Wednesday of 17th Week, uneven numbered year
“The Kingdom of God id like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off in his joy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.”
We may come across people with metal detectors on a beach, hoping to find some treasure or other. If they do happen to find something of great value, they have to give it over to the State. When Jesus preaches, he uses all the chords that can vibrate in our hearts! We never do know, when we go on a treasure hunt, if we shall win or not. Let us have a look at these two parables which Jesus tells to his disciples and which speak about a treasure. There are two men who have given their all to win everything. The treasure chase and the finding of a treasure is part of our ’imaginary’. In our hearts we are often nostalgic about finding a treasure. We’re happy to clear out a cave or an attic that we haven’t visited for a while-maybe we’ll find a treasure! This corresponds to something within ourselves. But we go further than a treasure. In her excessive love for her child a mummy can call him or her ’My little treasure!’ This brings happiness to a child , for it corresponds with a reality : he or she truly is this ’unique’ child! These two parables speak to us about the way we enter into the Kingdom, and the nature of this kingdom we go into. It is the Kingdom that Jesus announces, the Kingdom that is at hand.
“Again, the Kingdom of God is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.”
Each one of these two parables begins in the same way : ’Again the kingdom of God can be compared to…’ It is a simple history that shows a spiritual reality. The kingdom of God is something simple, outside of our limits and our understanding of what it is. So Jesus speaks about the Kingdom of God being like a hidden treasure, a fine pearl. It is a surprise to discover this treasure. Once found, the merchant hides it and goes off to look for the owner of a field so as to buy this
field holding such a treasure. In fact, it is God’s Heart that is truly our treasure, the fine pearl. The fist reading shows us this in an astonishing way :
’When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two Tablets of the Testimony in his hands, as he was coming down the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face was radiant because he had been talking to him.“The man with a gentle heart who enters into combat for his people and God, contemplating Him in faith, is one who shines with Light. When we look to God, contemplating Him in faith, our face begins to shine.” When we see him as he is, we shall become like him“, says the apostle John.”The merchant looking for fine pearls, when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.“In the midst of our daily life, we can find ourselves faced with the reality of salvation.Encountering a Christian, for example, and after a conversation with him it is as though a light shines, and we have a new understanding of something. We don’t quite know how to explain it, but there is something different about the person we have spoken with and we’d like to know more. The discovery is made by chance, we hadn’t even been looking for anything. This is how the man who found a treasure did, he goes off absolutely delighted and sells everything he possesses and buys that field. The ’mystery of our transfiguration’ has us shine like Jesus on the mountain! He shines with all the love there is within him, with all the glory of God. This mystery of God’s glory is one to which we are all invited to live.”As if they didn’t dare approach, Moses called them". If God is our treasure and we are God’s treasure, we ought likewise to become the treasure of one another. We find this a little more difficult. Each person is a precious pearl, a treasure for God, and a treasure for me. Little by little, we need to discover, with God’s grace, this child of the Heart of our Father, as if we were a seeker of fine pearls.