THEME: No sacrifice is too great for the Kingdom of God
Every human being has passion for something that interests him or her. In the light of this, he or she will do everything to pursue that passion sometimes to the peril of his or her life. People even kill to without any apprehension to get what they want. Whatever we have passion for must be guided by the wisdom of God otherwise it will lead us to destruction. Wisdom is, therefore, the supreme value of human life.
It is important to know the historical background for today's first reading so that we can better appreciate it. Solomon had just been installed as the third king of Israel. The lot of leadership fell to him, the favored son of Bathsheba after series of family struggle for power. First of all, it was God who recognised Solomon’s need for Him and went to his aid. Secondly, Solomon's prayer for wisdom reveals a young king, unsure of himself at the outset of his reign.
The wise man is the one who knows the real truth about man and his destiny. Solomon teaches every Christian what real treasure is. It is God who took the initiative to ask Solomon what he needed. “At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night and God said, ask what I should give you” (1Kings 3:5). The fact that God recognised Solomon’s need for Him and went to his aid cannot be over-emphasised. God knows what we need. He is constantly asking us what we need. Yet, we fail to be wise in our asking. The wise man is one who knows that some values are higher than others and he knows which value is the highest of all. For Solomon, wisdom was the treasure he found. What treasure are you looking for?
The beginning of wisdom is the recognition that one needs wisdom. True wisdom is that which is from above and it is “First pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” (James 3:17).
The Gospel reading reminds us that the kingdom of God is an important treasure than gold and pearls. For the faithful Christian the point of the parables of the treasure and the pearl are obvious. The kingdom of God or the life of grace in us which will culminate in eternal life with God is the most precious thing in this world. Once it has been found, the wise man disposes of everything he has in order to possess it and he will take all steps to hold on to it until the very end. This is Christian wisdom which, because of the revelation of Jesus Christ surpasses the Wisdom of Solomon and is offered to each and every one of us.
At the conclusion of our Lord’s discourse in Matthew chapter thirteen which we have been following for the past three Sundays, he asks his disciples, “Have you understood all these? They replied with a very firm “Yes”. The same words of Jesus are directed to us today. “Have you understood all these words?” If we have, then we are in possession of the wisdom of the mysteries of God. Like King Solomon, we have become wise.
Jesus concludes his sermon by saying “Therefore, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matthew 13:52). The Scribes in the context are the Apostles and all those Christians who have been instructed in the kingdom. The ‘Old’ is the incomplete revelation of the Old Testament while the ‘New’ is the complete and final revelation of Jesus in the Gospel. The Apostles were the true scribes because they possessed the wisdom of both the old law and the new law of Jesus Christ.
The world is in search for the greatest treasure, a treasure namely the kingdom of God that restores hope to our world of fragile peace and empty promises. May the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives so that the Kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the midst of the world."
In a world in which people put their hope on riches and material possession because that is the treasure they have found, the parable of the drag net has lots of lessons for them. Wisdom has indeed eluded them. The folly of trust in riches is what the Psalmist reiterates “In his riches, man lacks wisdom. He is like a beast that are destroyed” (Psalm 49:12).
In the second reading, Paul urges us all not to be discouraged and frustrated because we already share the glory of God. Our suffering today only guarantees much more glory when Christ returns. Paul says “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Indeed God has called each and every one of us long before the foundations of the world, “…Just as He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love” (Ephesians 1:3).
Nowhere are we taught that God predestines people to be eternally condemned. If they are condemned, it is because of their refusal to trust Christ. These expressions namely ‘those he called’, ‘those he justified’ (Romans 8:28-30) and the like do not mean that God is arbitrary. Rather, Paul uses them to emphasize the thought and care that God has taken for the Christian's salvation.
In sum, the parables of the treasure and the pearl represent the kingdom of God as the supreme value for which no sacrifice is too great. As believing Christians, we already have the greatest treasure of all namely God’s everlasting love deep down inside of us. That is the treasure; that is the pearl of great price and that is where our heart should be.
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