NOTES for Mat 13:44-46

Comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to a precious object, a treasure for which one is willing to give up everything, is very characteristic of the Gospel. Jesus uses this image many times, as we have just read in the preceding verse (Matt. 13:44). But here we see a somewhat different turn to the theme. The Kingdom of Heaven is like not a pearl but a merchant seeking fine pearls. It is compared not with an object possessing “objective” value, but with a person, a personality, with his inward purpose and his search for genuine values. Indeed, despite all the “objectivity” of the Kingdom of Heaven, it is realized through a person's personal relationship with God, through his acknowledgment of God's rule over him, and through his consent to God's will. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God...” “Seek, and ye shall find...”

What, one wonders, does Jesus mean when He speaks of a "scribe trained for the Kingdom"? What treasury is He talking about? And how is what He says connected with the Savior's parables about the Kingdom, in which He compares it to a found treasure and to caught fish?

Indeed, the meaning, for example, of the parable of the found treasure is quite clear: when the matter concerns something truly valuable, one can sacrifice everything for its sake, selling all and buying what gives access to this value. A person who knows and understands what the Kingdom is is ready to give up everything in order to receive the possibility of standing on the path that leads to it. Of course, to buy the field does not yet mean to receive the treasure; the field is only the place where it can be found, just as the path into the Kingdom is not yet the Kingdom itself in all its fullness. Nevertheless, to stand on the path means to make the first and most important step, choosing the right direction. The "scribe," that is, the theologian, "trained for the Kingdom," as we can see, must above all be able to set priorities correctly: he need not renounce his knowledge or his tradition, but it is absolutely necessary to make all of it serve the solution of the main task - movement toward the Kingdom. He will probably have to give up something, but if one pearl is worth more than all the rest of the merchandise, the exchange makes sense.

But simply standing on the path that leads to the Kingdom is still not enough: judging by the parable of the many caught fish, many may find themselves on this path and even at the threshold of the Kingdom, because the net is cast as widely as possible. The history of the Kingdom is above all the history of its revelation in our transforming world, and therefore in one way or another everyone will learn about it and come into contact with it - at least once in life, at the end of time. But such contact in itself guarantees nothing: different fish get into the net, but being in the net does not yet mean getting into the cherished basket; the bad fish is thrown back into the sea.

As we can see, the path into the Kingdom is truly open to everyone, but entrance into it - and therefore salvation - is guaranteed to no one. Christ's coming became for us the guarantee only of the possibility of salvation, whose realization depends in many ways on our own choice and on our own resolve - not only when we are just entering this path, but also when we are already walking it.

Today's Gospel reading brings together three parables about the Kingdom of Heaven from a whole series gathered by the evangelist Matthew in chapter 13. Two of them are very similar to each other; the third is noticeably different: they look at the Kingdom of Heaven from two different sides.

The parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl approach the Kingdom of Heaven as the greatest treasure a person can find. For the sake of this treasure, one can give up everything else: its value fully justifies that. For a person, this is the heart of the doubt: what if what I leave behind for the sake of this pearl turns out to be more costly and more valuable? Only Christ can know this with certainty, and therefore we have to trust Him. And the parable of the net tells us about the result of the choice. Once you trust that the Kingdom of Heaven is the greatest possible value, you receive the chance not to be thrown out when the catch is sorted.

And then, in Christ's words, there appears "a scribe instructed in the Kingdom." The point is that the parables of the treasure and the pearl have another important aspect. The treasure does not simply go to someone lucky, but to the one who persistently seeks it. That is why the Lord, and the evangelist after Him, does not limit Himself to the single parable of the treasure. If it stood alone, it could be understood as a parable about luck. But the merchant in the second parable purposefully seeks fine pearls, and nothing else interests him. He is the one like the scribe who does not simply wait for "manna from above," but spends his whole life seeking the Kingdom of Heaven.

Is the Kingdom of Heaven worth everything we have? For example, the man in the parable goes and joyfully sells all he has and buys the field with the treasure. For him it is clear that treasures are buried in a perfectly ordinary plot of land, and so he gladly makes this deal: everything in exchange for everything.

The trouble is that for us, as for many of Jesus' listeners, the value of the Kingdom is not obvious. We would gladly sacrifice everything we have for a worthy cause - but where is the guarantee that it is worthy?

Our task is to find the treasure as well: to learn in practice that a treasure is buried in a poor vacant lot, one worth more than everything we can have. That is, to touch by experience what is more beautiful than all the other meanings of our life - and this is not easy. In any case, to find such a treasure one must search... or at least want to find it.

In the parable of the treasure hidden in a field, what is most striking is that the Kingdom of Heaven is acquired not at the cost of some incredible efforts, not through self-sacrifice and heroic struggle, but in great joy over unexpected wealth. Selling everything this man had seems to him like a very profitable deal, since his wealth was apparently not great if it could buy him only a patch of land.

Here, as in several other parables, the point turns on the incomparability of the Kingdom and what we possess without God. Certainly, for the sake of the Kingdom one has to give something up; but if one remembers, and not only remembers but also comes to know by faith and experience, that the price of the field and the value of the treasure are simply incomparable, then such a "sacrifice" will not be a sacrifice, but the most "profitable contract" of our life.