“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks, I don’t care if I ever get back.” Most of us are familiar with this jingle from an iconic American song about baseball and a famous snack, Cracker Jacks. What is the big deal with Cracker Jacks and what happened on this day in history that includes them? Cracker Jacks were simply a snack of popcorn, molasses, and peanuts. The snack has been around for quite some time. The Rueckheim brothers had been selling a type of popcorn snack since the 1870’s, until the recipe was perfected in 1893 and sold at the World’s Fair held in Chicago. The name is rumored to have come from a customer who exclaimed that the product was “Cracker Jack” after tasting it. The company soared with popularity. In 1907 Jack Norworth, a famous singer and performer wrote the words of take me out to the ballgame, including the term Cracker Jacks in it. Ironically Jack had never been to a ballgame and didn’t even know if Cracker Jacks were sold at games. Nonetheless, the inadvertent advertisement caused the snack to become a household staple at nearly every ballpark. Many years later the New York Yankees attempted to switch brands only to find an outrage from fans. Cracker Jacks became famous for something else, prizes. In 1910 the wax sealed packages included coupons. The coupons were geared toward women. They would be for sewing machines, dishware, and other goods for the home. This promotion lasted for about two years until the company introduced toy prizes for the first time on this day in 1913. Some of the toys over the years have been baseball cards (some of them worth quite a bit of money), stickers, plastic figures, decoder rings, etc. Prizes continued until 2016 when they were replaced with simple temporary tattoos and jokes.
I used to love Cracker Jacks as a child. Actually, take that back, I don’t remember eating the snack, I remember opening the package for what I thought was the coolest toy ever. Looking back I can’t remember a single Crack Jack toy that I pulled. To be honest I probably lost them or broke them within the first few days. The toys found in this sweet treat were not know for their longevity, they weren’t typically built to last, but nonetheless we desired those cheap trinkets just to have something we could say was our own. We as humans do this in a similar way. We collect the “Cracker Jack” toys of this world. Things that won’t last, things that have monetary value but zero eternal benefit to us spiritually. Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 6:19-21 when He said “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I don’t think Jesus is necessarily condemning the things of this world (so long as they aren’t sinful). God has created things for us on planet earth for our pleasure. The problem becomes when we spend our entire life pursing those things. It’s great to collect baseball cards, Legos, vintage toys, home décor, clothing, etc. It’s wise to have savings accounts and retirement accounts, but none of those treasures are going to last. They are temporary trinkets for our journey around the sun. God instead wants us to lay up treasures in heaven. What does that mean? It means to faithfully serve Jesus, to use our talents and gifts for His glory and the furtherance of the Gospel, it means living a humble life, it means loving others (even your enemies), it means sacrifice, it means praying and giving, it means forgiving. Those treasures last. They are not the cheap Cracker Jack trinkets found in a box, these are the treasures in heaven, won for Jesus. These are the treasures that cannot be lost or stolen. What are you laying up? Earthly trinkets or heavenly treasure?
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