Summary: There is a problem withh the language in this part of Matthew’s Gospel, and the longer it goes un addressed, the longer we shall miss the point. Speaking and thinking of the “Kingdom of Heaven” sets a trap that leads us to think of a place, and that gets us talking about “getting to heaven” as though we were going some place. That is never a proposal found in the Gospels. These parables are not about a kingdom which is a place called “Heaven.” The term: “Kingdom of Heaven” is just Matthew’s preferred expression for what Luke and Mark call: “The Kingdom or Reign of God.” What this refers to is a relationship, not a place. We ought best to think about being in not going to... Outside of this flesh, outside of this earthly existence life is better imagined as a realtionship. Living In God, living with God, being in the perfect, unending, fullest relationship or “life” with God is our calling. This is what God invites us to experience, and when Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is at hand, he means that we can do this now. We can live the “Reign” of God now. We do not have to wait until we’re dead. To get deeper into the meaning of these parables, I found it helpful to pay attention to the verbs. Line them up and think with me about what is being said: In the first parable: “buried, find, hide, sell, and buy. Then in the second parable: search, find, sells and buy. The two parables in a way summarize the experience of all of us when it comes to our faith and life in the reign of God, that is to say, in an intimate, loving relationship with God. Some of us just suddenly find the faith that God has buried, while some of us have to search for it. Either way, the first action on our part is to FIND. It is the first act from us. God has already done what God is going to do: “bury” or “give” or “plant” however you want to think about it or whatever word you want to use. Jesus uses them all. However we discover God’s gift of what Jesus called “friendship” requires a response from us: sell and buy are the verbs in both parables. For some this discovery comes by surprise, some sudden awakening or realization; for others it comes after long searching. Either way, upon discovering a realtionship with God, which is a gift we can do nothing to earn, we act to possess and maintain that gift above all else. Think and remember what it was like when you found the love of your life. Nothing and no one could get between you two. Nothing anyone said or anyone did could have or would have been more important than the person you loved most. When we experience that kind of human love with another human being we would sacrifice anything to hold and maintain that realionship. It is romance at it’s finest! It is also, I believe, part of the way God has made us to begin to move deeper into the mystery of why we are here and what it is God asks of us. That experience of human love and the heroic sacrifices it can stir in us is the first awakening of what these parables address: our relationship with God. I think the passion and depth of human love is the first awakening of our abililty to be embraced and enter into Divine love which is what Jesus would call: “The Reign of God.” Our thirst and our desire for love is never satisfied with human love - there is always more, and the best of human love becomes the doorway into Divine Love: a love that is best found when two are together as one in perfect love and unitiy of heart and soul. Listen then to these parables as love stories. FIND love of God in your life. SELL or get rid of anything that keeps you from owning that love and possessing that fullnes of life with God. As this portion of Matthew’s Gospel and these parables come to a close, the last counsel he gives is a reminder that we shall be judged not by one another but by our use of the gifts we have been given. If we have found the treasure and the pearl of God’s love and if we have been caught by Jesus the fisher of people we will be judged by how we have continued this revelation. Understanding this means we shall be wise in putting together the new and the old. It is way of going and growing deeper in faith. When you buy into this, you are going to sell off anything that is contrary and useless for moving forward and deeper into the mystery of God’s presence and powerful love. I believe that this is what the Kingdom of Heaven is all about: an ongoing process in this life of putting together the new and the old, of finding, of selling, of buying our lives, of reinventing ourselselves in the light of God’s ongoing self revelation. There is a treasure in this field called “life”. Finding it, possessing it, owning it, claiming it, keeping it will always mean selling off and giving up something else that is not as worthy. Jesus asks: “Do you understand this?” My own response is: “Yes, I am beginning to understand.” I hope and I pray that your response is the same: Search, Find, Sell, Buy, and then Live forever in God’s Love. That is the Kingdom of Heaven.
