Homily, Sunday, July 30, 2023
From the Pastor
How is the Kingdom of heaven like a treasure buried in a field? How is the Kingdom of heaven like a pearl of great price gained by giving all to attain it? These are comparable and interchangeable images. One reflects the other. To find the one is to discover and realize the other.
We are all longing for something. The human condition fires us into life with an infinite longing for that which we have not yet attained. Through the long journey of life, the focus and motivation of our longing has attracted many kinds of treasures. Some we will pursue with great longing and deep desire. Others will entice greater or lesser degrees of intentional effort.
The troubled look for peace. The poor and the wanting look for stability and security. The lonely look for love and belonging. The oppressed look for freedom and dignity. The religious look for personal comfort in God. The ill look for health. The bereaved look for consolation and new footing in life. The rich and the powerful look for fail proof protection for all they have gathered. The overworked look for rest. Every human soul is restless and in need of a focus to direct their longing to scratch the unreachable itch.
Most want God. The rub comes at the high emotional cost of selling everything to realize and attain what God is offering. This is the beauty and the wisdom of the buried treasure and the pearl of great price. Why do human beings long for God? Because God first longs for us. This is what makes the parable comparative and interchangeable.
Christ is the treasure buried in the field. When found or discovered it is seen to have value greater than all else. Everything is worth selling to attain the treasure of Christ. Interestingly, we are not told whether the one who finds the buried treasure was actively looking for it. Enter the unsolicited grace of God. God wants to be found. God is not intentionally hidden playing hard to get. It is not uncommon for those who actively avoid God only to discover and find God in irresistible and undeniable ways. God pursues us. God can break in to get our attention, even upon those who are disinterested in God while squarely focused on pursuits of their own making.
When a person discovers Christ in an unexpected way it becomes a gift too rich to deny. In the joy of this discovery, such a person is willing to surrender all they formerly held so dear for the greater good realized in the peace of gaining Christ. In our culture, the image of selling all you have for the sake of Christ sounds too much like an economic exchange. When a person finds the joy of them self in Christ all other previous interests are willingly surrendered for this now found peace. Selling or surrendering our previous interests does not mean they disappear from our life. In discovering Christ, all else is reprioritized to its proper place.
If Christ is the treasure found in a field, what is the pearl of great price? You are. You are the pearl of great price created by God. With the purity of Divine love, God surrenders all that God is in the person of Christ to make you his own. God freely gives all that God can give to purchase for himself the pearl of great price that is you. Through the Precious Blood of Jesus given on the Cross, God unites all who believe in him to the Divine nature.
This is the mirroring of the parable. The one gift becomes the discovery and realization of the other. No human being can find the joy of the true self apart from God. Whatever joy and satisfaction the world may give, it will not match the joy of realizing ones fullness in God. If the true self is found, it is only because that person has come to a deep realization and acceptance of how precious they are to God. The one who realizes God in self and the self in God is inspired with a willing desire to ‘sell’ or surrender lesser priorities.
The challenge is to do the work of finding yourself in a consumer culture that is driven to tell us who we are and how we should be. As Christians, our center is Christ. Through faith, Christ is our origin, nature, and identity in God. A foundational piece of this realization is to trust, accept, and surrender to the love God has given us in Christ. You are beautiful to God, precious, and of priceless value. This truth is hidden behind the fog and confusion of sin. How can God love me when I so often fail? Faith, trust, and confidence in the Divine mercy reveals the purity of Divine love. Resistance is a waste of time. Let the love in.
The image of the net thrown into the sea is like the story of the weeds and the wheat. No one gets through life without the weeds of sin and the tension of evil. At the end of the world the angels will separate the good from the bad. Evil will be cast away, and the righteous will come to glory. Search for your inner goodness and truth. This is God in you. Surrender to it and you and God will become one and that restless itch will finally get scratched. Christ is your greatest treasure. You are his pearl of great price.
Father John Esper
Recent Sermons
Homily, Ascension of the Lord Jesus
May 13, 2024
Homily, May 5, 2024
May 02, 2024
Homily, April 28, 2024
April 23, 2024