REFLECTION 26TH JULY 2026 PENTCOST 9   

“HIDDEN TREASURES’ 

By Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai 

Talofa lava and greetings to those who have joined us online.   

I remember after 5 years of training at Knox Theological Hall in November 1990 I was packing away my clothes from the closet.  In one of my suit jackets I found a $100 note and I thought to myself “of all the times I was a poor student poverty stricken looking for $2 to buy some hot chips or a bottle of milk all this time this $100 was lying hidden in my closet for who knows how long”.  It’s always exciting to find hidden treasures when you least expect it.   

Our lectionary readings today could not be more different. One is a messy family drama from Genesis. The other is a series of beautiful and simple parables from Matthew’s Gospel about hidden treasure, pearls of great value, and nets full of fish. At first glance, they seem to have very little in common.   

In Genesis 29, Jacob thought he knew what his hidden treasure was her name was Rachel.  He was prepared to work seven years for her and then another seven years when things did not go according to plan. Jacob knew exactly what he wanted. He had a vision for his future and was willing to sacrifice everything to achieve it.  

But in this Genesis story we encounter deception, disappointment, cultural customs, and complicated relationships. In Matthew 13, we are invited into the mystery and joy of discovering hidden treasure and the Realm of God. One story seems earthly and dysfunctional; the other, inspiring. 

And yet, perhaps they are asking us the very same question: What do we treasure most in life? 

The story of Jacob and Rachel is often told as one of the great love stories of the Bible. Jacob falls deeply in love with Rachel and agrees to work seven years for her hand in marriage. Scripture tells us that those seven years seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. It is a beautiful sentiment.  Jacob, who had deceived his own father Isaac by pretending to be his brother Esau, is now himself deceived. On his wedding night, Rachel’s father, Laban, substitutes Leah, the older sister, in accordance with local custom. Jacob wakes up the next morning to discover that he has married the wrong woman. 

There is a certain irony here. The deceiver becomes the deceived. Jacob, who once took advantage of his father’s blindness in the darkness of a tent, now finds himself deceived in the darkness of his own wedding tent. 

Life has a way of doing that. Sometimes we find ourselves on the receiving end of the very things we once failed to understand in others. Life can be one of our greatest teachers if we allow it to be.  This story is not simply about romance or poetic justice. It is also about power and patriarchy.   

Laban uses his daughters as bargaining tools. Leah is given away without any apparent choice in the matter. Rachel becomes the prize for fourteen years of labour. Jacob bargains for women as though they were commodities. Everyone is trapped within the cultural assumptions of their time. 

The Bible, thankfully, does not sanitise human behaviour. It tells the truth about us our flaws, our prejudices, our failures, and our capacity to hurt one another. 

Sometimes we are tempted to think that biblical figures were somehow more holy than we are. They were not. They were simply human beings trying to make sense of their lives and their relationship with God.   This text shows us that God continues to work through imperfect people. 

God does not wait for humanity to get everything right before showing up.  God is present in the mess. 

Then we turn to Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus tells us that the Realm of God is like treasure hidden in a field. A person discovers it and, in their joy, sells everything they own in order to possess it. Again, the Realm of God is like a merchant who discovers a pearl of great value and willingly gives up everything to obtain it. 

These parables are hopeful and inspiring. They remind us that there are things in life worth giving everything for love, justice, compassion, community, and the transforming presence of God among us.  But I wonder whether we sometimes misunderstand what Jesus is saying. 

We often assume that we know what the hidden treasure is. We imagine it is something we have always wanted, a successful career, the perfect relationship, financial security, a happy family, or perhaps the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. 

For Jacob, instead of Rachel, he received Leah.  Instead of fulfilment, he experienced disappointment. Instead of certainty, he was confronted by the unexpected.  And sometimes that may be true for so many of us as well. 

We set our hearts upon something, a particular ministry, a relationship, a house, a vocation, or a future we have carefully planned and life gives us something entirely different.  Many of us spend years mourning the Rachel we never received while failing to recognise the Leah standing before us. 

Have you ever heard yourself saying, “If only my life had turned out differently? If only I had taken that job.” “If only I had married that person.” “If only I had moved to another city.” “If only God had answered my prayers differently.” 

We become so focused on what we have lost that we fail to notice the hidden treasures that have been quietly waiting for us all along. 

I guess the question for us to contemplate from these readings is ”what if God’s hidden treasure is not what we think it is?” 

What if the hidden treasure in Genesis is not Rachel or Leah at all? What if the treasure is Jacob’s transformation? 

Through his disappointments, Jacob learns humility. Through being deceived, he develops compassion. Through unexpected circumstances, he becomes someone capable of carrying God’s promises into the future. The treasure was never simply who he married.  The treasure was who he became. 

Likewise, Jesus’ parables are not necessarily about acquiring something valuable. They are about recognising value where others may not see it. The treasure is hidden. The pearl must be discovered. The net gathers fish of every kind. 

The Realm of God is always surprising us.  It is hidden in ordinary places, in strangers who become friends, in communities that welcome difference, in acts of kindness, in moments of forgiveness, and sometimes even in our greatest disappointments. 

Perhaps that is why Jesus describes the treasure as hidden in a field.  Treasure is rarely found where we expect it to be. It lies beneath the surface. It requires us to dig a little deeper.  The greatest treasures of our lives are often not the things we can buy or achieve. They are discovered slowly and unexpectedly. 

Wisdom is a hidden treasure.  Compassion is a hidden treasure.  Resilience is a hidden treasure.  Friendship is a hidden treasure.  Love is a hidden treasure. 

And perhaps most precious of all is the discovery that God has been accompanying us throughout our entire journey, even when life has not gone according to plan. 

Many of the treasures we now cherish have emerged from difficult seasons of our lives.   We discover courage because we have known fear.  We discover compassion because we have experienced suffering.  We discover gratitude because we have experienced loss.  We discover hope because we have walked through disappointment. 

If someone had asked me twenty or thirty years ago what the hidden treasures of my life would be, I wonder if my answer would have been very different from what it is today. Age has a way of teaching us that our greatest treasures are seldom the things we once desired most. 

The hidden treasures are often the people we have loved, the communities that have sustained us, the lessons we have learned, and the grace that has carried us through life’s most difficult moments. 

Jacob went looking for one thing and discovered something much greater than he had imagined.  The man in Matthew’s parable went digging in a field and stumbled upon a treasure that changed his life forever.  Both stories remind us that God is still at work in our imperfect, complicated, and unfinished lives. 

Perhaps the greatest treasure of all is discovering that God has never abandoned us, not in our disappointments, not in our mistakes, not in our moments of grief or uncertainty.  God is there in the wedding tent and in the hidden field.  God is there when our plans succeed and when they fall apart.  God is there in the dreams we fulfil and in the dreams we have had to let go. 

So, this week, I invite us to reflect upon the hidden treasures of our own lives.  What treasures have we discovered that we never expected to find? 

What disappointments have become blessings in disguise?  Who have you become because life did not go according to plan? 

The good news of both Genesis and Matthew is that God’s hidden treasures are still waiting to be discovered in the ordinary fields of our lives.  Sometimes the hidden treasure is not what we receive.  It is who we become.  And that is one of the greatest treasures that the Realm of God has to offer.  Amen. 

Audio of selected readings and reflections

Audio of the complete service