"He sells all that he has and buys the field with the treasure in it; he sells all that he has and buys the pearl of great price." It seems that Jesus is underscoring a point for us today: THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN – the Kingdom that he has come personally to introduce to mankind – the Kingdom of heaven that is unlike anything that anyone can possibly imagine – is 100% guaranteed treasure enough and pearl enough to sell absolutely everything you have, to buy!
Is Jesus talking about treasures in fields and a pearl in a box? No! He is talking about SPIRITUAL TREASURE that resides in the heart; SPIRITUAL PEARLS that reside in the soul! And what we sell to buy them, so that we can possess them forever is EVERYTHING IN OUR LIVES THAT IS NOT OF GOD!
Only the truly pure of heart can even understand what the treasure and the pearl are all about; "pure of heart," simply means SINGLE-SIGHTED, SINGLE-FOCUSED, SINGLE-ORIENTED. The pure of heart are invited to participate in the Kingdom – and they understand what the invitation means!
If GOD, THE KINGDOM and HEAVEN are the treasure and the pearl – and we keep the eyes of our faith on them, trying to find out more about them, trying to guard them from SPIRITUAL THIEVES AND ROBBERS who want to steal our RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD – and OTHERS in him – then we are pure of heart and we will obtain the treasure and the pearl when the time is right! In fact, we will even begin to experience it right here and right now! The Kingdom of heaven, as we heard in the second reading today, is the community of those predestined, called and justified by God – through the death and resurrection of Jesus – who are waiting for final glorification as a reward for our "single-sighted" God-centered lives! Those who seek purity of heart for the sake of the Kingdom are already bound in the Holy Spirit of unity!
In the first reading today when God told Solomon to ask for anything he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom: he asked God to allow him always to make right choices and decisions as he dealt with people. Let us today be wise like Solomon and ask God for something that he cannot refuse us: a pure, wise and understanding heart! May we fully appreciate the treasure and the pearl of enormous graces that are ours for the asking and the taking; and let us remove from us all that is not of God – so that our hearts remain pure, holy, and oriented toward the Kingdom in heaven!
Blessed are you Father, Lord of heaven and earth; for you have revealed to little ones [the pure of heart] the mysteries of the kingdom!
No comments:
Post a Comment