A Reflection for Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Find today’s readings here.
Jesus said to his disciples: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it."
Because the university I attended was only a short train ride away from Chicago, I found myself going at least once a month and making quite the ritual of it. Even a brief day trip was marked by a latte at my favorite coffee shop, a search for a new book at my favorite bookstore and, if there was time remaining, a search for a new outfit at the local thrift store. Occasionally, I’d find something valuable in the pockets of a coat or as a bookmark in an old rom-com novel, like a 5- or 10-dollar bill. Now, it definitely inspired joy, and maybe even a return visit to either the coffee shop or the bookstore, but it did not inspire me to re-hide the newly found object so I could discover it again, let alone buy the thrift store for the sake of the joy of finding this “treasure” again and again.
Yet, this seemingly irrational move is exactly what Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven is like. The Kingdom of Heaven is a life-altering “encounter” that makes us want to re-encounter it, even to the point of giving all that we have and are to find it and encounter it anew, over and over. In an image like hidden treasure and a “pearl of great price” (or like a $10 bill in a thrifted jacket), Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is a radical encounter with something (or someone) more than we could ask or imagine—the living God—an encounter from which no one is left unchanged.
Our first reading provides an excellent witness to this, as we hear of Moses being radically transformed, in this case, by an intimate, face-to-face encounter with the LORD. As Moses returns with the “two tablets of the commandments” (the “Ten Commandments”), the author of Exodus notes that Moses “did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he conversed with the LORD” (Exodus 34:29). For Moses, this experience of encountering and conversing with God changed his physical appearance, and, as we know, even the trajectory of his entire life as a leader of the Israelites.
In a recent homily given during the Sunday Angelus, Pope Leo XIV said, “every true encounter is free and cannot be bought: whether it is with God, with others, or with nature.” With these moments of encounter, he continues, “we are called not only to give, but also to receive.” Pope Leo, like our readings for today, reminds us that we must always allow ourselves to encounter God: maybe in a field, in the merchant stalls, or even face-to-face. But, in so doing, we are invited to know that we have a God who eagerly seeks to radically encounter us every single day—a God who has created the whole universe simply for this reason, giving all of who God is and has for the world’s sake, even God’s own life, death and resurrection from the dead. So, let us return regularly to these moments of encounter (and being encountered), even by giving all that we have and are–especially for the poor and marginalized—allowing ourselves to be changed by our God who is Love and inviting others to do the same.