My Precious!

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

A lot of parishioners often walk up to me and tell me that they really pity me. They think that I have lost a great deal and given up so much for the priesthood - a family, a career, comfort and money and all these must have come at a terrible loss to me. I don’t really know how to tell them that I haven’t really given up that much. In fact, I don’t feel the loss at all. It would be so, if these things were really considered valuable to me, but they no longer do. In fact, for me the priesthood is a GAIN, not a LOSS!

It is ironic that the pitiable character of the creature known as Gollum in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings should provide us a lesson of valuing something. Upon the discovery of the One Ring which rules the rings of power, this creature descends into a world of darkness, forsaking friend and kin, enduring banishment and torture, risking death and even the damnation of his soul, and goes through great lengths to recover the one thing which he describes as his “Precious.” What he was willing to endure shows how much he truly values this object.

The parables today raise a similar question: what do we value most in life? How would we really know if something or someone is valuable to us? The real litmus test is not how loud or persistent we say that something is of value to us but what are we prepared to sacrifice for it.

The parables set out this basic principle to determine the value of a thing desired: what are we willing to sacrifice? What is the cost that we are willing to pay? Both tales indicate that the kingdom is of such inestimable value that those who understand this truth will do whatever it takes to possess it.

In the first parable, the man finds a treasure in a field; in the second, the man seeks the valuable pearl. Both parables make a similar point about the Kingdom of heaven – this is the greatest treasure. Receiving it brings joy to the finder, but also calls for the valuing of this treasure above all others. The order is the same in both parables - joy over receiving the Gospel, and then the willingness to sell all their possessions. Their sacrifice was not out of obligation or done grudgingly, but one made out of joy! Our joy in the Lord and our estimation of His incomparable value in our lives produce the willingness to give everything we have to God--our talents, time, and resources. This joy in finding the greatest treasure, Jesus, results in a radical life change, the kind of change that causes us to reorientate our lives, reevaluate our priorities and render all previous attachments dispensable and disposable.

The two parables though conveying a similar message, express two different experiences - two ways where the protagonist comes upon their treasures. In the first parable, the hidden treasure is found by chance, it seems, without the man intentionally looking for it. In the surprise of it all, the accent falls on his shocking and happy response: from his joy he goes and sells all he has, to buy the field. Joy flooded his heart as he stumbled on such value.

In the second parable, the merchant is looking. He is searching high and low, near and far. Being a merchant and connoisseur of pearls, he knows their value. And this merchant is not just seeking pearls but “fine pearls” — beautiful pearls, precious pearls. His palate is refined. He has a keen eye. The merchant’s life has been bound up with pursuing the most precious of earthly objects. Now, he comes across one singular pearl of such beauty, of such great value, one pearl so precious, he goes and sells all he has just to have it. The emphasis is not on his accidental find but on the over-the-top fulfillment of an intentional search.

Together the short parables contribute to one picture, seen in the obvious repetition: the man sells all he has to obtain the newfound treasure. However accidental or intentional the search, the man has come upon something of such value that he is eager (“from his joy”) to count all else loss in view of the surpassing value of the treasure — of the exceeding preciousness of the treasure and pearl.

The apostle St Paul expresses the very same thing in his letter to the Philippians 3:7-8, “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” St Paul suffers the loss of all things that he may gain Christ. Both the Gospel and Paul’s words express the very same reality and truth: if you profess that something is most precious to you, no cost is too big or price too high or sacrifice too great, in order for you to attain it or keep it. The treasure far outstrips the cost that we gladly say, “gain!” This is why the whole army of martyrs and saints can declare with St Paul, “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

One last caveat must be made about the message of these parables. The point here is not that you buy the kingdom or barter for the kingdom or negotiate for the kingdom. The kingdom of God is received without pay, like a poor child, not a rich businessman. It is given to the undeserving, to those who have not earned it or will ever be able to pay for it. So the point here is that you can never buy it. You get it freely because you want it more than you want anything else. In other words, there is a condition for having the kingdom—for having the King on your side and as your friend—but the condition is not wealth or power or intelligence or eminence. The condition is that you prize the Kingdom more than you prize anything else. The point of selling everything in this parable is simply to show where your heart is.

So, the point of these two parables is that the Kingdom of God is so valuable that losing everything on earth, but getting the Kingdom, is a happy trade-off. Losing everything is no real loss, because the Kingdom is by far the greatest gain. The loss of all things is not sad if we gain Christ. Do you truly value Him in your heart? If so, what are you prepared to sacrifice and endure for Him? Remember this: finding our Lord as your one Precious, will not poison and shrink your soul, unlike what the Ring did to Gollum. Rather, Christ is the antidote to what ails us, the catalyst to expand our small hearts, the surprising remedy we’ve long been seeking. In casting off all other attachments in our lives we will not be impoverished. Rather, we will be immensely and undeniably enriched. “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”