What is your pearl of great price? What is your treasure in the field? In other words, what is the thing that you treasure most in your life? What is the deepest desire of your heart? Is it your career? Is it your house, car, boat, motorcycle, or some other possession? Is it your family? If God asked you the question that He asked Solomon in today’s first reading -- “Ask something of Me and I will give it to you” -- what would you ask for? Sitting here in church we know what we are suppose to answer -- God, Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven -- but how many of us would really answer that if we are being completely honest?
We really should desire God and the Kingdom of Heaven above all else, because it is the only thing that will truly and eternally satisfy the longing of our hearts. In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows us not only what his Kingdom is like in itself, but what it means for us personally. He gives us a snapshot of two men whose lives are suddenly lifted to an entirely different level.
A farmer is plowing a field that is not his own. He is a hired laborer, a farmhand, someone who has to spend his days worrying about making ends meet. As he plows he uncovers a buried treasure. Suddenly, he is set free from the chains of poverty and uncertainty; now he can live life to the full.
A businessman spends his career working long hours, travelling, suffering, looking all the while for the deal that will liberate him from 80-hour work weeks and give him security. Finally he finds the pearl of great price. He too can now enjoy the peace of stable prosperity, free from the rat race and the worry of living hand-to-mouth.
This is what happens to us when we enter fully into Christ's Kingdom. When we decide to follow Jesus, to obey his teachings and make his friendship our highest priority, we put ourselves under his protection and his guidance, becoming full citizens of his Kingdom. As soon as we do that, suddenly our lives take on a whole new purpose. Suddenly our relationships, actions, and decisions take on transcendent meaning; they are connected to eternal life. Suddenly, we are free from the frustration and meaninglessness that comes from living only for the passing, superficial pleasures and successes of this life, because we have found something infinitely more valuable: a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, King and Lord of heaven and earth. That relationship is our treasure and pearl; it alone can give us the joy and satisfaction we yearn for in the depths of our hearts.
In today's Second Reading, St Paul points out yet another reason behind the incomparable value of our Friendship with Christ: It turns tragedy into triumph. He writes in today's Second Reading, "We know that all things work for good for those who love God." He didn't say "some things," he said "all things."
A beautiful Jewish story illustrates this well. Rabbi Akiba was once traveling through the country. He had with him a donkey, a rooster, and a lamp. At nightfall he reached a village where he sought shelter for the night. But no one took him in. "All that God does is done well," said the Rabbi, and proceeding toward the forest, he resolved to pass the night there. He lit his lamp, but the wind blew it out. "All that God does is done well," he said. The donkey and the rooster were devoured by wild beasts; yet still he said no more than, "All that God does is done well."
The next day he learned that a troop of the enemy's soldiers had passed through the forest that night. If the donkey had brayed, if the rooster had crowed, or if the soldiers had seen his light, he would surely have met his death. The Rabbi said again, "All that God does is done well."
If we love God, keeping him first, like the farmer and the merchant, then he can turn even our tragedies, whether big or small, into triumphs, because we will give his omnipotence room to work. However, when we don't love God, when we rebel against him and disobey his teachings, preferring to do things our own way, we willingly take ourselves out of the protection of his omnipotence.
In a sense, each one of us has already found the treasure of friendship with Christ and the benefits it brings. Yet, here he is, telling us this parable again. Why? Because Jesus has more he wants to give us, more he wants to show us, more he wants to teach us. Getting to know Christ and experiencing his grace is a lifetime adventure. And so, in these parables he reminds us about the two ways we can continue to discover his inexhaustible and incomparable riches.
First, we can stumble upon a new treasure of grace simply by coincidence. This is what happened to the farmer. Coincidences are the hidden workings of God. We need to stay alert so that we can benefit from them. If that farmer hadn't been alert, he could have completely overlooked that buried treasure. God could be hard at work right under our noses, but unless we keep our antennae up, we'll miss it.
Second, we find the treasures of Christ's grace by looking hard for them. The merchant spent his life working long hours and becoming an expert so he could make his fortune. For years he worked, struggled, traveled, and hoped. Then, finally, he found the pearl. In our spiritual lives, we can spend years struggling to pray well, to follow Christ more closely, to overcome, with God's help, our deeply rooted selfish tendencies. Jesus doesn't want us to give up or get discouraged - another pearl of great price is waiting for us, if only we'll keep going. "Those who seek, always find," he promised (Matthew 7:8).
Jesus has more to give us - he is still writing the story of our lives. Today, let's promise to do our part to make the chapters still to come into the best chapters of all.