“An Unfailing Treasure”
August 10, 2025
Rev. Rebecca Migliore
I’ll tell you a secret. When I write the first draft of the bulletin on Tuesday, and even when I proof it on Thursday, I have not yet written my sermon. So I put in a meditation title, based on what I think my sermon is going to be about. And that usually works. This week it did not. Because as I thought about our reading for today, my focus shifted from the idea of “what is the unfailing treasure?” that Jesus is talking about—to the interesting constellation of images of God that he presents.
And in my mind this also suggests that today we shift our focus from looking at ourselves, to looking at God. What images of God am I speaking about?—well, there are three. The first one is almost hidden. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” If we are the flock, then God must be the Shepherd. Maybe Jesus knew that all he had to do was invoke the image of flock to have Psalm 23 and all the other shepherd imagery flood into our minds.
This is God as our protector. God as the One who leads us. God who makes sure we are provided for, leading us to green pastures and helping us find calm water—even searching for us if we get lost. Jesus, in the gospel of John even calls himself the “good shepherd” in one of the I AM statements. We are on familiar ground. And it is here that Jesus uses that phrase, “unfailing treasure.” If God is going to provide so much of what we need (think the Lukan Lord’s prayer), why should we try to store up treasure on earth (remember last week’s parable)?
No, store up unfailing treasure, faith in God, a life well lived, doing justice and loving mercy and walking step by step with God.
But Jesus isn’t satisfied with just one image of God (and neither should we be!). So he moves onto another one—The Master. Now whether you use the wording master and slave or master and servant, it is clear that this is a hierarchical relationship. This is God the King, God our Lord and Master. So high that we can not really grasp who this God is. So powerful that we can only grovel at God’s feet. And this Master expects servitude, or at least service from us.
Even if the Master is away, we are to be dressed and ready, with our lamps on. Yes sir. Yes, Sire! But instead of the boot camp or plantation image-- Jesus pulls up what would have been a common experience to people of his time: that of the household waiting for the bridegroom to appear—waiting with expectation and excitement, waiting so that the moment the bridegroom, the Master, knocks, they can throw open the doors to welcome him (and the new bride) home. This waiting doesn’t seem forced, or a chore—you can feel the tremor of emotion as the household waits as a community. When will he come? Do you see the bridal procession yet? Is everything ready for the celebration?
I don’t think I’m reading too much into this scenario, because as Jesus looks forward, he imagines the time when the Master does arrive. And instead of sitting down and expecting the slaves to serve him the wedding feast—he asks them to sit down, and fastens his belt and serves them! What? This is unexpected. Now there is imagery in the Hebrew Scriptures of a servant king.
But most images of God are of the Lordly Master, the one who we should serve, not the one who serves us. Jesus is foreshadowing his message of servant leadership, even his own service (seen most iconically in the gospel of John when he stoops down to wash the disciples’ feet).
So this familiar image of God as Master has a twist, a Jesus twist. It is a common image and yet it leads us into paths that are a little wild, maybe even a little scary. Blessed are we for being ready? The Master serves us? This might be an unusual image of God for those who Jesus was talking to. But it is a pleasant image, like the one of the Shepherd. Yes, God is Master and Lord, but a Lord who cares for us, a Lord who might even feed us and serve us our daily bread (and some wedding cake as well!).
By now I think the listeners are feeling pretty good. The Lord is our Shepherd, absolutely. Our Master God, the One we serve, is a good master. A master who acts more like a friend, or even who is willing to let us get off our tired feet and sit down to eat together. God might even be the one serving the feast! That’s a nice upside-down, inside out twist (like most of the parables and stories that Jesus tells). We can be like that owner of the vineyard who finds that they have an abundance of treasure. In fact, didn’t Jesus say unfailing treasure? Maybe that’s like the goose that lays the golden eggs. Maybe he meant that God would continue to give us more than we need! Hey, let’s eat, drink, and be merry! It’s time to celebrate!
And, of course, there is the expected reply—"not so fast.” And here comes the last image in this story—a difficult image. God as the thief in the night! “If the owner of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.” What is Jesus talking about?
It would be easy to say, well we are talking about us and how we are to be ready (as the household is ready for the bridegroom). And that has some merit. But I was really caught by the idea that this was the third in a series of images of God. Why would Jesus be picturing God as a thief? (Thanks to E. Trey Clark, of workingpreacher.com who set me on this exploration.)
What do we have that God would want to steal? Or maybe the image is not about stealing but about having your house being broken into. If you have ever had that experience, it shakes you up. All that you thought was safe and protected, now feels vulnerable. You might start to be afraid that it could happen again. What if we had been home when it happened? Time to get more locks. Time to get a security system. Time to get a rottweiler!
Hold on a minute, says Jesus. Great that you want to be prepared. Wonderful that you are so protective of the stuff that I told you could rot or be stolen (and wasn’t truly precious anyway!). Don’t you remember that I told you to be rich towards God? But you are missing the point. You have let yourselves become the focus of your thoughts. Get back to looking at God. Why might I have said that God was like a thief? What do you know about thieves?
Well, you answer. They are not expected, not on your calendar. They break into your home, the very heart of where you live—the place that makes you comfortable. They mess up your life. Yes, responds Jesus. Go with that thought. God as Thief. Ah, we think. It was too good to be true that God would only be a Shepherd God taking care of us, and a Servant Master God that upends our expectations.
No, God is also the unexpected Thief. The One who breaks into our lives whether we are ready or not. The One who messes about with our comfortable preconceptions of how we are to be, how we are to live, what is important, what is treasure! The One who enters into the very center of who we are!
God is like that. The Son of Man is like that! You cannot think that a faithful life will be easy or comfortable, ever. God continues to press you into unexpected places—God is ever popping up in unfamiliar situations, and appearing as people, like the last and the least. All you can do is try to be ready. How? Maybe clothe ourselves in faith. And remember God’s Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And we can always pick our treasure wisely. For where our treasure is, there our heart is also.
Hmmmmm, maybe this sermon is about unfailing treasure after all. So I stood back and said, what it is that I learned from this passage? What treasures are presented there? First, it points to the treasure of the multiple images of God that can be found in Scripture. It is too bad that we often limit ourselves in talking about God, in talking to God. In seminary I once was in a class where we were challenged to imagine God in ways that were unfamiliar—and I remember spending some time praying to God who I pictured as a Black Woman. Truly we are all created in the image of God!
Second, I noticed that these images of God that Jesus lifts up are images of God in relationship with us. Shepherd leading us. Servant Master feeding us. Even a Thief breaking into our comfortable lives. God, of course, was before we were, but God also chose to be in relationship with us. That is the way that we most know God.
And we are invited into a closer relationship. Part of our readiness is to have seen glimpses of the divine. Part of our readiness is to open up the doors of our heart—undo the locks, turn off the security system, trade in the guard dog for a lap dog—so that when God breaks into our lives (as God often does), we are welcoming of that intrusion. It might still be scary (as coming near to God can often be unsettling). But isn’t this part of what Loving God with all we are requires?
And, then there is the corresponding part of that commandment—love one another. Did you notice that these images are not individual, but communal. A Flock has many members. The household that waits, waits together (not alone). We can even imagine that the owner of the house that is broken into is there with family, and friends, and is possibly entertaining angels disguised as strangers.
There is so much treasure here. So much unfailing treasure. May we continue to discover and ponder all the beautiful and unnerving images of God. May we never forget to thank God for our incredible opportunity to be in relationship with the Divine. And may we always open our lives to others as together we do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
May it be so, Alleluia, Amen.