SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1 Kings 3: 5, 7-12; Romans 8: 28-30; Matthew 13: 44-46

(Rev. Dr. Francis Perry Azah)

Dearly Beloved in Christ, in today’s readings, God gives us an idea of how crucial the Kingdom of heaven we each yearn for is. This priceless Kingdom is worth more than possessions, silver and gold; this Kingdom is like a treasure which a man finds hidden in a field and goes and sells all he has just to buy it; it is like a pearl of great value which a man finds and sells all he has to buy it. To attain this Kingdom requires an understanding of, and an appreciation of, God’s predestination, call, justification, and glorification of the people (including you and me) He has conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is guaranteeing that his kingdom, his good news, his offer of life and relationship is so special. It is like a rare treasure. Nothing else on earth is as valuable as this. It is worth giving up everything else to attain. It has richness and a depth that we can never be fully plumbed. So, to me, what I fear in this day, and age is that people are experiencing their faith like this parable. I feel that this is the same with the richness of our Catholic Faith. It is a priceless treasure; deep, rich, complex, and diverse. It is over two thousand years of tradition, history, and heritage, including the writings of countless saints and scholars, mystics and historians, and our liturgies are deeply enriched by two thousand years of tradition, filled with meaning upon meaning and significance upon significance.

The man of the gospel finds the treasure (I wonder if he was looking for it?), and he hides it again. It seems the treasure belongs in the field, and he can only own the treasure if he owns the field. The man goes off happy. Look at the smile on his face and the bounce in his step! But where is he going? He's going off to sell everything he owns so he can buy the field. Can you believe it? Everything he owns! There is another man in another gospel to whom is offered the treasure by Jesus Himself. He too has to sell everything he owns, but he doesn't, he can't. He goes away sad because 'he was a man of great wealth' (Mk 10).

Perhaps the difference was that the first man discovered the treasure for himself and had a personal experience of its beauty and worth, while to the other was offered a treasure he couldn't yet see and therefore didn't understand. We can only hope that one day he would have the experience. At any rate, it seems there is something about the treasure which judges a man; something which discovers the true orientation and 'attachments' of his heart.

The parable leaves us with various questions. What is the treasure, in fact? Is it enough to say that it is the kingdom of heaven? And what is the field? Why can the treasure not simply be removed from the field? And what was the 'everything he owns' that the man sold? The field, of course, is me, or you. The treasure is the reign of God, the Kingdom. To take possession of the kingdom (to let God reign in us), we have to take possession of ourselves, and that's where the cross comes in. We have to divest ourselves of 'everything we own', not always an easy task.

Jesus is telling us today that the Kingdom of God and living in God’s good grace is of the highest value to us. Going to Mass, prayer, keeping the commandments, loving God and neighbor is not just a form of insurance that we will be happy in the next life. It is something we must make part of our lives. The most important thing we need to do is invest our time, talent, and treasure in order to possess it. Jesus taught us how to know the highest values and make the right choices in life. If we seek to follow his example and practice his teachings, we are offered eternal life in heaven. This is the point in today’s last parable, in which the net is thrown out, and all sorts of fish are caught. So it will be at the final judgment, when we want to be found worthy to enter the Kingdom of heaven.