Reflection-Treasures

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080217.cfm
Exodus 34:29-35
Matthew 13:44-46

Mystery stories are one of the great staples of literature.  Well, maybe 'literature' is not exactly the right word. Maybe I should have simply said: one of the great staples of popular writing. Detective Columbo pursues the guilty party. Indiana Jones pursues the Ark of the Covenant. Sam Spade searches out the appeal of the Maltese Falcon. Whether it's Dirty Harry Callahan or Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes or the Hardy Boys, they all pursue the offender. And the guilty party? What is his offense? He was just after something that was important to him; something he found so significant, so enticing, so momentous that he was willing to lie, cheat, steal, deceive, betray and even murder in order to possess that which consumed him. 

Maybe it was an illicit relationship, maybe it was an historical artifact, maybe it was protection for his family, maybe his good name or a job or an inheritance or a large sum of money or a thing of great beauty, etc., etc., etc. Whatever it was that led the criminal to engage in questionable, antisocial or even criminal behavior, that 'what-ever-it-was' became a driving force in his behavior. So, to gain the object of his passion and desire, he surrenders his good name, his respectability, his very self in his efforts to secure it. 

You might think it's the detective who personifies the message in the Gospel for this morning; but it's not the detective. The reality is that it's the criminal who embodies the valued qualities of the characters in Jesus' two parables. Now that's not to say that we should focus on the offender's misguided morality which leads him into sinful activity. Rather, the focus needs be on the single-minded passion with which the miscreant pursues the object of his desire.

Consider the first of the two parables. We are told that the Kingdom of Heaven is like this treasure found buried in a field. Extrapolating on the brief description offered, we are forced to conclude that the finder became obsessed with possessing this treasure. (The business of hiding it from others by reburying it in the field is there mereły to reinforce that the finder is driven by his discovery.) Whatever the treasure---and treasures can take many forms---the intent of the parable is to disclose the intensity of the finder's extraordinary enthusiasm for possessing that treasure. He sells all he has. He surrenders all that was part of his former life.  Jesus is telling the reader: once you have discovered the Kingdom you will be so overcome by its beauty that your whole life will change and no possession that you currently have will even remotely measure up. 

There is a story about St Thomas Aquinas that is pertinent here. As you may know, St Thomas was one of the most gifted of the Church's philosophers and theologians. His Summa Theologica still stands today as a masterwork of theology. It is said that, late in his life, he had a vision of Christ. After that experience he stated: "I can no longer write, for God has given me such glorious knowledge that all contained in my works are as straw---barely fit to absorb the holy wonders that fall in a stable."

While the two parables are alike in their primary teaching---that the Kingdom is of such value, such importance, such beauty that it is right and just to surrender everything in order to possess it---there is a secondary point to be understood. That point is found in comparing the two images which Jesus offers. 

The second parable is similar to the first, but with a slight shift in emphasis. As before, something of unusual value is found. And, as in the first story, the lead character sells all he has so that he can possess it. But there is a significant difference. We can easily grasp that the man might sell his car, his clothes, his furniture, his house and everything else because having the treasure will enable him to replace all these things with similar things of better quality. On the other hand, we have the merchant, apparently one in the jewelry business. He too sells all he has; but, for him, this 'all' includes his other merchandise, even the equipment used in his jewelry business, even the tent out of which he operates. So what is he left with? One extraordinary pearl! He can't imitate the man who finds the treasure in the field. That man could sell the treasure's components to replace his former possessions. The pearl is a singular item, not subject to division. We find him then, dispossessed of all things except this 'pearl of great price.' 

I wonder if these two parables are not offered for those who worry about an afterlife where one sits on a cloud, playing a harp. The Kingdom, Jesus says, is totally, of itself, perfectly satisfying. All those former possessions will be as straw---barely fit to absorb the holy wonders that fall in a stable.