The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like …

Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, Pinetop, Arizona

Rev. Michael “Mick” Mathews

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – July 26, 2026

Sermon:  “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like …”     Matthew 13:44–52

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

The last few weeks, we’ve been listening to some of Jesus’ parables about the kingdom of heaven. We heard the story of the sower, with the seed that fell on different kinds of soil. We heard the story about the weeds sown among the wheat. This morning we actually heard three parables of Jesus about what the kingdom of heaven is like: the treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of great value, and the net gathering every kind of fish.

Did the shortness of the three parables we heard today surprise you – especially after having heard the longer stories in the parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds among the wheat? Maybe you’ve heard the explanation that a parable is “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” So that might lead you to expect that the story in a parable will be more lengthy and detailed. But when you survey the parables of Jesus, you will see that the stories come in different lengths. Some are longer with more details, and some – like the ones we read today – are very short, maybe even just a single sentence. But even with just a few words, Jesus is able to present a vivid picture for us to continue to think about.

At its heart, a parable is about a comparison. Our word “parable” comes from Greek root words that mean “to throw together next to each other.” In Jesus’ parables, He throws a descriptive story next to the kingdom that God is establishing for His people. So He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like” a particular thing. He tosses out something for us to consider that will show us a truth about the kingdom of heaven.

This morning we heard Jesus say:

Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Matthew 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Then, after adding the parable about the net, Jesus asked His disciples, “Have you understood all these things?” (Matthew 13:51). So I might ask you the same thing about the parable of the treasure and the parable of the pearl: Have you understood these things?

These parables seem to be saying that the kingdom of heaven is more valuable than anything else we can find on earth – and that’s certainly a true statement. For Jesus also said, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Matthew 8:36). Nothing is more important than being a part of God’s kingdom both for here and now and for eternity. So that leads most people to think that Jesus is asking us to give our all, to give everything to be part of His kingdom – just like the man who sold everything to buy the field that contained the hidden treasure, and the merchant who sold everything to buy the most valuable pearl. That’s the way that almost every Christian preacher has spoken about these parables throughout church history – and there’s certainly a kernel of truth in what they say. The kingdom of heaven is worth more than anything else on earth. The kingdom of heaven is of such surpassing, eternal value that we should be willing to give everything to have it as our own.

But there’s a problem with understanding the two parables this way. Doesn’t hearing that make you squirm just a little bit? Doesn’t it make you ask yourself: Have I really given everything to be part of God’s kingdom? I know that I should be willing to do that, but have I actually done it? And in the end, will I ever really be able to do it? Or will the sinful selfishness in me always hold me back from giving everything to be part of God’s kingdom?

But maybe there’s a different way to understand these parables. Maybe the man who buys the field and the merchant who buys the pearl is representing someone else and not us. Remember that I mentioned two weeks ago that a general rule of thumb for understanding Jesus’ parables is this: the first person that Jesus mentions in the parable is most likely to be the one who represents God. That would mean that God is the man who buys the treasure hidden in the field, and that God is the merchant who sells everything that He has to buy the pearl of great value. So rather than us having to give everything to obtain God’s kingdom for ourselves, God gives everything to purchase us to be part of His kingdom.

That certainly fits with what God the Father has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Father offered up His own beloved Son as the payment for our sins and the sins of the whole world. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Jesus gave everything that He had, even His own life, so that we could be His own. That makes you His hidden treasure. That makes you His priceless pearl.

That’s also what Moses tried to emphasize to God’s people in Deuteronomy: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession” (Deuteronomy 7:6). Like the people of old, you might wonder, “Why would God do this? Why would God make me His treasured possession?” Moses told them that “the LORD set his love on you and chose you” (Deuteronomy 7:7), but it wasn’t because they were more powerful or more numerous than other people. When God chose the people of Israel, there were only two of them: Abraham and Sarah, and they didn’t yet even have a child, until God gave them their son Isaac in their old age. And God doesn’t choose you as His treasured possession because there’s something special in you either. God chooses you – and all His people – because of something special in Him. He is the God who is filled with steadfast love. He loves you not because you are lovable, but because “God is love” (1 John 4:16). And God is the faithful God who keeps His promise to continue to love you and to make you a part of His kingdom.

St. Paul in Romans 8 reminds us that nothing will be able to separate us from the love that God has for us, the love He has shown us in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38–39). Jesus died for us, and was raised for us, and is seated at God’s right hand for us, and He intercedes for us – all because God loves us. God also tells us that He foreknew us – that means that He knew everything about every moment of our life even before He brought us into being. And God tells us that He also “predestined” us – that He knew everything that He would need to do to bring us to faith in Jesus and to keep us in faith so that we would be His own. So there is nothing that can get in the way of God’s love for us in Jesus, or take His love away. He knows how to work everything for our good and to keep us as His own treasured possession.

So that’s why Jesus also described the kingdom of heaven as a net that is thrown into the sea to gather every kind of fish. Once the net is dragged in, the good fish are sorted from the bad. In the same way, the people of God in the church throw God’s message of love out into the world for all people. At the close of the age, when Jesus comes again, every person will be hauled before Him by the angels. Jesus will keep those people whom He has made righteous by faith in Him. And He will have His angels throw away all wicked people into the fiery furnace of hell. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there, as they realize that they did not have to end up in that place. They could have been saved by Jesus. They could have been His treasured possession.

God truly “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). That’s why God wants us to share the treasures of His kingdom with everyone (Matthew 13:52). God wants us all to be in His heavenly kingdom through faith in Jesus, to be His treasure and His valuable pearl forever.

And the peace of God which passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

       “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

                  we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Matthew 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 13:51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”