Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 30, 2023
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.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household
who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”
There is no idea in the gospels that I find more challenging than the kingdom of heaven (or, in other gospels, the kingdom of God). There is no reading about that idea I find more disturbing and puzzling than this one.
I am disturbed by the thought that some of us will be among the fish discarded at the end of the age or the tares whose gathering and incineration are described a few verses before. Would a God of love and mercy really exclude even the worst of us from his kingdom? I am puzzled by the comparisons Jesus draws. He likens the kingdom to buried treasure that someone wishes to gain at the cost of all he has, to a merchant willing to pay all he has for a pearl of great price, and to a net that snags fish of all kinds. How can the kingdom be like things that are so different?
Rather than wrestle with what I find disturbing and puzzling, I prefer to focus on what is challenging. One thing I find challenging is that the kingdom of heaven is, well, a kingdom. For I am too often tempted to think that the treasure for which I am asked to sell all that I have is my soul’s solitary and worshipful communion with God, and that what makes that treasure worth the cost is the joy that I’ll know when the treasure is mine.
But if the treasure is a kingdom, the picture of beatitude that tempts me is the wrong one altogether. A kingdom is a community of subjects, not a one-on-one relation with the king. So the treasure is not solitary but irreducibly social. And what is supposed to give meaning to my efforts is the prospect of a kingdom in which I will know joy in cooperating with my fellow subjects so that God’s will is worked in our lives for all eternity.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, although the peace and wholeness characteristic of your kingdom is hidden, it can be found. Help us to look beyond the ordinary and everyday things and see how everything comes together to bring us closer to you, each other, and ourselves. Help us take advantage of opportunities to dive more deeply into the beauty of life. Amen.