Daily Devotion for Friday 25th September 2026

St Matthew 13: 44

Jesus said “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.”

Reflection

What is the cost of discipleship? How much do we value the Kingdom and what it demands to enter it?

In my youth, I was always a little bemused by this parable in that it seemed incongruous for the man to sell all he had to gain this hidden treasure; it did not seem a financially expedient thing to do. I guess this query is solved, as some commentaries suggest, in that the man must have been very poor as a starting point and the hidden treasure therefore a significant uplift in wealth! This would also carry the theological point about having an awareness of being poor in spirit and yearning for the riches of the Kingdom.

I think a more potent alternative interpretation might be that the hidden treasure was of a different kind to mere monetary value; something so vastly precious to the man that it was worth sacrificing all he had to obtain it.

The Kingdom is very much of this order, supremely more valuable and prized that anything else we might set store by and count upon in our lives which pales in comparison. The hiddenness of the treasure is perhaps an allusion that whilst Jesus as King is not yet fully revealed he is there waiting for all to recognise and invite him into their lives.

Prayer

Jesus, help me to recognise the hidden treasure you offer
and be ever willing to put aside all paltry distractions
so that I can claim my entrance to the Kingdom. Amen.