The brief parable of the hidden treasure is as follows: in Scots' Church, Melbourne. 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 peasant, such a discovery of treasure represented the "ultimate dream."
Interpretation
This parable is interpreted as illustrating the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven, and thus has a similar theme to the parable of the pearl. 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 writes of this parable: 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 or the Church. In St. Thomas Aquinas' Catena Aurea, he compiles the comments of some of the Church Fathers on this passage, who point out that like the treasure hidden in the field, the Gospel comes without cost, and is open to all – but to truly possess heavenly riches, one must be willing to give upthe world to buy it. The Fathers also identify that the field in which the treasure is hidden is the discipline of Heavenly learning: The New Testament scholar Adolf Jülicher offers a deceptively simple explanation of the parable. He identifies three parts to parables or similitudes : the picture part, the reality part, and the point of comparison. In this instance, the picture part is the hidden treasure, the reality part is God’s kingdom, and the point of comparison is the inestimable value of the kingdom. In light of previous parables in Matthew where God or Jesus acts on behalf of his church, Lutheran theologian David P. Scaer understands the treasure in the field to be humanity, and the one purchasing the field to be Christ. Thus, as the man in the parable sells all that he has to buy the field, so Christ gives up his life in order to redeem humanity.
A similar parable also appears in the Gospel of Thomas : This work's version of the parable of the Pearl appears earlier, 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.
