THE PEARL of GREAT PRICE Homily by Fr

THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME, Year A 1 Kgs 3:5,7-12; Ps 119:57,72,76-77,127-128,129-130; Rom 8:28-30; Mt 13:44-52

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE Homily by Fr. Michael A. Van Sloun Saturday, July 25, 2020, 9:00 a.m. Mass Sunday, July 26, 2020, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Masses

The gospel that we just heard has three mini-parables. They are super short. The parable of the buried treasure (Mt 13:44), the parable of the pearl of great price (Mt 13:45-46), and the parable of the dragnet thrown into the sea (Mt 13:47-50).

I don’t know if you are aware of this or not, but one of these parables is on display in our church, right up here in the front next to the tabernacle: the pearl of great price.

Today we are going to feature one aspect our Holy Family sculpture. Traditionally, when we think of the Holy Family, we think of three persons: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. This sculpture has four. There is a young girl on the right. She is standing next to St. Joseph. The young girl represents you and me, all of us, everyone. Joseph is using his staff to direct the young girl’s attention to Mary and Jesus. And we should look to Mary and Jesus, too!

One of the most distinctive features of the sculpture is the girl’s left hand. Maybe you noticed it. Maybe not. It is small, but it is very important. In the girl’s left hand, between her thumb and forefinger, she is holding a pearl. The pearl is white, pure white, shiny white. It sparkles. It is brilliant. It gleams. If it was a real pearl, it would be worth thousands and thousands of dollars. It represents the pearl of great price mentioned in today’s gospel (Mt 13:46).

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When a person finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it” (Mt 13:45-46).

It sounds like the Shane Company. Tom Shane goes to Tel Aviv, to Amsterdam, searching for diamonds, searching for pearls, and when he finds really good ones, he buys them, brings them back to the USA, and has them on sale at his store on Hopkins Crossroads. “Now you have a friend in the jewelry business.”

In this parable, we are the merchant. It is not Tom Shane, but each of us, who is searching for a pearl, not just any pearl, the most valuable pearl in the entire collection.

When Jesus taught with parables, he usually did not give explanations. His parables are open-ended. Jesus wants us to use his figures of speech to look at things from a variety of different angles.

There are three parts to this short parable: the merchant, the less valuable pearls that that the merchant sold off, and the pearl of great price that the merchant bought.

Let’s look at some different ways to interpret this parable.

The girl is holding a priceless pearl. What is the single most valuable pearl that she could possess? Jesus is referring to himself. Jesus is the pearl of great price. The girl had some very valuable pearls previously: Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, all who spoke the word of God, all who spoke pearls of wisdom. The girl traded them in, sold them off, and used her money to buy the most valuable pearl of all, the pearl that is more valuable than every single voice of the Old Testament, Jesus, the Word of God, the pearl of great price.

Jesus would like us to examine this parable from some other angles.

This is summertime, and we Minnesotans love the great outdoors. We love the lakes, all ten thousand of them, the pearls of Minnesota. We love the fish in the lakes. We love the wild animals, like our state bird, the loon. We love the flowers, like our state flower, the Lady Slipper. Minnesota is a treasure, one pearl after another.

What is the greatest pearl? Not the lakes, not the loons, not the flowers, but the one who made them all. Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, almighty God is the pearl of great price, and once we find God, the lakes are no longer our greatest love, but rather, the one who made lakes. We can still enjoy the lakes, but we treasure God above all else, the pearl of great price.

Let’s try yet another angle.

There are many different philosophers, and many different schools of philosophy, all ways to arrive at the truth. There is Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. There is existentialism, rationalism, relativism. They are all extremely valuable to thinkers, pearls of wisdom, ways to understand reality, ways to arrive at the truth. There is one pearl of great price when it comes to clear thinking and the truth, and that pearl is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who guides us to all truth (see Jn 16:13a). So a person might possess the pearl of Plato, or a person might possess the pearl of rationalism, but when a person finds the Holy Spirit, it is time sell off the less valuable pearls, to cash them in, and then to buy the one pearl of great price, the Holy Spirit.

Are you ready for another angle on the pearl of great price? Let’s try this one.

Jews thought that the way to please God and to earn one’s salvation was to obey the Mosaic Law. There are 613 precepts or statutes in the Mosaic Law. Good Jews clung to the Law. Good Jews were on a life-long mission to keep all the rules and regulations. Each law, each commandment, was a pearl. These laws were extremely valuable. The laws keep a person on the right path. The laws insured that a person would enjoy God’s favor. And the laws insured that a person would be saved. The Mosaic Law was like a super-expensive necklace with 613 pearls. But the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant’s search, not for 613 pearls, but for one pearl of great price. The Jews were searching. In fact, everyone is searching.

Is there one law, one pearl, that can replace all the other laws? When the people came to Jesus searching, Jesus had the pearl of great price – the Law of Love (see Mt 22:34-40; Jn 13:34). When a person loves God and neighbor, there is no need for any other laws (see Rom 13:8,10). A person can trade in the Mosaic Law, or any other set of laws, less valuable pearls, cash them out and use the money to buy the pearl of great price, the Law of Love. Love is the pearl of great price.

Let’s do one final pearl of great price, an extremely important one, one that might not pop into your mind right away.

Here we are in the midst of COVID-19. We are watching Mass, or at Mass. We do not have a fever. We do not have a cough. We’re mostly healthy. Some individuals have medical conditions, but we are alive, breathing, taking nourishment. We are on the green side of the grass. There is a saying, “When you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything.” A beating heart is a pearl. Air in and out of the lungs is a pearl. A stomach digesting food is a pearl. You and I are enjoying a valuable gift, good health and many years of life here on earth. But, please remember, the kingdom of heaven is like merchant’s search, not for the pearls of a good heart, or two good lungs, or a good stomach, but for one pearl of great price, a pearl that is more valuable than all of these. That pearl is not life on earth, but heaven. And when a person finds heaven, the person realizes that there comes a time to cash in one’s life on earth, to sell off one’s physical health, one’s physical life, and to buy something more valuable, the one pearl of great price, eternal life with God in heaven.

Jesus is right. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant’s search for fine pearls (Mt 13:45). The girl in the Holy Family sculpture is holding a fine pearl. The pearl is beautiful. The pearl is precious. The pearl could be Jesus, or God the Father, or the Holy Spirit, or truth, or love, or heaven, or something else of great spiritual worth. Our life is a constant search. We would be wise to trade off those pearls of lesser value, and like the girl in the sculpture, take hold of a pearl of great price.