Hidden Treasure

Here is a question for your consideration: What good is hidden treasure?

This past Saturday we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt at FBC Springville like so many other churches, communities, and families do every year. Why do we love hunting for Easter Eggs. I can remember all the various hunts that I went to as a kid. I remember the thrill as all the kids took off together into the vast treasure yard. I remember the joy of finding the hidden eggs that the other kids passed by. Of course in those days, the eggs were hard boiled and their coloring came from the fact that someone lovingly took the time to dye them. Your treasure was the fact that you got to eat the egg later. Now the eggs are brightly colored plastic and your treasure is the hopes of the prize that lies within.

The hunt! The find! The joy of the hidden treasure within! That thrill doesn’t really go away. Now we can even hunt virtual Easter Eggs on Facebook, and based on the hundreds of “soandso just found the whatchmacalit egg” notifications I’ve received over the last few weeks, there’s a lot of you out there who still like hunting Easter Eggs.This year, about 40 or so kids took off into the churchyard looking for approximately 800 eggs – each of which was filled with a candy treat, small change, or a special toy prize.

Yes, we all like finding the treasure… and the granddaddy of the Easter Egg treasure is the elusive GOLDEN EGG! This year, we put out 8 golden eggs. 1 for the babies, 2 for the preschoolers, and 5 for the older children. 6 of the golden eggs contained a “golden” dollar coin. 2 of the golden eggs contained a $5 bill! And I personally hid each of these 8 special eggs.Why so many? Doesn’t that devalue the mystique of the elusive golden egg? Maybe… and maybe I am just a pushover… but in all the years that I hunted Easter Eggs, I never ever found the golden egg. I guess I just know how disappointing it is to miss out.

Ironically, when the hunt was over, I decided I needed to make one last sweep around the church. I expected to find a few eggs here and there that the kids missed – but I didn’t… In performing a “general sweep” of the area I didn’t find one single egg – amazing how efficient those diminutive treasure hunters can be! Then I decided to double check the places where I had hidden the golden eggs. I don’t know why I looked because I honestly thought they all had been found. But there it was. One single golden egg with its precious treasure inside – neatly tucked away in its hiding place. And the real irony here is that when I hid that particular golden egg, I thought it was such an obvious hiding place that it would be the first golden egg found!

As I write this note, I am looking at this golden egg and wondering… what good purpose did this egg serve? Did it bring happiness to a child? No. Did it thrill a child? No. 40 kids and 800 eggs and this one remained hidden.

This egg makes me think about the wondrous treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The joy that a little plastic, paint, and spare change bring is nothing compared to the real joy that comes through salvation in Jesus Christ. And yet like the golden Easter Egg, we don’t just hide it, we hide it so well that no one can find it. We have the golden egg, yet we tuck it neatly under a rock or a bush and we watch while the world scambles around looking for all the other brightly colored eggs – none of which have the true treasure. What good will all those other false treasures do them if they never find the truth!

Don’t let the gospel be like the golden egg that was never found. Don’t assume as I did with that one golden egg that those helpless little egg hunters will find it own their own. Proclaim it boldly so that all may find it!

Jesus said let your light shine before all men – don’t hide it under a bush! After all, everyone likes finding the treasure!