Parable of the Hidden Treasure
Encyclopedia
Parables of Jesus
The parables of Jesus can be found in all the Canonical gospels as well as in some of the non-canonical gospels but are located mainly within the three synoptic gospels. They represent a key part of the teachings of Jesus, forming approximately one third of his recorded teachings...
, which appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
. According to Matthew 13:44 the parable illustrates the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
. It immediately precedes the Parable of the Pearl
Parable of the Pearl
The Parable of the Pearl is a parable of Jesus. It appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament...
, which has a similar theme. The parable has been depicted by artists such as Rembrandt.
Narrative
The brief ParableParable
A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...
of the Hidden Treasure is as follows:
The setting here presupposes that someone has buried a treasure and later died. The current owner of the field is unaware of its existence. The finder, perhaps a farm labourer, is entitled to it, but is unable to conveniently extract it unless he buys the field. For a poor peasant, such a discovery of treasure represented the "ultimate dream."
Interpretation
This parable is generally interpreted as illustrating the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven, and thus has a similar theme to the Parable of the PearlParable of the Pearl
The Parable of the Pearl is a parable of Jesus. It appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament...
. John Nolland comments that the good fortune reflected in the "finding" reflects a "special privilege," and a source of joy, but also reflects a challenge, just as the man in the parable gives up all that he has, in order to lay claim to the greater treasure he has found.
John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
writes of this parable:
The first two of these parables are intended to instruct believers to prefer the Kingdom of heaven to the whole world, and therefore to deny themselves and all the desires of the flesh, that nothing may prevent them from obtaining so valuable a possession. We are greatly in need of such a warning; for we are so captivated by the allurements of the world, that eternal life fades from our view; and in consequence of our carnality, the spiritual graces of God are far from being held by us in the estimation which they deserve.
The hidden nature of the treasure may indicate that the Kingdom of Heaven "is not yet revealed to everyone."
However, other interpretations of the parable exist, in which the treasure represents Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
or the Church.
In the Gospel of Thomas
A similar parable also appears in the GnosticGnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library...
(Saying 109):
This work's version of the parable of the Pearl appears earlier (Saying 76), rather than immediately following, as in Matthew. However, the mention of a treasure in Saying 76 may reflect a source for the Gospel of Thomas in which the parables were adjacent, so that the original pair of parables has been "broken apart, placed in separate contexts, and expanded in a manner characteristic of folklore." The multiple changes of ownership of the field are unique to the Gospel of Thomas, and reflect a different theme from the New Testament parable.
Depictions
There have been several depictions of the New Testament parable in art, including works by Rembrandt, Jan LuykenJan Luyken
Johannes or Jan Luyken was a Dutch poet, illustrator and engraver.-Biography:...
, James Tissot
James Tissot
James Jacques Joseph Tissot was a French painter, who spent much of his career in Britain.-Biography:Tissot was born in Nantes, France. In about 1856, he began study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Hippolyte Flandrin and Lamothe, and became friendly with Edgar Degas and James Abbott...
, and John Everett Millais
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
.
See also
- Five Discourses of MatthewFive Discourses of MatthewIn Christianity, the term Five Discourses of Matthew refers to five specific discourses by Jesus within the Gospel of Matthew.The five discourses are: the Sermon on the Mount, the Missionary Discourse, the Parabolic Discourse, the Discourse on the Church and the Discourse on End Times.Each of the...
- Ministry of JesusMinistry of JesusIn the Christian gospels, the Ministry of Jesus begins with his Baptism in the countryside of Judea, near the River Jordan and ends in Jerusalem, following the Last Supper with his disciples. The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry...