Whenever I drive northward toward Eureka, SD, I often wonder how the town received its name. I know that the word ‘Eureka’ comes from the Greek verb ‘eurisko,’ which means to find or obtain. Archimedes, a great physicist of his day, in discovering his fundamental principle concerning the law of fluid mechanics, supposedly exclaimed the expression “Eureka” as he found his hypothesis to be accurate. He found what he was looking for. So it was for the California gold miners in 1849, when John Sutter found gold and a wave of immigrants, hearing the discovery, came out to have their own eureka moments, all leading to a town in California to be named that very word. And so, as the story goes with Eureka to the north of us, the city supposedly got its name when railroad builders, rounding a bend on the east side of the city, saw west at the flat land with little dirt and no rocks. They then shouted “Eureka!” This should be a lot easier to build a railroad.

And so, knowledge for Archimedes, gold for the miners, easy digging for the railroaders, they all found it! And so have we! Eureka! We found it! We found buried treasure! Like a man digging in a field or a merchant looking for goodly pearls, we by the grace of God have found a treasure in the field of His Word and the Pearl of the greatest value in His Son, Jesus Christ.

(We pray…)

When it comes to the field of God’s Word and its treasure buried therein, and when it comes to the Pearl of great price, we find that mankind by nature does not naturally look for this treasure. Mankind toils and labors to lay up treasures in this life that moth and rust destroy. They try to obtain the most toys to make themselves happy. They try to work the fields of life, toiling and laboring for wealth, pride, respect and honor among men of worldly repute. The sad thing is that mankind will never obtain what they are looking for, for even if they become the richest person in the world, what did it take to get there? What satisfaction is there when that wealth is either more fragile than its owner, being taken away by crime and circumstance; or that the owner is more fragile than his wealth, dying and leaving it behind heaped up by his graveside. Many a wealthy man has been hurt and killed for his wealth, and many a culture tries to bury their wealth with them in an attempt to take it to the afterlife, such as Egyptian pyramids or Viking boats. Oh how sad this is, because none of this is real treasure. None of it can buy you passage through the pearly gates. None of this can bribe the Almighty and Just Judge into letting one get away with an innocence plea.

And as with pearl of great price, there are among men those with at least a semblance of a conscience and the not-completely hardened heart that recognizes that there is a God out there somewhere. In looking for goodly pearls, they look for the ideal things of earth. These are men who make wisdom their aim, who mean to benefit humanity by deeds of philanthropy and kindness, who devote themselves to science and art, the promotion of peace among nations and people, moral living, betterment of social condition, and so forth. They search the world over for their pursuits and find fickle, faulty makeshifts made by man’s devices. And once again, all these goodly pearls come nowhere near the Greatest Pearl.

Now here is the warning, when mankind is told that there is buried treasure in this field or is presented the best pearl by jewel cutter standards, what do they do with it? They search in field of God’s Word and find it useless to them, as if glancing at the acreage for five seconds and saying, “I’ll pass.” And then continue to try to make it in this life by their own works. And as thousands pass over the filed, dig and work in it all their lives, and never find the hidden treasure, so the great majority of merchants are satisfied with “goodly pearls,” such as they find again and again in the treasuries of their kind, and even deny that there can be any one pearl absolutely superior to all others, and should they perhaps light upon it, imagine it to be a fabrication, an imitation fit for children to play with, but not for sober, solid merchants to place amid their stores. Like the philosophers that Paul preached to that dismissed the resurrection as an imitation, so many today hear of Christ, the pearl of Great price, and call Him a cheap imitation for children to play with.

Don’t dismiss the field of God’s Word, don’t see Christ as a cheap imitation pearl for the distraction of the masses. God’s Word is the only field to find treasure, and the pearl is not a crutch or opiate to the masses, but rather your ticket to heaven.

And so, we thank God that we have found it! Eureka! We found treasure worth more than gold or silver. We found the treasure in the field. Now, to put you in your minds the context of what Jesus’ original hearers of this parable may have thought. This is no pirate’s cove chest in the Caribbean like you may be imagining. The circumstance which supplies the groundwork of this first parable, namely the finding of a concealed treasure, is of much more frequent occurrence in an insecure state of society, such as in the days of Jesus. In Eastern customs, on account of frequent changes of dynasties, and the revolutions that accompany them, many rich men would divide their goods into three parts: one they employ in commerce, or for their necessary support; one they turn into jewels, which, should it prove needful to leave their country, could be easily carried with them; and a third part they would bury. But as they trust no one with the place where the treasure is buried, they would tell no one, and the treasure becomes as good as lost to the living, until, by chance, a lucky peasant digging in his field, finds it. Stories of these, peasants becoming set for life through a monarch’s buried treasure, occurred more often in those times. And so, this man didn’t just find a coin in a field, and since we’re talking about the kingdom of God, he found more than just a treasure chest. It’s as if he dug into a cave lined chest upon chest of valuables!

The same goes for the pearl of great price. In ancient times, pearls had tremendous value, having sums almost incredible having been given for single pearls, when perfect of their kind. The pearl merchant therefore had to assess honestly, looking for yellow, dusky tinge, and a smooth texture. They could settle for nothing but the best. And so, good pearls had tremendous price in Jesus’ day, and Jesus, being a pearl of great price, has a value that transcends human understanding.

And so, with the warning not to spurn the treasure in the field and to look at the pearl as if it were fake, and with the emphasis on just how valuable these findings are, what is it that we have happened upon? Why are we shouting Eureka? What exactly have we by God’s good grace found? In this treasure you have found the vastest treasure, and in the pearl a treasure which cannot be surpassed in quality. In the field of God’s Word, hearing it’s threats and promises, God’s will and His loving patience and kindness, we find a treasure trove so magnificent, halls of jewels and gems beyond your wildest dreams! First, we come to the royal diadem that is the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Remember the Almighty judge and God that condemns sinfulness? This Son, Jesus Christ, has taken the condemnation we deserved on the cross and given us the plea of innocence given in His righteous life. In this treasure trove you have the scarlet ruby of His sacrificial blood shed as payment for you, and you have the royal white robe of His righteousness lived for you. You have the precious jewel of His resurrection, which proclaims His victory over sin, death, and the devil. You have the golden assurance of eternal life, waiting in the most glorious consummation in Heaven. You have the gems of joy, peace with God, and hope. You have the jewel of God’s grace, all that He does for you that you don’t deserve. The crown of His mercy, all that He spares you from that you do deserve. You have the signet ring of faith, the gift of God given to you that you may trust in Him and follow Him, yielding fruits. You have His miraculous gems of baptism and the Lord’s supper, given in Christ’s word for the sure seal and power for the forgiveness of sins, strengthening of faith, and eternal life in Him.

And it this same vast treasure, you have the most quality treasure, the pearl of great price. You have the only Savior. You have the only treasure that you can take with you when you die. You have the only way to true happiness and peace. You have the best and only philosophy, the freedom of Christ that has taken away the Law’s condemnation and given us the thankful heart of faith that trusts in Him and illumines the wisdom and love in God’s will. In this pearl of great price, in Jesus Christ our Lord, you see the best way to live: trusting in Him and the peace that that brings; using properly His holy name, which brings the blessings of prayer and praise, teaching and truth; using His Holy Word as the lamp to you life; loving your neighbor as your calling, such as loving and honoring God’s gifts of authority, life, marriage, property, reputation, and contentment. You see that in Him, though you may be ridiculed as wasting your time and investment and may even be persecuted, but you have it the easiest in the long run, for you have the pearl of great price.

So, Eureka! You found it! By the grace of the Holy Ghost, you have been brought to faith in Jesus through His life-giving word! You know what you have. And now, like the man and the merchant, we sell all that we have in order to purchase the field and the pearl. No, not selling our house and car, clothes and shoes. This is different. We don’t want to lose these treasures! We want to keep them! We don’t want any sinful influences, mammon which we cannot also serve as well as God, stripping us of the only inheritance this valuable. Selected verses of hymn 425 demonstrate this importance, “All depends on our possessing God’s abundant grace and blessing, though all earthly wealth depart. He who trusts with faith unshaken in his God is not forsaken and e’er keeps a dauntless heart. Many spend their lives in fretting over trifles and in getting things that have no solid ground. I shall strive to win a treasure that will bring me lasting pleasure and that now is seldom found.” Let this treasure which is yours by faith, the treasure of Jesus Christ and the salvation which He brought, lead you in casting aside all earthly treasures that would seek to replace Him as the treasure and pearl in your heart.

So, Eureka! You found it! By the grace of God, you have found the treasure of Christ Jesus your Lord. No one can take this gift from you, and it will prove to be your peace, joy, and hope, for it is the only treasure that lasts an eternal lifetime, the only treasure you can take with you when you pass to away to heavenly splendor.