which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells
all that he has 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 went and sold all that he had and bought it.
–Matthew 13.44-46 (NRSV)
What on earth is the Kingdom of God?
It is the place where the rich
will never have enough money
to buy their way into
but where the poor don’t need it . . .
It is the upside down place
where youth is wise and old age is foolishness . . .
The nameless place within each of us
yearning to be filled with we know not what . . .
Yet it is the place that is not a place at all . . .
It is a destination already arrived at . . .
A state of grace and acts of love . . .
What is the kingdom of God?
It is the buried treasure that someone
would find and hide to find again
keeping it all for himself . . .
It is the pearl of great price . . .
beauty and perfection and symmetry
that someone would sell all to have . . .
It is that worth any price, any risk
But whose price? Whose risk?
Tradition would suggest that
Jesus’ parables are a challenge to us –
sell all you have and follow me . . .
risk all you have to be with me . . .
gather in all you have and
throw your lot in with me . . .
I am the investment you seek
I am the sure thing –
the treasure you already know is there . . .
the pearl whose value you already have. . .
I am that for which you have waited a lifetime
But it can also be an unpleasant parable
if we assume that we’re the
shoveler, the buyer of land
with insider knowledge
of that which was not ours
– diggers for our own advantage
taking that which someone else
had laid aside for themselves
keeping it a secret
hoarding the extravagant find
But what if God is the man,
digging not for God’s own sake,
but for ours –
selling all, risking . . . all . . . to find
to have. . . to hold?
if God is the merchant,
maybe we are the treasure
the value-thing God invests
everything for to find
treasure is only treasure
because we think it is
It’s only value lies in our own belief
that it has value
Pearls are pretty, but they’re really only sand
and oyster spit
It is the beholder’s eye that gives the pearl its value –
to an oyster, its nothing but an annoyance to be dealt with
to the merchant, a breathtaking treasure to be cared for . .
its unrealized potential sitting in the palm of his hand
So well we might consider anew –
who is the digger of treasure?
Who is the merchant?
Is it us, seeking after value?
Or might it just be God,
already aware of the value
because the only value has
always and ever rested
in and only in God’s own eyes?
Thanks!
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