31st July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 13:44-46): ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field’. (2024)

31st July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 13:44-46): ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field’.

Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 13:44-46He sells everything he owns and buys the field.

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.‘Again, the kingdom of heaven 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.’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 13:44-46He sells all he has and buys that field.

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

Reflections (10)

(i) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The two short parables that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading have a number of differences, but a fundamental similarity. In the first parable, the scenario is that of a poor day labourer who unexpectedly comes upon a box of treasures hidden in a field that he had been hired to dig. In the second parable the scenario is that of a rich merchant who finds a pearl of great value, the kind of pearl he had been actively searching for all his working life. A poor man stumbles upon a treasure he could never have dreamt of; a rich man finds a treasure he always knew was out there and had been searching for. What the parables have in common is that both men, having found a wonderful treasure were so overjoyed that they were prepared to sell everything they possessed to gain it. Their find was worth everything to them. Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven/God is like both of these scenarios. Jesus is the embodiment of the kingdom of God. He is the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price. Like the day labourer, some people might stumble upon him without having looked for him; he comes to them. Others, like the rich merchant, will have found him after much searching. Perhaps both apply to all of us. The Lord came to us, when our parents brought us to the church for baptism. We didn’t look for him. Yet, in the course of our lives we can become seekers of the Lord, hoping to come to know and love him better. We grow to appreciate the treasure we have been given, our relationship with the Lord and his with us, and we want to explore it more fully. Hopefully, like the day labourer and the merchant, we will come to value this treasure, this pearl of great price, above everything else in our lives.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning’s gospel reading from Matthew puts before us two parables. The second parable is the story of a seeker. A merchant has given his life over to searching for fine pearls and when he when he finds this one pearl of great value he sells everything he owns and buys it. Jesus offers this parable as an image of the kingdom of God. A little earlier in Matthew’s gospel, in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had already said, ‘Seek first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well’. Jesus was saying there that everything else we seek in life is to be secondary to that primary search for God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. We can understand God’s righteousness as God’s will for our lives, God’s way of doing things. Because that is to be our primary search in life, Jesus places it as the first petition in the prayer he gave to his disciples, the Lord’s prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. The kingdom of God makes itself present on earth when God’s will is done. According to this morning’s gospel reading, the coming of God’s kingdom, the doing of God’s will is pearl of great price that is worth searching for and sacrificing everything for.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the two short parables in today’s gospel reading, two people find something valuable, a box of treasure in the first parable and a pearl of great price in the second. Yet, the way that the two people come upon these two valuable objects is quite different. The person in the first parable comes across the treasure by accident. He wasn’t looking for it; he was a day labourer digging in someone else’s field. The last thing he expected to find was a box of treasures buried in the field. In the second parable the merchant was actively searching for fine pearls and, eventually, as a result of his persistent searching, he came across one pearl of great value which stood out from all the rest. Both parables are images of the kingdom of God. Both suggest that our relationship with God through Jesus is a treasure greater than any earthly treasure. The first parable suggests that this treasured relationship comes to us as a grace. We can be surprised by God’s gracious initiative towards us; God is with us, hidden beneath the surface of our lives, and can break through to us when we are least expecting it. The second parable highlights the importance of the human search in coming to know God. It is those who seek who will find; it is those who knock who will have the door opened. We can be, and will be, surprised by Lord’s initiative towards us, and, yet, we are also called to seek the Lord with all our hearts and minds and souls.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The two parables in this morning’s gospel reading have much in common and yet they are quite distinct. In the first parable a day labourer unexpectedly comes upon treasure hidden in a field. In the second parable a wealthy merchant finds a precious pearl after much searching. These are two very different scenarios. Yet what both the farm labourer and the wealthy merchant have in common is the experience of joyful discovery and the resulting freedom to take the necessary steps to acquire what they have discovered. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like that. The gospel of Jesus is a treasure; it is a precious pearl. Some people discover it after much searching like the wealthy merchant; others stumble upon it when they are not explicitly looking for it like the day labourer. The key is, ‘What happens then?’ Are we prepared to take the decisive steps to hold on to what we have discovered? Like the two men in the parable, are we ready to sell everything to acquire this treasure? The gospel reading seems to suggest that once we have tasted the treasure of the kingdom, of the person of Jesus, we will never be the same again; it will change us forever. We will do all we can to preserve that treasure, that pearl of great price. The beauty and wonder of the gospel give us the freedom to live it, even though it may mean letting go of lesser treasures.

And/Or

(v) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes we can have the experience of stumbling upon something of great value even though we have not been looking for anything. A precious gift comes our way unexpectedly, without our having done anything to make it happen. It might be someone who crosses our path and has a huge impact for good on our lives. It might be an important insight that suddenly comes into our mind when we are sitting back relaxing and thinking about nothing in particular. In a sense, that was the experience of the poor day labourer in the first parable of today’s gospel reading. He was being paid to dig up someone’s field when suddenly he hit upon buried treasure. He sold the little he had to buy the field and gain that unexpected treasure. There is a different kind of experience where we find something very valuable after a great deal of searching for it. We keep on looking, and, eventually, after a lot of effort we find what we have been looking for. That was the experience of the wealthy merchant in the second parable who kept searching for the finest pearl of all, until, finally, he found it and, then, sold everything to purchase it. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like both of those human experiences. There are times when the Lord suddenly blesses us at a moment in life when we are least expecting it. The Lord is always taking some gracious initiative towards us if we eyes to see and ears to hear; he seeks us out. When it comes to the Lord, there is also a seeking involved on our part. Jesus calls on us to keep on seeking, to keep on asking, to keep on knocking, like the rich merchant in the second parable. When we are graced by the Lord, because of his initiative towards us and our searching for him, then, like the two men in the parables, we must be ready to give up whatever is necessary to hold on to that gift of the Lord, the gift of the kingdom.

And/Or

(vi) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

I sometimes watch the programme called the Antiques Roadshow on BBC1. I love watching people’s faces when they discover that some object they have had on a sideboard or wherever for years is worth thousands of pounds. On one such programme, a man was interviewed who had been digging in his garden. He found a ring which turned out to be a medieval love ring with a ruby stone in the centre that was worth about £20,000. Sometimes people can hit upon something of great value, a true treasure, purely by accident. I was reminded of that by the first parable in today’s gospel reading. The scene is that of a poor labourer working in someone’s field; out of the blue he hits upon this great treasure. It comes his way as a gift. Shrewd man that he is, he scrapes together his few possessions and buys the field off the man he was working for, to hold onto this unexpected grace. When Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like this man’s experience, he may be saying that a great deal of value in life comes to us as a gift, without our having to work for it. So much in life has come to us as gift, such as the relationships we value, the beauty of God’s creation. The Lord himself comes to us as a gift. Our faith in him in a gift. Most of us were brought to the Lord without our having to look for him. The treasure of the Lord and his gospel has been put into our lap. We have been greatly graced by the Lord. As the first chapter of John’s gospel declares, ‘from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace’. The appropriate response to being graced is to give thanks, which is why Paul in one of his letters says simply, ‘Give thanks in all circ*mstances’.

And/Or

(vii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is often a gap between finding something of value to us and actually possessing it. In both of the two short parables in today’s gospel reading, someone finds a treasure, but having found it does not yet possess it. The man in the first parable, probably a poor day labourer, finds treasure in a field that he wasn’t looking for. The man in the second parable, probably a wealthy merchant, finds a pearl of great value that he had been looking for over many years. What these two people from opposite ends of the social spectrum have in common is that having found this wonderful treasure, they have the freedom to sell everything so as to purchase and possess it. The few resources the poor day labourer had and the many resources the wealthy merchant had seemed of little value compared to the treasure they had found. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like both of those scenarios. The dynamic gift that Jesus brings to us from God is like the treasure hidden in the field and like the pearl of great price. The fullness of this gift from God is in the future, beyond this earthly life, but we can begin to savour it here and now. To the extent that we find and appreciate this wonderful gift for the treasure it is, we will be happy to sacrifice everything else to possess it. We will hold our various possessions lightly and have the freedom to let them go for the sake of this rich gift that Jesus has come to bring us, which is a sharing in his own relationship with God and the way of life it inspires. In his letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul lists all that he once treasured and then he goes on to say, ‘I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’. Christ was his treasure in the field, his pearl of great price, before whom, all else seemed so much loss. The same risen Lord and all he offers us is our treasure, our precious pearl, too, before whose surpassing value all else pales.

And/Or

(viii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

People have often stumbled upon a treasure hidden in a field or a bog. Some of the prized possessions in our National Museum have been discovered in that way. The Ardagh Chalice, along with a hoard of metalwork from the eighth and ninth centuries, was found in a potato field in Ardagh in 1868 by two young local boys named Jim Quinn and Paddy Flanagan. In the time of Jesus, when there were no bank vaults, people often kept some treasure safe by burying it in the ground. If the person subsequently died or forgot where the treasure was buried, someone else could stumble upon it and the law of finders-keepers applied. Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like that phenomenon of someone suddenly finding a treasure in a field. In what sense? Perhaps Jesus is saying that whereas some people find God after a long search, a little bit like the merchant in the other parable who found a pearl of great price after a life time searching, for other people it is more a case of God finding them. The day labourer in the first parable, digging someone’s field for a day’s pay, wasn’t looking for treasure. In a sense, the treasure found him. We are all a little like the merchant in the second parable, searching of something of value, for goodness, beauty, truth, God. We are also like the day labourer in the first parable in that we can stumble upon something of value without looking for it. The Lord can meet us, out of the blue, completely unexpectedly. We have an profound experience of God’s generosity, without having done anything to make it happen. Jesus assures us that such moments will come. The Lord will touch our lives deeply, even though he may be far from our minds and hearts. At such times, like the day labourer, we need to respond with energy and joy.

And/Or

(ix) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Farmers working away on their land or in a local bog have often stumbled upon some great treasure. Looking for treasure was the furthest thing from their mind. They were just going about their daily work. However, out of the blue, they hit upon something which turned out to be a very precious object. Many of the treasures in our national museum were found in that way. This is the kind of situation we find in the first parable that Jesus speaks. Probably a day labourer working in someone’s field finds an unexpected treasure and in his joy he sells everything he owns to buy the field with its treasure. Jesus is saying that we can sometimes stumble upon the treasure of the kingdom of heaven in this way. We are going about our daily lives, without thinking of the Lord at all, and, suddenly, we have a sense of the Lord’s presence. The Lord touches our lives out of the blue in a way that leaves us feeling we have been blessed with a great treasure. The Lord can break through to us even when we are not looking for him. The second parable is a little different. The rich merchant was looking for a particular treasure, a pearl of great value. Eventually, after much searching he found it and he sells all he owns to buy it. The one who searched eventually found. Through this parable the Lord is saying to us that if we keep seeking him we will find him. As Jesus says elsewhere in the gospels, ‘Seek and you will find’. We need to keep seeking the Lord, but the first parable reminds us that the Lord is always seeking us and, sometimes, he will find us, touch our lives, at a time when he is far from our mind and heart. There is always a greater search going on than our search of the Lord and that is the Lord’s search of us.

And/Or

(x) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading Jesus declares that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field or a pearl of great price that is worth selling all for. That kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God was present in a unique way in the person and ministry of Jesus himself. To that extent, Jesus himself is the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price. This was a discovery that Saint Paul made on the road to Damascus. Up until then, he would have considered the Jewish Law to be his greatest treasure, because it revealed God’s will for our lives. However, having allowed himself to be found by the risen Lord as he travelled to Damascus while persecuting the church, he could write some years later, in his letter to the Philippians, ‘I regarded everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’. What he once valued in the Jewish Law, all its fine pearls, he now saw as of little value compared to the pearl of great price, Christ Jesus his Lord. Paul considered his relationship with the Lord his greatest treasure. It gave meaning and direction to his life. His faith in the Lord filled him with hope and empowered him to love others with the love of Christ. Today’s gospel reading invites us to keep treasuring the gift of our faith, our relationship with the Lord, and the community of those who share our faith, the church. In the language of the gospel reading, it is worth selling all to hold on to this treasure, it is worth making sacrifices for. It is a treasure not only to be held on to, but to be shared with others. In a sense, we keep the treasure of the faith by giving it away, by witnessing to our faith in the Lord through all we think, say and do.

Fr. Martin Hogan.