Sunday – 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time   revisited

Gospel – Matthew 13:44-52

Greatest Treasure – Greatest Joy

View of Mt. Tabor from Mount Precipice, Nazareth

 

So I have a question – what’s your greatest treasure in this life?  Who/what brings you the greatest joy?  Maybe it’s your spouse or your child, your best friend or that first grandchild.  For me, the answer is simple – it’s Ginger, my wife.  I can still remember the very first time I ever saw her. I was working at Loyola U. of Chicago and I walked into the Student Government Office and saw this vision!  She took my breath away, so much that I just lost the ability to talk coherently.  I remember her sitting there fiddling with her camera and, in my idiocy, the first thing I did was offer to show her how to use the camera.  Little did I know that she was already working as a professional photographer.  Worst opening line ever!

But look at us now, married almost 46 years and counting.  Through all those years of tears and smiles, ups and downs that life has thrown at us, she is my greatest treasure, my greatest joy.  She makes me a better person, a better husband, a better father and papa and deacon.  She challenges me to ask more of myself than I could imagine.  And what would I do for her? Anything, everything!  I would pay any price, sacrifice anything for her!

Greatest Treasure!  It’s the same theme we hear in a couple of parables in today’s Gospel.  So let’s focus on the first one.  A laborer is working in the field plowing the land and he finds a hidden treasure.  He is just a tenant on the land, not the owner.  And the law at the time dictates that anything found on the land belongs to the owner, not the one who finds it.  So what does he do?  He re-buries the treasure and then goes off and scrapes together every bit of money he can; he probably even sells most of his possessions.  And he then buys the land from the owner in order to possess the treasure.

He is willing to pay any price, endure any hardship just to get that treasure.  He is willing to sacrifice everything; no price is too high!  That is ridiculous, that makes no human sense at all! To give up any and everything you have just to possess one thing!   And yet we all know there are treasures in our life worth any price!

The question for us today is where does God fit into this reflection; where does God fit into your life?  How much of a treasure is your faith?  How much do you value your relationship with God?  How much of a price are you willing to pay to be a disciple of Christ?  What would you sacrifice for your brother Jesus? 

That laborer in the field didn’t think twice about the price of the field or the sacrifices he would be making.  His only thought was one of joy! The joy of possessing that treasure!  And so it should be for us.  The treasure is eternal life; the treasure is the Kingdom of God.   We often focus on the cost of discipleship, the sacrifices we have to make.  Today instead let’s focus on the JOY of discipleship!  Let’s reflect on the joy of having God as our Father and the treasure of His presence in our lives.  Let’s focus on all the joys God has bestowed on us in this life – parents, children, friends and family – and all the joys we hope for in the next!!