Interestingly, the emphasis in this reading (Matthew 13:44-52) is not in the finding of the treasure or the pearl in the field, but in what the person does when he finds it: “he went and sells all he has and buys the field.” Taking hold of the treasure that God wants to give us involves our total commitment and surrender of our entire being. We cannot search for the meaning of our life in the kingdom with just a bit of ourselves; it’s all or nothing. Now that sounds rather ominous to us: Are we willing to give it our all to know God, to know him as a presence in our lives in all that we are and all that we do? It’s asking a lot but then the payoff is greater than anything we hold dear.
We can only imagine the joy that the man who finds the treasure in the field experiences, that causes him to sell all his earthly possessions. The joy in knowing the love of God in our lives that emanates from knowing His presence loosens the grip that our earthly attachments have and enables us to reset our life’s priorities. Our lives will be forever changed beyond anything we could have foreseen, or managed by our will alone.
The first story teaches us that we acquire God’s hidden treasure, not by our effort or plan. No, it’s a quiet thing that reveals the treasure when we are prepared to recognize it even without our searching for it. We seem to unexpectedly trip over the treasure that we realize is what we wanted all along.
In contrast, the merchant who finds the pearl of great value was already searching for pearls and while the Gospel does not explicitly say so, we assume that he must have possessed a collection of pearls. The knowledge he acquired as a collector, enabled him to recognize the prized pearl. Isn’t this what we do, we prepare for the big decisions of life by taking small steps outside our comfort zone and place our trust in our judgment.
Yet this is as hard for us as it was for the merchant. Look at all the time and energy the merchant invested in learning about and collecting pearls. Now he must let them go in order to trade them for something more important. It wasn’t as if his original collection was of no value; it’s just that the prized treasure was far more valuable. We have many things in our life that are inherently good and bring us pleasure…family, career, prized possessions. But even these good things can become distractions. The merchant, although he has found many good pearls, remains “hungry” for the one of great value. For us we ask are we willing to let go of what is good and trade it for what is better…God’s will for us?![]()
Adapted from Taizé, http://www.taize.fr/en_article167.html?date=2011-04-01
We can only imagine the joy that the man who finds the treasure in the field experiences, that causes him to sell all his earthly possessions. The joy in knowing the love of God in our lives that emanates from knowing His presence loosens the grip that our earthly attachments have and enables us to reset our life’s priorities. Our lives will be forever changed beyond anything we could have foreseen, or managed by our will alone.
The first story teaches us that we acquire God’s hidden treasure, not by our effort or plan. No, it’s a quiet thing that reveals the treasure when we are prepared to recognize it even without our searching for it. We seem to unexpectedly trip over the treasure that we realize is what we wanted all along.
In contrast, the merchant who finds the pearl of great value was already searching for pearls and while the Gospel does not explicitly say so, we assume that he must have possessed a collection of pearls. The knowledge he acquired as a collector, enabled him to recognize the prized pearl. Isn’t this what we do, we prepare for the big decisions of life by taking small steps outside our comfort zone and place our trust in our judgment.
Yet this is as hard for us as it was for the merchant. Look at all the time and energy the merchant invested in learning about and collecting pearls. Now he must let them go in order to trade them for something more important. It wasn’t as if his original collection was of no value; it’s just that the prized treasure was far more valuable. We have many things in our life that are inherently good and bring us pleasure…family, career, prized possessions. But even these good things can become distractions. The merchant, although he has found many good pearls, remains “hungry” for the one of great value. For us we ask are we willing to let go of what is good and trade it for what is better…God’s will for us?
Adapted from Taizé, http://www.taize.fr/en_article167.html?date=2011-04-01
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