17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

What would you ask for if God spoke to you and said you could have whatever you like?

This is what happens to Solomon today in the first reading. And instead of asking for pleasure, wealth or power he humbly asks for two things – an understanding mind and the capacity to discern between good and evil.

In other words he asked God for spiritual wisdom. This is something that we too should pray for. And it also something that we can actually achieve when we read the scriptures. Not just as a duty but from a place of love. It will give us peace and joy in our hearts.

Today Jesus gives us another four parables. In the first one he tells us of someone who finds treasure hidden in a field. What would you do if you found this? Well you would dig it up and take it! Yet here the person hides it again, sells all he has and buys that field. Weird! What does this mean?

It tells us that you can’t steal the kingdom of heaven. You have to give all you can to obtain it. It’s something that is hidden, that is valuable and precious. It’s worth everything to obtain.

The second parable is very similar actually. A merchant is searching for a pearl of great price. When he finds it he sells all he owns to buy it. This seems like an overreaction. Yet what Jesus is telling us is that we need to exhibit a radical reaction towards heaven in order to obtain it. We have to be foolish in the eyes of the world as if nothing else matters in order to acquire the Kingdom of God.

You might ask what the difference is between these two parables and they seem very similar. Well perhaps the first one represents those who stumble across the kingdom in life. The person sounds perhaps like a poor farmer. Whereas the second person is a wealthy man who is actively seeking the kingdom. In other words regardless of if you are rich or poor the kingdom of heaven has a wealth beyond our imagination.

Next we have a fisherman casting a dragnet into the sea. The angels separate the good and bad fish at the end of time. This is a symbol of how it will be at the end of the world. The righteous and the wicked will be separated by the angels.

Jesus is very clear in his teachings. He loves us very much that’s why he tells us the truth clearly. Heaven and hell exist but his desire is that all of us should be saved. He gives us the free will to choose.

Finally we have that rather enigmatic phrase at the end about a householder bringing out of his house things that are old and new.

In other words he wants his disciples to be like scribes that study the scriptures well and unpack the meaning of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is revealed in the New and the New Testament is concealed in the Old.

So should we sell everything we have and be as radical as that?

Well Francis de Sales reminds us that we should certainly give alms when we can. That we should have a daily disposition of heart that is free so that when we need to give of our possessions we can. So that what we have doesn’t possess us.

He also says that when financial difficulties or spiritual trials come our way we should accept them with humility and patience. This is a radical response that we can give.

These parables are mystical in that they can keep giving insights to the enth degree. And so they should because the kingdom of heaven is a mystery that can never be fully understood.

St Irenaeus says that Jesus is actually the treasure that was hidden in the world. His divinity was the gold that was hidden in the earthliness of his humanity. And also concealed in the Old Testament to be revealed in the New.

Another way to see these parables is that Jesus sees us as that treasure. He sees us as fine pearls and he casts his net hoping to catch us as good fish. Because Jesus actually radically gave all that he had to purchase us. We have been bought and paid for by his precious body and blood.

This shows how precious we are in the eyes of God that he sends his only son to find us in the earth to look beyond the dirt of our imperfections and recognise our true precious value.

Let us ask God, like King Solomon did, for the spiritual wisdom and insight to fully appreciate who the person of Jesus really is, what he has done for us and how we can properly follow him in our lives.