Jesus is the Treasure, We are the Pearl

 Jesus speaks about a treasure; Jesus speaks about a pearl… But the treasure is valuable in itself, whereas the pearl is valuable according to its price. This is why Jesus says that “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure,” but does not say “The kingdom of heaven is like a pearl.” “The Kingdom of Heaven,” He says, “is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.”

1. Jesus is the treasure that we find, Jesus is the merchant who finds us, a pearl of great value. That Jesus is a treasure is easy to understand, but why are we a pearl of great value, if without Jesus we are sinners who can do nothing? Because our price is the price of His blood. The only way to redeem human beings was Jesus’ death on the Cross. Jesus found us and saw that the price for us was very high. He sold everything He had; He gave up His own self and bought us at the price of his blood.

Every time we see another person, especially if they are sinners, we have to remember that they may look disadvantaged and broken in our own eyes, but that they are pearls in the eyes of God. Each of them is the beneficiary of Jesus’ own blood, each of them has a price tag that is very high. We would probably be more careful in our judgments and in our behaviour towards them, if we reflected more on how priceless they are before God.

2. The treasure that is Jesus is hidden, because God and His grace are invisible to the world: they are hidden to the superficial eyes of mundane people.

A treasure hidden is found by fortune, by chance. Chance has nothing to do with hard work. In like manner, we did not deserve God’s love by our works, because true love cannot be earned or paid for. We cannot pay for grace, we cannot pay to be adopted; we have been chosen by lot, in a way, like Matthias. As someone is happy to find a treasure, we are happy to find out that God has loved us, especially because we did not deserve it: we have sinned, perhaps before our baptism, surely after our baptism. Still, God in His mercy keeps allowing Himself to be found by us, His loving Heart is obstinate to be loved by our poor hearts.

A treasure hidden is found perhaps digging, as God’s Kingdom implies hard work. Fortune and work can go together. Perhaps, if that person had not been digging, he would not have found the treasure. God’s Kingdom is found sometimes after long research, other times is found in the midst of suffering and the setbacks of life, but it is always found through self-denial, by giving up our own crooked ways in exchange for God’s ways.

3. But here is the thing, God’s kingdom is worth it. Whoever finds it, whoever is touched by God’s love in his or her life, that person finds life and joy. The man who found the treasure in the parable does three things.

- First, he hides the treasure again! He does not want to lose what he has found. He protects it. He recognizes its value and for nothing in the world would risk losing it. Do we protect in this way our faith? Do we protect in this way our life of grace, trying to avoid occasions of sin?

- Second, he rejoices. He rejoices in the hope of obtaining everything he always dreamt. He got the treasure. Nobody can see his treasure, but his joy is so overwhelming! Nobody can believe that he wastes his money in such an ordinary field, but if they knew…  This man experiences the joy of hope. We know that God loves us now and that our reward is so rich in heaven that no sacrifice on earth can be considered too much. Romans 8:18, “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

- Third, he does three things: goes, sells and buys.

1) Whoever has been touched by God’s love, goes. This person is on fire and cannot stay quiet. You need to move; you need to love back. What does God want you to do?

2) This person also sells everything he has. Selling something is not burning it, but making it count for something else. If what you want is the treasure, everything else in your life has to be oriented towards obtaining the treasure. If God’s love found you, everything else in your life should help you to love Him back, and nothing should be an obstacle to His love.

3) Finally, he buys that field. He cannot buy the treasure, but the field. The field is where the treasure is. The field where we found our treasure is the Scriptures, the Church, the Sacraments, our faith. When you give up everything so that you may belong to Christ’s Church, so that you may hear and understand God’s word, so that you may receive the sacraments and so that you may be faithful, then the treasure belongs to you. It is still hidden, but it is already yours.

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