The Kingdom is Not the Pearl

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.
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.”

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure buried in a field.

It’s not like a field, it’s like a treasure buried in a field. Many people make that mistake.

A man finds the treasure and buries it again, where nobody can see, and tells no one. He goes out and sell everything he has to buy the field, as a means to get that treasure. That isn’t honest or right, but it’s the way it often goes. Many have bought the earth, in order to say they own the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why does the man hide the treasure? Because it’s not his, and because he can’t afford to buy it. Nobody could ever put a price on that treasure. No human could ever pay for it honestly. If everyone knew about the treasure in the field, they’d all be clamoring to buy it, but nobody could even come close. Fortunately, the treasure is freely given to all who ask. Unfortunately, few can accept this. Human beings like to buy and sell. We are embarrassed to ask. So the man hides the treasure, telling no one what he’s found. He goes and buys the real estate, imagining he’s cheated the owner of the real estate out of his treasure. Everything the man possessed is just enough to buy the piece of real estate. He lost everything he had to try and buy the Kingdom, but the Kingdom of Heaven is not real estate.  It’s not Rome, though you may find it in Rome. It’s not Constantinople, though you might find it there. It’s not Steubenville though many have looked for it there. It’s not Front Royal. It’s not the parish with the proper Communion rail and the pipe organ where the priest always stands with his back turned. It’s not this or that intentional community. People will buy and sell and rent those places out until the end of time, but they’re not the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the treasure that was buried away.

I think, if the man had asked the owner of that treasure, he would have shared it freely. But so often we hide the treasure and go buy the field– joyfully, because we don’t understand.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.

Again, people are often mistaken. The Gospel doesn’t say the Kingdom IS a pearl of great price, it says it’s like a merchant searching for pearls and paying a great price for them.

The merchant sells everything he has to buy that pearl. What is a pearl? A pearl is the story of a struggle. A pearl starts out as a little piece of grit that shouldn’t be there, tormenting an oyster. The oyster secretes layer after layer of nacre to soothe the irritation, coating the grit in mother-of-pearl until only the pearl is visible, and then a pearl diver relieves the oyster of the intruder. The pearl is the embodiment of the entire interior battle. The pearl is a conflict and a resolution. The pearl is a struggle and the result of a struggle. The pearl is the events of a life, made into a gem. Men sell the pearl at a markup, so a merchant has to get rid of all he has to get one. The merchant is glad to do this.

The merchant is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven goes around searching for pearls– for our lives, our whole life stories, our sufferings and agonies everyday annoyances and what we end up doing with them, the whole of us. The Kingdom of Heaven pours out all that Heaven has to purchase the ball of nacre around the tormenting piece of grit. Heaven takes home the grit and the nacre together, because Heaven values us that much. Heaven knows the value of a life.

The Kingdom of Heaven is also like a net that sweeps up everything in its path. All of it: bad and good, will get swept up together. It’s not your job to decide what is bad and what is good. It’s your job to be swept away. Everything: nacre and grit, field and treasure, Rome and Steubenville and Constantinople, your best and worst days, your strengths and weaknesses, get swept up in the net. And then Heaven sorts it out once and for all.

You may not know what in you is good or bad, so give it all over to the net.

If you buy the field you will end up with nothing but a field, so don’t bother with the field. You can’t afford what you really want. What you want is the treasure. Humbly ask for the treasure. Give Heaven your pearl, all of your pearl, whether you think it’s of high price or not, and Heaven will give you all that Heaven has. In the end, when all’s said and done, wiser hands than yours will sort through the good and the bad. The angels will settle with what is grit and what is nacre in your own life. They will also attend to who is entitled to inherit the treasure and who did nothing but buy a piece of earth dishonestly, thinking they would own the treasure.

Do you understand all these things?