| Treasure that is no treasure
The joyous discovery of good news
is so valuable that many have given up everything—other possibilities, tangible
and potential—to secure this surprising and transforming discovery. They have
relinquished status, privilege and opportunities in order to consolidate this
singular and joyful find. There is always the possibility that
others will attempt to diminish this surprising and valued discovery by ridicule,
indifference or even violence. Such things have happened to anyone who has accepted
and lived a sustained response to the gospel. This has a long tradition in the
relay of Christian testimony. Suppose however, that having given
up so much for this one valuable find, we are told, not by opponents or disparagers
but by those we might easily trust with the venture and drama of discovery, that
what we have found is not so valuable. This can occur when someone who once discovered
treasure has become disillusioned with having found any treasure at all. What was once thought to be treasure
is no treasure but a hindrance to recognising real treasure—that there is no treasure!
What could this mean? Here is a “treasure” scenario often
expressed today. Human beings love to tell stories
about beginnings and endings. These are constructed from our longings for what
is lost and our yearnings for what is ideal. There is no actual treasure, at least
not treasure that someone would relinquish everything to secure. There are only
variations of innate longings cast in diverse stories of seeking and finding.
Each story is an imitation of other imitations that can be mistaken for treasure
when we are isolated from each other and therefore from the thesaurus of our mutual
human stories. The real treasure is discovering that there is no treasure. This
liberates us to enjoy telling stories together from a rich thesaurus of lost and
found romances, no longer being obsessed with any particular treasure. In the
absence of specific treasure, there are imaginative scenarios of life by which
we can test diverse views of reality. This common thesaurus of imagination, by
whatever name its stories are presented—myth, narrative or fiction—offers a range
of possibilities that maximise our freedom of choice concerning ultimate questions
of life. This is a common scenario; it is even expressed implicitly in theological
contexts. Having discovered something of great
value, we can be told that it is an imitation of many other similar imitations
of imitations of finding treasure. Instead of joy in discovering the treasure
of good news, there may be embarrassment, regret and even anger over a mistaken
experience. v Intentionally, someone searches for something of great value and having found it, sells everything to secure this one thing
that is of inestimable value. The parable is economical in imagery, suggesting
that in searching for something valuable for which we have inklings and having
found it, we would give up everything to secure it. The thirst and hunger instilled within
for the grace and truth of our integral humanity is a spur that motivates seeking
and searching in a way that is unknown to animal life. The very desire and search
suggests that we have inklings of what we are seeking but we do not know what
it is until we have discovered it. When we do discover the very thing
for which we have searched, we recognise it immediately and exchange our investments
in any other focus of what we thought these inklings implied, so securing this
one valued discovery. There is great joy in discovering a treasure that has eluded
our finding, even when we were not sure what it might look like until we found
it. Suppose however, that having given
up so much for this one valuable find, we are told, not by opponents or disparagers
but by those we might easily trust with the venture and drama of discovery, that
what we have found is not so valuable after all. The inklings and quest, not any
particular treasure, represent the only real treasure. Here is another “treasure” scenario
also often expressed today. The many experiences that we previously
accumulated within inklings of and search for something more are in reality, the
real treasure—of journey rather than any discovery at a journey’s end. The real
treasure is that there is no treasure but our thesaurus of dreams and quests for
such treasure. Accumulating and exchanging experiences with others along the way
to wherever, represent the only real treasure. Any specific treasure we thought
we had found is actually a hindrance to finding real treasure, for it represents
the end of searching for something that as an imitation of imitations, cannot
really exist. To recognise that there is no treasure is liberating, for we can
stop looking for it beyond ourselves. It is right before us. Exchanging our journeys
of life in mutual discovery of others’ journeys is the real and interesting treasure
to be found. We share the one treasure we have within—our mutual spiritual thesaurus
of journeys, even permanent exile from faith in any form of life-defining discovery.
To disillusion a person’s search for and discovery of real treasure is a necessary
wounding in order to be introduced to the treasures within and between us. This
too is a common scenario; it is also expressed implicitly in theological contexts. Common story-telling or mutual exchange
of journeys passed off as our “real treasure” may be a novelty that engages interest
for a while, yet many finally find no enduring satisfaction with scenarios of
“treasure that is no treasure.” v What twist in someone’s discovery of treasure—the good news
of God’s reality in Jesus Christ—could turn this discovery into a mere trinket
and from the greatest joy to annoyance and regret? There is a propensity for Christians,
imbued with the values of modernity, to slide from joyous discovery of the gospel
to some notion that what was once thought gold is really only fool’s gold. Christian
faith as a response to the unique message of God’s disclosure of grace and truth
in Jesus Christ is cast merely as a parallel story among assumedly similar stories.
These are imitations, one of another—myths and tales about reality as the yearnings
of humanity configured and reconfigured in different but creative ways. Whether to avoid offending the sensibilities
of others or simply to avoid an embarrassing testimony to truth amid religious
pluralism, minimalist scenarios of spirituality that promise treasure that is
no treasure neutralise any joy
in discovering the gospel as real treasure. People can speak generally of God
and spirituality but to speak specifically of distinctive Christian faith is supposedly
to bruise another’s sensibilities. Within this perspective, there can be no quest
for a treasure for which we would relinquish everything to secure. There is only
treasure without treasure in a common thesaurus of our own journeys or stories,
even about God. Scenarios of “let’s pretend” with
fictive treasure that is no treasure cannot endure. Having exchanged real gold
for fool’s gold, many are disillusioned with any notion of treasure at all. The lamentable aspect in any scene
in which treasure that is no treasure is conjured concerns those who, for whatever
reason, have become disillusioned with their discovery of the gospel and in turn,
intentionally disillusion others by offering “treasure that is no treasure,” supposedly
as a greater gift. |
