistakes are so great that no one would ever want them, even less that God would want them. They carry around their guilt and shame as an invisible boulder, fearful of their secret past being exposed…and fearful of God’s punishment, because they could never make right what they’ve done wrong.

The second is the pain of an abusive situation others have inflicted upon them, plunging their life into chaos with a deep sense of shame and unworthiness of anyone’s love. Being able to trust others is a crippling challenge for people in such situations because trust necessarily means becoming vulnerable with others, and everyone they have been vulnerable with in the past has abused their trust and discarded them like a broken toy. People trapped in circumstances such as these go from one abusive and dysfunctional relationship to the other, feeling that there is no one they can trust, and consequently, no place they feel they belong—certainly not a place in the kingdom of heaven. They think that there is no way anyone would ever want them…not even God.

That’s exactly why Jesus taught these parables: because the devil’s temptation to us to despair and believe the lie that we’d never be wanted by anyone—and even that God would never want us—is more common than we might think. Jesus tells these parables for all those who feel like they could never be treasured by God because the suffocating burden of guilt and shame from their failings, or because they have been abused and abandoned by others, is too great to bear.

Notice in these parables it is not the treasure or the pearl that do anything. It is the man who finds the treasure. It is the man who goes searching for a pearl and finds one. This shows us the profound truth that it is not us who search for and find God, but of his own will he searches for and finds us. Like John Deason who left his home in Cornwall to travel to Australia in the search of gold, God the Father sent his Son to come all the way from his heavenly home to earth and dwell among us, in the search for treasure—for a people whom he gathers and claims as his own.

When John Deason went searching for gold he paid for a miner’s license so that whatever he found on that land would legally be his. And having found the Welcome Stranger, he concealed it and brought it back to his hut under the cover of darkness, because he didn’t want to risk anyone else finding it. He did not want any rivals to possess it. Similarly, the man in the field in the parable goes and sells everything he has so that he can buy the field, so that the land and everything in it legally belongs to him and no other rival. The merchant finding the fine pearl sells everything that he has in order that the pearl can legally be his own and no one else can have a claim to it.

How might you be able to use this parable with someone you know who thinks that God has abandoned them and would never care enough to give them a place of belonging in his kingdom?

The Cross is where this parable is fulfilled. God sent his Son Jesus, to shed his holy and precious blood to rescue us from all evil—from the wrong we have done and still do, and the evils committed by others against us. The Cross is where the question “Would God ever want someone like me?” is answered.

There is a suggested guide after this sermon for how you might give someone else hope through this parable, but in a nutshell, should anyone ever share with you their disbelief that God could ever love them, make the time to patiently listen to their story. Affirm their struggle, grief, pain and anxiety without making any judgments of them, trying to correct them, or fix short term problems. Sit with them and listen.

When they are ready, ask them if you can share the hope you have for them. The goal here is not to build up self-esteem—for the person to grow in confidence and faith in themselves. The goal is actually to build up confidence in what God thinks of them, and says about them, and what he has done to make this a reality in their own lives. Use this parable to tell them there is someone who values them so much, quite apart from what they have done or what has been done to them. Explain that when we look to the Cross—where God the Father did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—we see most clearly that God is for us and has invested everything into us, that we might be his own.

And remember to tell them that when God finds them, his treasure, he is overjoyed!

God is overjoyed that you are his, too, dear brothers and sisters. God didn’t choose us because we were good, or because we somehow deserved it. He chose us before we had any opportunity to attempt to measure up to his standards and prove ourselves to him, as if that could ever be possible. God’s choosing of you is completely dependent on his initiative and on his grace. He called you to him, claimed you as his own so that no other spiritual or earthly power or authority has a claim to you. He gathered you into his family, declared you to be not guilty and made you holy in his sight. For most of us, this was before we could utter a word. But God spoke, and said: “I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”.

There are many things in our possession but not all are treasured. The things we treasure and don’t want to lose we keep close to us, and put our name on them, so that no-one else can have a claim to them.

So it is with God. In Isaiah 49:16, God says of his people: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”. In John 10 Jesus says: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29). This is true for you. And today’s parable says that God is overjoyed about that. Amen.

 

Pastor Tim Ebbs
St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Glenelg
Ordinary Time, 2025

 

Application points: how could this parable help you respond to someone who feels like God would never want them?

Note: this is not intended to be an exhaustive list or a perfect step-by-step instruction of how to get results, but just ideas and suggestions as a guide only that needs to be adapted to each context

1. Pray for an opportunity to share your faith and tell this parable with someone who needs to hear it!
2. Study this parable and know it. You won’t be able to help someone else engage with the Good News of this parable if you don’t know it and how it applies to you yourself!
3. Work on building positive relationships with those around you—those you are friends with, your neighbours, work colleagues, the retail attendant who you recognize serves you regularly. Ask them how they are. Be intentional about showing care and concern for them. This kind of relationship building takes years, but it is worth it.
4. Keep praying!
5. Look for openings to share the practical aspects of your faith when the opportunity presents itself—for example, when those you talk with ask if you have a busy week, tell them what you’ll be doing in your volunteering capacity at St Paul’s. If they ask if you’re doing anything on the weekend, tell them that you’ll be going to church, and explain where St Paul’s (or whatever your local congregation) is.
6. Invite them to come with you to one of the activities of the congregation. Note: one of the main reasons people feel uncomfortable in coming to worship on Sundays is that it is a completely foreign environment to them, in which they know no one else. We would feel the same about going to a new facility on our own for the first time without anyone with us!

Of course, invite them to come with you to worship, but inviting them to come to one of the activities of the congregation (e.g Music nite, Latte Ladies, Wednesday community meal) might be a more appropriate first step of connecting with a church for them, where the goal is to meet some more people from the congregation without the added pressure of navigating through an entire worship service.

1. If they share a difficult situation in their life with you, welcome this! Be patient and non-judgmental with them. Give them permission to share further with you, if they are comfortable doing so.
2. Offer to pray for them If the situation allows, it would be ideal if you are able to pray with them, asking God who is everywhere present, to help, bless and comfort them.
3. If the person bears some kind of great guilt and/or shame, it is crucial that you validate what they feel! Not to do so would make you just another person in their life they feel they cannot trust. They may likely express that God would never love them, want them or care about them (this would most likely come to the surface somewhere between points 6-8 above). At this point, validate what they feel! (“I’m so sorry to hear what has happened and that you feel like that…”). Avoid moralizing (“You should forgive and forget…you shouldn’t feel that way…you just need to…”).

The person would most likely not welcome prayer or accept an invitation to come to church because their sense of guilt and shame is great. Many people in these circumstances have a mental image of the church only heaping more condemnation and judgment upon them, and the thought of coming is unbearable. They may likely express that there is no way God would ever want someone like them.

1.  Ask if you may share the hope you have—that we are all valuable to God and he wants us as his own:

• Jesus told a story about that once—about a man who one day found treasure in a field. He was overjoyed when he found the treasure, and hid it again because he didn’t want anyone else to claim it. Then he went away to buy the field so that the treasure in it could be his own.
• This is a story about God at work in the world. This is a story about God and you too. God wants each of us to know him and know his love. He values a relationship with everyone so much that he gave everything he had. God the Father did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all on the Cross. The price he paid for you to belong to him was everything that he had—the precious blood of his only Son Jesus.

Don’t focus on results, but on the relationship…and keep endeavoring to strengthen it. Follow up with them through the week. Remember that it is all up to God, and he delights to use and work through all his children in his

[1] https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ricksmith61/genealogy/scilly/ps06/ps06_023.html

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