“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Sunday, 30th July 2017.
Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs 3: 5, 7-12;
Ps 118: 57, 72, 76-77, 127-128;
Rom 8: 28-30;
Mt 13: 44-52
JESUS, THE TRUE TREASURE WE MUST SEEK!
In 1936, Edward VI was the King of England, fell in love with a Valcin, a simple girl. According to the tradition, a King could marry only a girl from the noble family. He had two options before him, to get married to Valcin, and reject the throne, or reject Valcin and have the throne. He took the decision of sacrificing his kingship. What connection is there between a pearl merchant, a treasure seeker, and King Edward? The one thing they had in common is total commitment to a dream.
In the first reading, we see that God appears to young king Solomon with a generous offer: "Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Thus, when Solomon says, “Give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong,” He asks for an understanding heart so that he will be able to deal well with people, act compassionately and discern right from wrong. Solomon recognizes two things: i) wisdom ultimately comes from God; ii) with wisdom, all other blessings will flow. Using the language we find in today’s parables, we could say that Solomon asked for a “treasure” or a “pearl of great price.” And he got it. The reading teaches us that when we fulfill our duties as God would want us to do; we are then in His presence and on the threshold of the Kingdom.
In the second reading, the lesson from the Epistle of Paul makes two important statements: i) "All things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose" and ii) "and those He predestined He also called; and those He called He also justified; and those He justified He also glorified." The second statement simply means that God is calling people through the stages of spiritual growth needed for enjoying eternity with Him: we are predestined, called, justified and glorified. When Paul speaks about those whom God has predestined, he doesn’t mean that God chooses some to be saved and others to be lost. God’s plan is for all to be saved. This means it is God’s active will that all be saved, but God’s passive will permits individuals to accept or reject God’s salvation.
In the Gospel, Jesus concludes a long series of parables about the reign of God in today’s Gospel by praising those wise men and women who have listened carefully, understood and responded to his message. Jesus continues his teaching on the “Kingdom of Heaven” using little stories based on the experiences of Galileans.
Jesus tells us that true wisdom involves recognizing a pearl of great price and being willing to sacrifice all to purchase it. The first two parables in today’s Gospel – the parables of the buried treasure and the pearl – are lessons in the total attachment to Christ and detachment from the things of the world demanded of the disciple to make the reign of God in himself, and in the world, a reality. Matthew, a tax-collector, might have experienced something like this when he discovered the eternal value of the Kingdom preached by Jesus of Nazareth. When he discovered Jesus and his vision of life, everything else became secondary. Jesus our true treasure may come tor lives unexpectedly through some daily experience as he did with Mathew.
The parable of the fishing net: In Palestine there were two main ways of fishing. The first was with the casting-net, which required a keen eye and great skill in throwing the net at the correct moment. The second was with a drag-net. Galilean drag-nets were tied to two boats and drawn through the water. The catch was sorted only afterwards, with good fish going to market and the unacceptable fish being thrown away. Just as a drag-net collects good and bad fish indiscriminately, so the Church is a mixture of all kinds of people, good and bad, useful and useless, saints and sinners. Like the wheat and weeds parable, this parable is a warning against premature judgment, but also a warning which tells us judgment will take place.
Being a Christian is like being a pearl merchant. Being a Christian is like being a treasure hunter. It involves total dedication and commitment. But there is one big difference between a Christian and the others. Paul refers to it in a letter to Corinthians “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we receive imperishable one”. (1 Cor 9:25) This is the difference. The pearl merchant’s prize, the farmers’ treasure and the swimmer’s medal are all perishable.
That’s why today’s gospel makes this terrible important point: Nothing in the world may take priority over God’s kingdom and our search of it. Today’s gospel tells us that what counts when we die is not what we have acquired in life, but we have become. What the parables really teach us is that, when one discovers Jesus and his vision of life, everything else becomes secondary. That is what St. Paul meant when he said: "For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil 2:21). To have a personal experience of Christ and personal relationship with Him – in other words, to have made Christ’s view of life one's own – is the most precious thing in the world. As Jesus is makes himself present in the body and blood, let us give him the prime priority.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I desire to give you the priority in my life. May I renounce all that is an obstacle for me to know you, to love you, to worship you. May I always seek the Kingdom of God in all earnestness. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.
P.S: Homily prepared by Rev. Deacon Roopesh Tauro, Mangalore Diocese, India