HOMILY OF 17TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: BEYOND THE SURFACE
BY: Fr. Christian Nwafor
1 Kg 3:5-12, Rom 8:28-30, Matt 13:44-52
In the ancient world where Jesus lived, there were not many secure ways of saving money. One way people preserved their wealth was to put them in clay pots and bury them in the fields, considerably far away from where people lived. One disadvantage of this method of saving money was that the owner could pass away without retrieving the treasure and it may or may never be found. The parable of the buried treasure lets us know that once in a while, someone clearing a bush or cultivating a piece of land stumbles on such buried treasure. The emphasis here, is that these kinds of discoveries are not made on the surface, it takes diligence and perseverance to unearth them.
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The two very similar parables about the hidden treasure in the field and the pearl of great value have many things in common. The first we may note is that both the treasure and the pearl were hard to find; they weren’t just lying there on the surface or by the roadside where just anyone could find them. They were hidden in far away places that many would not want to go; they were not found on the roadside grocery shop.
The man who found the treasure buried in the field was probably a hired labourer who gave his energy sweating it out in the heat of the day. The fact that he was able to stumble upon the buried treasure suggests he was a diligent and sincere worker, ploughing and turning up the soil to the best of his ability; he was not a person of the surface, he was a man of depth. He did not work just to fill out the hours to get his daily pay, he sincerely put in his best at his work. He had what it takes to discover a treasure beyond the superficial.
The other man who finally found the pearls of great value did not chance upon them in the familiar shops within the neighborhood. He didn’t find it where everybody went every day. He found the pearls because he went the extra miles. He crossed towns and villages, and cities, tired, hungry, and away from the comfort of his home for many months, and perhaps many years. He never settled for ordinary pearls which were easy to find and which anyone could easily possess.
This out-of-the-way effort in the two parables may also be noticed in the First Reading. King Solomon left the comfort of his home and travelled to Gibeon to seek the counsel of Yahweh. This was no easy and comfortable journey for the wealthy king. An easy way to have done this would have been to summon the prophets and ask them to go and pray to Yahweh on his behalf. But the king took the trouble and endured the discomfort; it was during his prayer retreat at Gibeon that Yahweh appeared to him in a dream and asked him to make a request.
The best is not usually on the surface; they are not what everyone does and gets away with. The best is not found in the easy life of the crowd; the best is found by those who are courageous enough to be different. When we conform to the pressure of the moment, we would seem to feel good, but emptiness would never be far from us. The Readings of this Sunday encourage us to persevere in pursing the good and the noble even when we seem to be alone on that path. The treasures of true happiness and peace, the treasures of eternal life are only found and bought by the few who follow the narrow path that many avoid.
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