Matthew 13:44-46

'Papa,' asks the little boy as he is climbing onto his father's lap, 'can you tell me where heaven is?'

The father is busy, as usual, reading the newspaper. He is reading about bombs exploding on a pediatric clinic in the Ukraine. He is reading about the many people on earth who are suffering from malnutrition; about people who have no clean drinking water. He reads how difficult it is to establish peace and fairness and justice in the world.

'Heaven is up there' he says and shows upwards to the ceiling.

But in Sunday school they said that ….'.

Oh yes, thinks the father, always the Sunday school. 'Heaven is where the dear Lord lives. He has his palace in the clouds.' For a little while the little boy is quiet. 'Papa, we learned a song.' The little boy starts singing. 'Do you know where heaven is? Outside or inside? ' then he stops singing. 'I do not know the rest, but at the end is is: 'We are right in the middle of it. 'Are we inside heaven, Papa?'

The father puts his newspaper down. 'What did you ask?'

'Are we inside heaven, Papa? ' The father considers the question. The strife all over the world is closer to hell.

Is there heaven on earth anywhere?

Then he takes his son into his arms. 'Do you know what?' he asks. 'If we give each other a great big hug like this, then we are in heaven'.

Dear congregation,

Father and son made a surprising discovery: they had both found a treasure. They found it in everyday life.

Our text for today is also about such a treasure.

Matthew 13:44-46:

44 “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.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.

46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

'The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in the field.'

When I was a child, I imagined it like this: A big palace where God lives, with a white beard and he is sitting on a throne. Angels are flying around and choirs are singing and trumpets are sounding. This image has nothing to do with our life on earth. It is a totally different, much better world. It is far away from here.

The story of the father and his little boy and the parable of the treasure in the field, speaks a different language. 'We are right inside heaven' and yet we are not. 'Heaven is far away from here'.

Most probably, the man who wanted to buy the field had often looked up to heaven. Maybe he thought that all good things come from heaven. And so he waited for the kingdom of heaven that would come from heaven. He looked up to heaven while he was ploughing his field. Suddenly his plough hit on something hard. What can it be? It was not a stone but a precious vase that he had found. He had never seen something like that. He looked around.

Nobody had seen him. He quickly buried the vase again. He went to the owner. He wanted to buy the field with its treasure legally. The treasure thatchanged his life. It is not true that all good things come from above. There where nobody expects it, he found something that changed his life. Down on earth. In the sermon on the mount Jesus says that; The kingdom of heaven belongs to the those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger for righteousness. The kingdom of heaven does not come with force. It does not come from above. It is here around us. Jesus was not a powerful ruler who established the kingdom of God with brute force. With Him, the kingdom of heaven comes so differently. The kingdom is on the side of those who cry and those who are sad. It is on the side of those who have nothing to laugh about. And so it is with us in this world full of dust. It is hidden under dust. Not easily found.

Dear congregation,

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.

The merchant is looking for pearls. He is searching. He is searching for fulfillment. He is searching for meaning in life. He is looking for healing of his spirit. He is searching for the kingdom of heaven.

This search is in everyone of us.

You all remember the game we played as children at birthday parties: Topfschlagen. The birthday boy or girl is blindfolded and has to find a pot full of sweeties by hitting around with a wooden spoon.

Other children help by calling out hot or cold.

Who tells us that our direction is wrong or that it is right when we are searching for direction in our lives? Today we baptized Amelie. But at the moment she cannot decide on the way she has to take in life. Later in her life that will happen. Later in life will she be able to decide on her direction in life. I think it is very important that we tell our children about the precious pearl we found in Jesus Christ.

The merchant knows the right direction. He had heard the sermon on the mount and he knows what Jesus had said. 'Seek and you shall find...' He knows there is a pearl called the kingdom of heaven. It must be found somewhere. There are moments in life when we do find the pearl for a while. Like in our story at the beginning where the father and his little boy hugged each other. There they are in heaven.

With experiences like that in our luggage we can go on our search for meaning . We know that there is a kingdom to be found. We don't find it as a whole yet, but for a moment only. But we have been promised that we will find it; that it is coming to us; that we are in heaven now and forever.

Our lives remain ever-searching but also ever-finding.

Amen.