Where is your treasure?
Year A – 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 13:44–52: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field’
This Sunday we conclude our reading of chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel, which contains Jesus’ third great discourse, in which the Kingdom of God is presented through seven parables. Today we hear the final three, addressed to the apostles: the hidden treasure, the merchant in search of pearls, and the net that catches fish of every kind.
The first two are similar and speak to us of the joy experienced by those who have discovered the Kingdom. The third, by contrast, recalls the parable of the wheat and the weeds, which we heard last Sunday, and concerns the coexistence of good and evil.
The parable of the net, like that of the wheat and the weeds, evokes the ‘end of the world’, that is, the conclusion of our life, as the supreme moment when its authenticity will be tested and the falsehood of those who ‘call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter’ will be exposed (Isaiah 5:20).
Let us reflect on the two short parables of the treasure and the pearl.
1. WHO are the seekers of treasures and pearls?
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field; a man finds it and hides it again; then, filled with joy, he goes, sells everything he owns and buys that field.’
Stories about treasure are always fascinating, today as they were in the time of Jesus. In a land that was often the scene of wars, when an enemy approached, it was common for people to hide their wealth by burying it in a field or beneath the floor of their house before fleeing, in the hope of recovering it later. This, however, did not always happen.
The poor farm labourer in the parable is one of the fortunate people who, quite unexpectedly, finds the great opportunity of his life and does not let it slip away: filled with joy, he sells all his possessions and buys that field!
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he goes, sells everything he owns and buys it.’
In the East, pearls were considered among the most precious of all things, just as diamonds are to us. They were a symbol of beauty, so much so that ‘Peninnah’, meaning ‘Pearl’, was also a name given to girls (cf. 1 Samuel 1:2). The merchant in the parable was searching for these pearls and, when he finds one of great value, he too does not hesitate to sell everything he owns in order to buy it.
Both the poor farmer and the wealthy merchant act in the same way: they find the treasure or the pearl, go away, sell everything and buy it. Yet while the farmer finds the treasure unexpectedly, the merchant finds the pearl after searching for it for a long time.
We are those seekers of treasures and pearls, of wealth and beauty, of perfection and infinity. Our life is a field scattered with treasures hidden beneath our feet, but the ‘mud’ prevents us from seeing them. Our life is a bazaar filled with pearls, often too covered in dust for us to perceive their splendour. Yet it sometimes happens that we sacrifice everything, our life and our soul, dazzled by something false, only to end up empty-handed.
2. WHAT are the treasure and the pearl?
What do that treasure and that pearl represent? For Solomon, they are Wisdom (cf. the first reading); for the psalmist, they are the Law, the Torah (cf. Responsorial Psalm 118); for Saint Paul, they are our vocation and God’s plan for our life (cf. the second reading). For Jesus, however, they are the Kingdom. We can nevertheless reflect on the two parables by broadening their perspective still further.
First and foremost, the treasure is Christ. For his sake, the apostles left everything behind, and many others after them have done the same. Paul regarded everything as rubbish compared with the surpassing worth of knowing Christ (cf. Philippians 3:8). Many Christians are prepared to give even their own lives rather than lose him.
There are, however, also those who have not discovered this treasure in Jesus: like the rich young man, who went away sorrowful; like Judas, who sold him for thirty silver coins; and like so many Christians who, having never truly encountered him, have exchanged him for a few worthless trinkets.
Yet we too are that treasure and that pearl which Christ found in the field or in the marketplace of the world. This is why he redeemed us ‘not with perishable things like silver or gold, […] but with the precious blood of Christ’ (1 Peter 1:18–19).
The people beside us are pearls too, often hidden behind their faults, their surliness and their shells.
3. WHERE can the treasure be found?
Where and how can we find the treasure or the pearl? Allow me to explain through a Hasidic tale — Hasidism is a Jewish spiritual movement — the story of Rabbi Eisik, son of Rabbi Jekel, of Kraków, as told by the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber.
‘After many years of severe poverty, which nevertheless had not shaken his trust in God, Rabbi Eisik received an instruction in a dream to go to Prague and search for a treasure beneath the bridge leading to the royal palace. When the dream was repeated for the third time, Eisik set out and reached Prague on foot.
The bridge, however, was guarded day and night by sentries, and he did not have the courage to dig in the place indicated. Nevertheless, he returned to the bridge every morning and wandered around it until evening. Eventually, the captain of the guards, who had noticed his comings and goings, approached him and kindly asked whether he had lost something or was waiting for someone. Eisik told him about the dream that had brought him there from his distant homeland.
The captain burst out laughing: “And you, poor fellow, have come all this way on foot because you believed a dream? Ha, ha, ha! You will have a hard time of it if you put your trust in dreams! In that case, I too should have set out in obedience to a dream and travelled all the way to Kraków, to the house of a Jew named Eisik, son of Jekel, to search for treasure beneath the stove! Eisik, son of Jekel… are you joking? I can just see myself going in and turning upside down every house in a city where half the Jews are called Eisik and the other half Jekel!” And he laughed again. Eisik bade him farewell, returned home and dug up the treasure.’
Martin Buber concludes: ‘There is something you cannot find anywhere else in the world; and yet there is a place where you can find it: where you are, in the innermost depths of your own being!’ (The Way of Man).
Fr Manuel João Pereira Correia, MCCJ
Fr. Manuel João, comboni missionary
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