Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, A

The second image is not about the pearl of great price; It’s about the merchant.“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant.” (MT 13:45)

I have Mass at St. Isidore on Sunday, July 26 @ 7:30/9:30 am. We are celebrating the local feast of Sts. Anne and Joachim. St. Anne is the Patroness of the Archdiocese of Detroit. This homily is for those who are following the lectionary in Ordinary Time.

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Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. 

Jesus said to his disciples, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls, When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it." 

The Gospel of the Lord 

Several years ago, when I was at a parish in Livonia, I stumbled on a used book sale at the public library. I saw a book that was exactly like a book I remembered from my grandmother's house. It had belonged to my Uncle Jim. I opened the book, expecting to see my uncle's name inside, but there was someone else's name written there. I bought the book anyway, brought it home, put it on the shelf, and forgot about it. A few years later, when I was packing up my books to move, I noticed a sticker on the spine of that book. It was curled up, so I had to carefully unroll it. And lo and behold, there was my uncle's name. It was his book, after all. My grandmother had lived over 300 miles away, and we had sold her house five years earlier. Yet somehow, mysteriously, that book found its way to me. 

For three weeks now, we've been listening to Jesus teach almost exclusively through parables. A seed buried in the ground. Yeast that a woman hid in three measures of flour. Instead of dramatic displays of power, the kingdom begins in hiddenness where no one expects it. We are nourished and sustained by God's life-giving grace even when we are unaware of it. 

What if you discovered a treasure buried in a field. What if you found a pearl that was more valuable than any pearl? The person who discovered the hidden treasure buried it again, which then made it legal for him to go and buy that field. The merchant who discovered the pearl of great price sells everything he has and buys it. In both stories, everything is sold in order to buy the field or the pearl. 

But listen again. The first image is about a hidden treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field. Rick Lisher offers this image in his book on parables. "When Jesus was taken from the cross, They hid his body in a tomb and then sealed it, lest someone find him. For three days, Jesus himself was the treasure hidden in the field. For three days, Jesus was the seed lying dormant in the ground. Jesus was a human parable of God's love and power." 

The second image is not about the pearl of great price. It's about the merchant. "The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant." The merchant sells pearls, that's who he is. He has a supply of pearls so that he can sell some and buy others. If he sells all that he has, he can no longer buy any more pearls. Then he is no longer a merchant. Now he is someone who owns a pearl of great price, and in a sense, he's owned by that pearl. The merchant is now completely identified with the pearl. He has nothing else with which to continue being a merchant. 

A pearl, you know, is formed from an irritation, a tiny speck of sand in the inner membrane of a mollusk, hidden in the darkness on the bottom of the sea. A pearl forms around that wound. I suspect the beauty of a pearl is lost on the mollusk. A pearl's beauty is only discovered when it is found. 

We've been reading from Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 8. A few verses back, Paul said, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us." The tiny grain of sand that was such an irritant to the mollusk is not worth comparing to the glory about to be revealed. That tiny grain of sand, covered over and over, has become a pearl of great price. 

Paul continues, "We know that all things work for good for those who love God." In the Greek, however, God is the subject of the sentence. "We know, in fact, that God works all things together for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose." God is present, actively laboring, working alongside you inside your suffering. showing up in it to work with you towards something good. 

God's purpose is to help us see beyond our brokenness to God's transforming love. We are being given a new identity. Little by little, we are being shaped into the image of God's Son. What was broken is made whole. What was disfigured becomes lovely. and radiant in God's light. 

What if the pearl is you? What if the merchant in the story is God? A God who loves the world in this way, that he gave his only son, so that the world might be saved by him. A God who gives everything, so that we might find our true identity in him. What if Jesus is the merchant who has come to find you and to love you into being all you were created to be?