Sermon for July 26, 2026, Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Matthew 13:44-52 (Ninth Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 12—Series A)

“The Lord’s Treasure is You and Me Together”

Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield CT

July 26, 2026

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text is the Gospel Reading from Matthew 13:

[Jesus said,] ⁴⁴ “The reign of heaven is like a treasure that stands hidden in the field, which a man, upon finding it, he hid, and from his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ⁴⁵Again, the reign of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. ⁴⁶And upon finding a very precious pearl, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. . . . On account of this, every scribe who has become a disciple of the reign of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure room new things and old things.”

          For Christians, those who trust and follow Jesus as His disciples, there is the promise of security in Christ who came into Israel and the world like a man willing to sell everything he has in order to acquire His treasured possession—whether a treasure in a field or a pearl of great value. Christians who understand this will have a treasure-store of wisdom and truth that comes from Jesus. He or she will be able to speak good things out of this Good News treasure, most importantly, the good things about Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. It is these disciples who take their place in the mission of Christ who sends them into the world with this Gospel news so that men, women, and children might believe in Him as the only Savior, follow Him as Lord, and be saved from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation.

          Looking at our text from this angle, Christians have been called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. But, before we were found, we were hidden in the field of the world, hidden under the reign and rule of the devil. We were “lost and condemned creatures. We were “blind, dead, and enemies of God.” It was God in Christ who found you and me when we were lost and condemned. It was God in Christ who found us when we were blind, dead, and His enemies. As what did He do? Listen to Jesus’ words. “The reign of heaven is like a treasure that stands hidden in the field, which a man, upon finding it, he hid, and from his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the reign of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding a very precious pearl, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

          In the reign of heaven, you and I are treasures and precious pearls. Out of pure, fatherly divine goodness and mercy, our heavenly Father gave His One-of-a-Kind Son to be our Savior. 1 Peter 1:18-19, “[You know] that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Pet. 1:18-19 ESV). The Lord Jesus gave you and me His everything, His own perfect life to the death of a cross to purchase us through His sacrificial death and resurrection. Now we are forgiven! Saved! Jesus gave us His everything so that we are redeemed—bought back—from sin, death, and Satan. How did we learn it from the Small Catechism? “I believe that Jesus Christ . . . has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.”

Jesus Christ has saved us from the power of the devil, the world, and the flesh so that we are God’s own children and live under Christ in His reign and rule. Jesus is our Lord “who has brought us from Satan to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and who preserves us in the same.”^[1] We are equipped by the Spirit and empowered by the Gospel Word and Sacraments of Christ to stand against the devil, world, and flesh as victors in Christ. And together, we have the Scriptures containing the inspired Old and New Testaments that testify to God’s saving work for the world in His Son, Jesus Christ. We have also been given the Gospel to proclaim as disciples who are called to make more disciples through baptizing and teaching this very Word of forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ. We pull out from the treasure-store of His holy Scriptures “Old Testament things” and “New Testament things” to share in Jesus’ name.

By the grace of God, you and I have been receiving these Gospel gifts and sharing in Christ’s Gospel work together as Jesus’ treasured possessions for 25 years. That’s pretty incredible, given that statistics show the average parish pastor remains at one congregation about 7 years. So, as much as you so lovingly are celebrating the 25^th anniversary of my ordination, we are also celebrating my installation as your pastor and the partnership that we have shared in the Gospel over these two and a half decades.

Our District President in 2001, The Rev. James Keurulainen, ordained and consecrated me to the Office of the Holy Ministry of the Word and the Sacrament’s in the one, holy, Christian, and apostolic Church. Almost immediately in that service, I was then installed as this congregation’s eighth pastor. You, with the help of God, have received me, shown to me the love, honor, and obedience in the Lord that you owe to the shepherd and teacher placed over you by your Lord Jesus Christ. You have, with the help of God, upheld me, and aided me as I care for my family, and have been diligent to “put the best construction on everything,” recognizing that “love covers a multitude of sins.”

And so, our partnership in the Gospel began. Along with Paul in Philippians 1, I am able to say, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil. 1:3-5 ESV). And that partnership is really the fellowship of the Gospel of Christ. In Baptism, Christ made me His redeemed and forgiven son. In Baptism, Jesus made you His redeemed and forgiven sons and daughters. Through the Divine Call of the Lord through the Church, I was called and ordained into the Ministry in which I have served alongside you in this congregation.

And that, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is the very heart of the pastoral ministry. Pastors are not masters, bosses, or lords over their congregations. They are just that, pastors, shepherds, who care for the people of God with His Word and Sacraments. St. Peter writes concerning the responsibility of the Office of the Holy Ministry, “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:2-3 ESV). Out of the treasure-store of the Scriptures, using what I pray is always the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, I continue endeavoring to deliver to you “new things and old things,” centered in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. As I do so in the Name of Jesus, it is His Gospel and Spirit that equips you as His treasured possessions to be His disciples who, with joy, receive His forgiveness and then share His Good News of forgiveness and eternal life with others.

This is our partnership, our fellowship, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ—pastor and people together. We serve one another in love, receiving from our common Lord and Savior the forgiveness of sins. Then, together in Christ’s mission, we share the boundless love of Jesus with others in our daily vocations or callings. We tell them joyfully of the Savior who gave everything on the cross to save them from sin and death. We speak the Good News of our Living Lord who rose from the dead and makes all His treasured possessions through Gospel Word and Sacrament.

Brothers and sisters, with gratitude and joy let us give thanks this day for my ordination to the Office of the Ministry through Jesus Christ who established this office in His Church through which “are imparted not bodily but eternal things and gifts, namely eternal righteousness, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.” Let us praise the Lord that He has permitted us as Pastor and Congregation to serve Him together these 25 years and pray that our Lord will continue to sustain and support us in this blessed ministry. Amen.

     ^[1] Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005), 402.