The Old Testament reading continues the story of Jacob. We began a fortnight ago with Jacob's struggle with his elder brother Esau - and how he tricked Esau out of his birthright and his own father's blessing. Jacob ran away from his angry brother and dreamed a dream at a place he called Bethel. The dream was of a ladder connecting earth and heaven and messengers of the Lord coming and going between the Lord and humanity. It seems that the tricky Jacob has seen God and received the blessing of faith. After this, he travelled on until he met his Uncle Laban, whose sister Rebekah had married Jacob's father Isaac. Now Jacob comes to his uncle's house, also looking for a wife. Laban received Jacob with rejoicing and our reading for today begins.

Laban offers to give Jacob payment for working - a reward for his labours. Here is a hint that God is at work. The word for "reward" used here is the same word used in Abraham's dream of his future. God said to Abraham, "Fear not, Abram. I am your shield, your reward shall be very great." Jesus, too, told his disciples that even those who gave a drink of water in the name of Christ would receive their "reward". So, our story-teller uses the word "reward" so that we will start thinking about the "reward" God has for those who are faithful.

The listeners to the story of Jacob would have laughed to hear the word "reward" on Laban's lips. God's reward is for faithfulness, and Laban, we shall see, manages to be more deceitful that Jacob, which takes some doing. At the same time, we find the Kingdom of God in the real world, which is a world of deceit and cunning. In our gospel reading, the person who finds the treasure in the field promptly buries it, so that the owner won't guess the real value of the field. The treasure finder is going to trick the field owner - and this, says Jesus, is where the Kingdom of Heaven is found. Now back to Laban's trickery. Jacob wants to marry Rachel, the younger daughter, the one with a beautiful figure and sparkling eyes. Laban appears to agree and demands that Jacob work for seven years for her. But, after the wedding feast, Laban sent his elder daughter Leah into the dark tent and Jacob marries the wrong wife. Jacob the trickster has been tricked by his own uncle. He will have to wait and work for another seven years before he can marry Rachel. And so we come to the end of our reading. God has promised to be with Jacob and to keep him. God is at work in keeping promises, but the keeping of promises can be delayed.

If we were to read on we would hear about the birth of the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom come the twelve tribes of Israel. With their birth, the Promise God gave to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob has been fulfilled - the Israelite people have begun, the chosen people are chosen. And they are born in rivalry, envy and dispute, as if to remind us that God works in the ordinary human conditions of life. And that is good to remember when we are struggling.

St Paul says, "All things work together for good for those who love God." Another translation says, "We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him."

The Gospel puts it another way. Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a net which catches all sorts of fish, good and bad. Only at the end of time will we know which are good and which are bad. This is the way it worked for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They saw only the beginning of the promises of God, and even then, they saw it through the perspective of anxiety, doubt and fear.

For me, the message from today's readings is that the Kingdom of heaven is not something that is obviously easy to find. It is like a treasure we might find in someone else's' field. It is like the younger daughter that Jacob wanted to marry. The message is that we will need skill, cunning and perseverance to find this kingdom of God, this treasure. I cannot find the saying, "Everything comes to those who wait" in Scripture, but Jesus did say, Whoever endures to the end shall be saved."

In our own lives and in the life of the parish we will find the same lesson being taught. An obvious example is our Op Shop. To compare it with the story of Jacob, the team of volunteers has been working at it for twelve years and we've all enjoyed its rewards, but now it seems that we have been tricked. We have to move and pay a higher price for our reward because the rent has more than doubled. But everything works together for good for those who love God, and our new shop is bigger and better, it is more pleasant to work in, and we cannot guess what rewards there will be for us in its new home. Maybe there will be more people to share the ministry and join the team; maybe there will be an increase in sales; maybe we will be more effective in our outreach to those who need good news in their lives. Who knows?

The reading we have heard from Paul's letter to the Romans, is one of the most inspiring in the Bible. Those who love God will be blessed; there is no doubt of it. Even if the most dreadful things happen, God's love will never desert us. Even if we seem to be going through hell on earth; even if we ourselves cannot see where God is at work; even if we think we are abandoned by everyone; God will always love us.