SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - A

17TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – A (1Kings 3:5, 7-12; Rom 8:28-30; Math 13:44-52)

Theme: Let us preserve and safeguard with the great joy the treasure of the life in Christ which we have searched and we have found

Reflections:
- From three Sundays we have been reflecting on the parable of the Kingdom of God and thus we are still in the thirteenth chapter of Mathew;
- Jesus would not have said all the parables in sequence (one after the other); He would have narrated and spoken to the people or sometimes only to the disciples in private there parables; but it was the work of Mathew who has gathered all these parables about the mystery of the kingdom of God and has put them together in one chapter;
- Even the Church has divided this chapter into three/four Sundays, so that, the mystery will be revealed and the kingdom of God will be searched and found easily by the people.
- We still have to ‘give thanks and praise’ to the Father, the Lord of heaven and earth because he has revealed these mysteries of kingdom to the little ones (Alleluia verse – which is being repeated every week from three Sundays) and we should be happy because we are those ‘little ones’, ‘meek and humble’ because we are still ready and prepared to listen and embrace these mysteries of the faith in God and his kingdom which is ‘fulfilled and realized perfectly’ in the person of Jesus Christ;
- Today’s reading are the answers for the two often asked questions:
o What have we to ask for in the prayer? And the answer is found in the first reading of today, in the request/prayer made by Solomon who asks for the discernment;
o What have we to search for in life/ in the Christian life? And the answer is found in the Gospel of today, in the parables of Jesus , of the hidden treasure – the precious diamond – the net that is thrown into the sea, that we have to search for the kingdom of God which is amidst us;

First Reading: discernment to know and choose what is good

- The prayer of Solomon has been pleased by God:
o As we have said above, this prayer could be the answer for anyone who is confused of what to ask in the prayer; every prayer that is raised to God should please him; the only prayer that pleases him will be the ‘offering of glory and praise to him’; the only prayer that reaches God and touches him would be the prayer of ‘doing his will’; we may ask so many things in prayer and we may be of lot of confusion of how to pray; and with this same kind of situation that the disciples asked Jesus ‘teach us how to pray’ and there emerged the great prayer of ‘Our Father’ which is comprised of ‘Praise of his Glory – his Will to be done – his bread/Eucharist for us – his pardon in our pardoning – and finally his Protection’.
o That’s what Solomon asked for; his prayers was NOT for:
 the riches – because he knows of the futility/limitedness of the riches of the world and Jesus confirms this when he says: “do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where the moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal” (Mt 6:19-20; Luke 12:33-34). And the prayer of the Psalmist in the ‘folly of Trust in riches’ (Ps 49:16ff).
 the years – because he knows the inutility and perishing nature of the life on earth and the Psalm confirms it that man can live only few years and after the he has go down into the Hades;
 the life of his enemies – because he knows the enemies can only spoil the outward/exterior life or status but not the inner/interior life or communion with God;
o His prayer IS FOR: the discernment
 Discernment is not a just ‘being able to distinguish and know what is good and what is bad’;
 It is, more than that, as a consequence of knowing it, ‘being able to choose and live what is good’;
 To find out what is bad and choose it one does not need discernment; therefore, the discernment is always a positive ‘path’ to know and choose good and to follow it;
 Solomon has asked for this: to know how to distinguish the good from the bad and to guide the people in the right path;
- Assimilation of the prayer into one’s life:
o We can also make the same prayer; we can also ask for the same gift of wisdom; and we shall try to ‘translate the prayerful words of Solomon’ into our own words; let us take the text/reading (vv. 7-9) and make our own prayer keeping always in mind our ‘status of being baptized and called into the life of communion with God’: “O Lord my God, you have made your servant ‘you son’ (king) in the place of ‘our ancestor’ (my father) David, although I am only a little child ‘who always is in need of spiritual guidance’; I do not know how to go out or come in ‘to your presence’. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted ‘as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore’. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to ‘offer good testimony of life’ (govern) to your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can ‘lead with the spirit of witness and faith’ (govern) this your great people?
o Though it looks very simple and peripheral, the profundity of the personalization of the prayer of Solomon as one’s own is a great task; there he is a ‘king’ and asked discernment to ‘govern’ the people; in the personal realization we are ‘his children’ and we ask for the same ‘understanding and discernment’ to ‘give good example of life and faith’ to the great and numerous people that God has chosen and amidst whom we are placed;
o Therefore, it is not only ‘the play of the words’ as we easily can mean, we can easily laugh at and put aside but it is ‘a task’, which is personal and profound, to seek for God’s guidance and God’s will to be happening in our life; we keep aside (sell all what we have – the gospel) our will and our desires ‘of riches, of many years of life and the destruction of our enemies’ in order to ‘find and chose’ the great will of God (the hidden treasure – the gospel);


Second Reading: being conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus

- The project of God for those who love him:
o God always takes care of those who love him and Paul affirms that God has a special design and project for them and it is: ‘to be conformed to the image of his Son’.
o God has created everything of that is visible and invisible and everything of what is on earth and under the earth and in the heavens, For Him and in View of Him, that is of His Son; therefore, as Paul still says in the letter to Colossians, Jesus is the ‘Invisible Image of God’ (1:15) and in this image that God has made ‘each man and woman’, in his image and in his likeness; therefore, we (all those choose him an love and live for him) are already predestined (God’s will is that we have to be in the conformation of his Son’s image; this does not signify that we do not have to do anything because God has already ‘destined’ it; indeed, it is destined, but with the freedom of the recipient and the believer ‘who has the freedom either to be ‘IN’ it or ‘OUT’ of it) and now the ‘choice’ is ours to be or not to be ‘conformed’.
o Everything else will follow once we ‘choose to be conformed’ with the way of life that God asks us (by discerning his will and following it – the first reading); what follows is that ‘the effect is his call – the consequence of the justice – and the fruit of the glory’ of being his children (v.30);
- Our participation in this project: by searching the ‘hidden treasure of life in Christ’
o The project of God is not in vain or in air but it is present in the concrete situation of our life; it is an event which needs ‘the fulfillment of the will’ of the one who has called us to share in his life;
o The project of God needs a response from those to whom ‘it is projected’ and ‘destined’ and it is we who have to respond to this ‘call of participation’ by loving him because once we love him ‘we keep his commandments’ and we ‘do his will’.
o The participation is not a ‘one time event’ but a ‘continuous process’; therefore, there needs to be always a continuous entering and re-entering (how to go out and come in – the first reading) into the mystery of being conformed to the ‘Image of His Son’;


Gospel: we are the ‘hidden treasure’, the ‘precious pearl’ and the ‘net thrown into the sea’

- Situation of the last three parables of the kingdom of God:
o Mathew pens down the last three parables that has come out from the mouth of Jesus about the kingdom of God; they may be the last three in the order chosen to be put in the thirteenth chapter of Mathew, still, last these three could be like the first three spiritual virtues: faith, hope and love; we do not mean them small and unnoticed just because they are ‘small’ and ‘put at the end’; they express ‘the great value’ of the Christian life and search for the meaning of life;
o Just as we have mentioned in the introduction to this reflection, these parables of Jesus can stand as the answer for the yet another ‘often asked question’ – what have we to search for? And what could be meaning of Christian Life?
o We have to search for the valuable and hidden treasure because it stays long and it gives us ‘nourishment and growth of the relationship with God’ and that’s what Jesus affirms once again when he talks about the treasures in heaven: “but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Mt 6:20) and where your ‘valuable treasure’ is there your ‘precious heart’ will be.
- The meaning of the three parables:
o ‘Hidden Treasure in the Field’:
 We should not forget that the kingdom of God is compared, by Jesus, to the ‘hidden treasure’ which is ‘in the field’ and at the end the man buys not just the hidden treasure but the whole field;
 Therefore, it is a treasure hidden ‘in the field of the faith’; in the midst of the people; in the very soil of creation;
 This ‘hidden treasure’ is ‘the invisible presence of Jesus himself’ in the field of the faith;
 Once ‘he is found’ the man who finds him goes home and with the lot of joy sells and gives away what he has and returns to possess him and here, we can just remember the parable of the ‘rich young man’ (Mathew himself narrates it in Chapter 19:16-30) in which Jesus asks him “go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (v.21) and the young man went away with grief; to possess Jesus, the hidden treasure, we have to forego our possessions;
 The man who found the treasure went and with the great joy he sold out everything in order to possess it; but the young man who wanted to possess the fellowship of Jesus would not be able to give away his possession; went away with grief of not getting the ‘treasure of Jesus’ but could not leave what he has for the ‘gaining of the treasure’;
 What could be the final result if one finds the treasure but could not possess it either by negligence or by avarice of the riches? He loses his soul and “what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?” (Mt 16:26), Jesus tells this about those who wanted to have their own life and their own possession and their own security even after ‘finding the treasure’ of life in Christ;
o ‘A Merchant in search’:
 Again, here, the kingdom of God is compared, by Jesus, to the merchant not who is sitting at his house and resting but who is in search; This parable of merchant and the ‘pearl of great value’ found could have two analogies:
 The first one could be: the kingdom in search as the merchant: therefore, the kingdom of God is in search for the precious pearls and these could be and must be ‘we’. We are the precious pearls; the pearl of great value will be either the one who is in perfect communion and fellowship with Jesus or could also be the one ‘who is always ready to return’ to the Father’s house. But the kingdom of God is full of ‘precious pearls’ and we could be ‘the pearl of great value’ found in this kingdom;
 The second one could be: ‘we as the merchants – precious pearls as the different religions – the pearl of great value as the Church: we do not fall into confusion if we compare the Church with the other religions; every human being who is in search for the pearl is like a merchant; every religion as the means of faith and peace could be the precious pearl because it also could contain the portions of the truth of God and dignity of man and integrity of the creation; but only one ‘pearl of great value’ is found by the merchant and we can find only one Christian faith as the pearl of great value for which we can leave aside everything else and have the pearl with ourselves and thus ‘once we find the great value of the Christian faith and doctrine of the Church’ we try all the ways possible to be in it;
o ‘The net thrown into the sea’:
 Again, the kingdom of God, is compared to the net, not which is just lying on the seashore, but the one which is thrown into the sea;
 The net could be the ‘Church which is thrown into the world’ which embraces and invites both the ‘good ones’ to lead still a committed life and the ‘bad ones’ too for the conversion and change of heart;
 The net could be ‘we’ also, because each one of us is called to a net which is thrown into the world of ‘community of faith’ in which we have to ‘with the fraternal love and correction’ embrace all good and bad ones;
 Without judging anyone we have to reach everyone; we shall leave the judgment to God who will separate good ones from bad ones on the day of final harvest; but from our part we have to live a life of fellowship;
- ‘to comprehend’ the parables of Jesus:
o At the end of the day or at the end of discourse Jesus will ask: ‘have you understood all this?’ (v.52):
 To comprehend is a process: as the first step, it is an understanding of the words and language; as the second step, it is an entering into the sense of the words spoken and expressions shown; and as the final step, it is ‘assimilating as our own’ the meaning of the parable;
o Jesus wants us to say: ‘yes’
 We have to say ‘yes, we have understood’; this is the answer that Jesus expects from us; often we say ‘yes’ to the word of God proclaimed; after every reading the reader says, “this is the word of the Lord” and we say “thanks be to God” and in this way we say ‘yes’ to the words we have just heard; after every Gospel reading also the similar response takes place;
 This ‘yes’ of ours should be the sincere one; if we say ‘yes’ without listening to it and understanding it and without deciding to put it into practice, then, we are liars who just ‘say’ but do ‘not do’; and to these people Jesus would repeat: “who listens to my word and keeps it into practice would be worthy of the kingdom of God”.
 From Jesus to each and every saint, including Mary, teach us what is the exact meaning of saying ‘yes’ to the Word of God/Will of God; it is not just listening but living it (the discernment of the first reading); and if needed and demanded giving one’s own life and blood for the will of God; Jesus wants us to say this real and authentic yes;

Conclusion:
- We are to pray for the gift of wisdom and discernment to distinguish and choose what is good as in the great example of Solomon (first reading);
- We are to, in the freedom we are endowed with, choose to be conformed to the image of Jesus and that is the call we are offered and ‘justice and glory’ will follow if we are true to our call (second reading);
- We are to be ‘hidden treasure’, ‘precious pearl’ and the ‘net thrown’ for the people around us; We have to share and sow the seeds of joy to the people amidst whom we are placed;
- Therefore, let us preserve and safeguard with the great joy the treasure of life in Christ which we have found.