This homily was preached by Revd Dr Harold Ristau at the weekly Eucharist celebrated at CLTS on 13 October 2021.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The homily this morning is based upon our hymn “Jesus Priceless Treasure” and our morning collect: “Lord Jesus Christ, whose grace always precedes and follows us, help us  to  forsake all  trust in earthly  gain and to find in You our heavenly treasure; for You live in the reign with the Father and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”

When I was a kid I loved pirates. Pirate novels, like Treasure Island by Stevenson, or those classic pirate movies that we’d watch on TV after church on Sunday afternoons. I was intrigued particularly with the treasure hunts. Buried treasure on the beach, chests of gold and precious stones, marked by an x on a mysterious map.

I remember how disillusioned I was when I signed out some non-fiction library books in elementary school on pirates, and to find out that much of it was untrue, such as the part on buried treasure. Burying treasures wasn’t normal nor sensible, unless you were a pirate in a real pinch hiding stolen treasure from the authorities.

Discovering that buried treasure chests were largely unreal, also meant there was less of a chance that I would find one someday. I didn’t want to be a pirate. But I did want to be treasure hunter.

When we look around our world and lives, we observe all kinds of treasures, don’t we? It’s pretty easy seeing what kinds of treasures we value. Just look at what you spend your money on, or what keeps you up at night, sucking up your time, or keeping you from sleep. What do you worry about? What do you fight over? What do you insist upon as necessities for you and your family and loved ones? Some of our treasure we hoard in our homes, others we hide in our hearts – so deeply buried that we have forgotten that they are even there -- others buried away for a rainy day, or stowing it from the ultimate authority, God.

We sang about another treasure a few minutes ago: Jesus Priceless Treasure. It’s abhorrent how we tempt our treasured Lord to compete with these other treasures while at the same time claiming him as the fount of purest pleasure.

The mysterious thing about treasure is that we think that we possess it, whereas, in reality, it possesses us! Usually for the worse: our love of these treasures is the source of our greed, envy, lust and all sorts of other ungodly behaviour. Yet when it comes to Jesus, it’s for the good. For the most treasurable part of this treasure is not that we possess it, but that it possesses us. That our Lord deems you his most priceless treasure and gives up everything to have you! That is the hidden gem, the priceless Gospel tucked away in the Chest of His Holy Book and cherished means of grace. Here X marks the spot of on each page of that priceless book and on each one of his priceless sacraments. This map leads you back again and again to the place where you were made his own esteemed possession, holy baptism; the place he affirms you as the beloved object of his love, his holy altar.

Jesus is indeed a treasure hunter who sold all he had to buy you from the kingdom of darkness: He purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the pirating devil and thief: not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. He redeemed you from the kingdom of hell by giving up himself for you to the point of death, even death on a cross. You are his treasure. And that is why He is your treasure, since you have been “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the deposit of our inheritance of heaven.” This treasure treasures you so much that he enters your heart to posses it with his love, until you arrive at the port of your heavenly home, by the ship of his holy church of which he is also the captain. The Holy Spirit digs Himself into your life so that as he remains in you, you remain in him. One treasure valuing another.

He is your priceless treasure. And possessing him and being possessed by him, has wonderful golden repercussion. We sung these words earlier in the Psalm which are fulfilled for us in His holy mass and Holy Word:

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;

    you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;

    in your light we see light.

This treasure shouldn’t have to compete with other treasures in your life, empty chests or ones filled with vain and silly things. He doesn’t want you hunting for other treasures either, though nothing you do will stop him from treasuring you. And yet though sin and hell assail me, Jesus will not fail me. Instead he forgives us our sins, and thereby buries those worthless yet idolatrous things, values and ideas…. but not in a way that you can get them back or still keep them secretly sacred in your heart. He exposes them in his crucifixion and then buries them away forever in his empty tomb, so that we can arise with him from His cross and grave as new people, free from the enslavement that they bring, and, thus, liberated from them and their consequences in our lives.

We sadly remain a mixed bag of treasures as we journey from this Island of earth, to our eternal home across the ocean of our lives. Yet our Lord –possessed with love for his treasure -- won’t let  go  of  us. Instead, he strips us of our false treasures that compete with the only ones which really count, those of real value. Like this morning: Whether it be our sin loads of treasure or treasure loads of sin, we dump them all into the pit of his mercy, for they are not allowed into His Kingdom. Certainly it hurts giving up these things that we value way too much, particularly when we discover the hard truth about them, when we have the courage to really dig deep and allow the lids on these chests -- stowed away in the depths of our hearts and souls -- to be ripped open: to see how harmful they are to us and others, how offensive they are  to God, and how “unreal” and fictitious they are as treasure. Yet “Pain or loss or shame or cross shall not from my Saviour move me, since he deigns to love me.” For this treasure becomes the source of all Christian virtue; meaning this treasure changes what we treasure.

Jesus is the treasure. He isn’t unreal. He is, in fact, the only real treasure in creation. And He isn’t hidden or hard to find. For this glorious treasure is beheld forever by the adoring eyes of the faithful. And the precious contents of this chest are easily and graciously accessible to you his treasured people.

Jesus is your priceless treasure. But even better, you are his   priceless   treasure.  Amen.