Jerimiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:7-9; Matthew 13:45-46; Psalm 51
March 21, 2021
Lloyd Penner
Jesus was a master storyteller. The 2 parables in our Gospel reading we heard show this clearly. A man finds a treasure in a field which he does not own. He sells everything he has to buy the field so that the treasure can be his. A merchant, who specialized in buying and selling fine pearls, finds one that is especially valuable. Pearls were found in oysters in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian ocean but most were not worth much. To be valuable a pearl has to have a very high lustre and sheen so that you can see your self perfectly reflected in it. The merchant in the parable is so transfixed by this pearl that he sells everything he owns to acquire it. In the picture Bible I read as a child, the man in this parable has literally sold everything-even his clothes. All he has left to wear are rags but his eyes are wide open with delight.
In these stories, Jesus is telling his listeners something very important about the nature of the kingdom of heaven (also called the kingdom of God in Scripture) which was a central theme of his teaching. For Jesus, the kingdom has 3 related dimensions: The reign of God is about to happen. The reign of God will be fully implemented in the future. Bu the main focus of Jesus’ teaching was that the kingdom of God was here now. He pointed to the fact that people were being healed and lives transformed. One of Jesus’ most profound statements is “the Kingdom is within you.” I believe that the kingdom of God is evident whenever and wherever the teachings of Jesus are lived. Another way of putting it, is that the Kingdom of God is manifest whenever people experience God’s transforming power of love, peace, forgiveness, freedom and joy. As Jesus says in John’s Gospel, “I am come that you might have life and life more abundantly.” This is the treasure. This is the pearl of great price.
This past year has tested every part of our being: body, mind and spirit. Our weaknesses have been exposed. But we have also, I hope, discovered our inner strengths. Our faith has also bene challenged. Jesus asks us to dig deep if we are to find the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price. He is saying that nothing is worth more than finding and experiencing God in the depths of our being. I have been listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing “How lovely are thy Dwelling Places” from Brahms’ Requiem based on words from Psalm 84. The words are “My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my body cry out for the living God.” When we do this in faith, we meet God and discover the kingdom of God within us. In those moments, we experience inner peace- our mind, our body and spirit are in harmony. We also sense a deep connection to other people and with all that is. The challenge is this, “Are we willing to do whatever is necessary to find this hidden treasure, to find this pearl of great price”?