Treasure, That Is What You Are
Of the nearly three dozen couples I have prepared for marriage these past six years, Andrew and Maggie (pseudonyms) will always hold a special place in my heart for this one reason alone: Maggie was courageous enough to turn to her fiancé one early December evening and say to him: “I’m not ready, and neither are you, Andrew.”
They left my office that evening no longer an officially-engaged couple. It was, no doubt, one of the bravest acts of love I have ever witnessed.
A few weeks later, Maggie returned by herself to talk, and although her story is not mine to tell (especially for the world to read), she shared this powerful insight with me: “Father, neither of us was ready to sacrifice for the other. If I don’t even love myself very much, how could I lay down my life for Andy? I need to learn how to do that first.”
Maggie knew that there was still a part of herself that she needed to discover before she could give her heart away to another, not out of obligation or with expectation, but simply because it’s what genuine love is called to do: sacrifice.
I have always been struck by the treasure-finder and pearl-searcher in this Sunday’s Gospel, which offers another set of parables for us to ponder alongside the scattered seeds and the wheat among weeds. Whenever it was explained to me in sermon or reflected upon in times of prayer, I always approached it from the perspective of us being the seekers-and-finders of a faith for which we should sell everything in order to fully possess it.
There’s certainly truth in that. Our belief in Jesus Christ and His Church is a treasure worth more than anything this side of heaven we consider to be valuable. Even Jesus himself reminded us that no human relationship – as good and pure and beautiful as it may be – should ever be placed above our intimate communion with him.
And so we read these parables and walk away with the typical response: I need to up my game, faith-wise. There’s a treasure here … a pearl of great price here … that I am not putting at the center of my heart and life.
That’s fair. I dare say each one of us could claim that to be true. And so the parable does its masterful job of stirring us, hopefully, to spend a little more time with Lord and less on worldly distractions. We’d be wise to do so.
But there’s something more to this, I believe, and it struck me the other day as I re-read this one line: “The Kingdom is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy sells all that he has and buys the field.”
Why didn’t the finder just take the treasure right then and there? For that matter, why didn’t the pearl-discover take the gem that he rightfully found and just walk away with it? Why sell everything else and then come back for it?
It almost doesn’t make sense, does it? (Hence, the point of Jesus’ parables …)
Perhaps, then, the answer lies somewhere here: both seekers-finders needed to obtain these great treasures not from greed or selfishness but from a pure place within one’s heart that was willing to sacrifice. Maybe the treasure finder needed to rebury the gift and come back for it after he or she had obtained it in a way that was truthful and filled with grace, not rushed and driven by impure motives.
Could it be that this was what Maggie was saying all along when she postponed her marriage to Andrew? “We’re not ready to love the way we should.” And so, the treasure was reburied until a later time, when the love could be received freely as a gift, not an expectation. A gift freely received and then given away.
That’s why Solomon was praised by the Lord in our first reading from the First Book of Kings. The wise son of King David knew that the only gift for which to ask was one that could be given away for others – in this case, his subjects. “Give your servant an understanding heart to judge – love – your people.”
Solomon didn’t make it all about him. And God knows it took him quite a few tries to get to that point where he could dig up this treasure purely and without self-seeking motives.
But have no doubt: this is the way forward for all of us, both in our relationship with God and with one another. It is the way of selfless sacrifice …
And it only comes by learning to embrace the Cross.
Ponder this, and pray with this in the days ahead: We never learn real love unless we first are willing to allow God to use the cross(es) we carry – whatever they may be – to shape our hearts to look like His. Unless we allow God to mold us through the sufferings and trials that we are invited to offer back to Him to use, then maybe we never really learn how to love as we should.
I wonder, then, if the seeker of buried treasure and fine pearls in this parable of whom Jesus speaks isn’t really about us as seekers at all. Maybe, when all is said and done, Jesus is speaking of himself.
What if WE are the treasure he returns to claim after he first goes to the Cross and offers all on our behalf?
What if we are that beautiful pearl waiting to be purchased for a great price that can only be obtained for an Eternal Sacrifice that not only redeems the gift (us) but allows the gift to be given away so that others can find treasure to?
What if we become true-and-lasting treasure only after we are re-buried to our own selfishness and then reclaimed through the Blood of the Lamb?
What if the true joy comes not from anything we do but simply from the Spirit-knowledge that comes from believing that Love came and found us -- making us His beautiful pearls of great price -- and then we in turn offer it to others?
A few weeks ago, Maggie sent an email from out West, where she is doing some challenging service work with women experiencing homelessness in the Sacramento area. Andy has been in recovery – and clean – for more than two years now. They still talk often, and they pray with each other before they end their conversations, something they never did.
“We love each other, but now there aren’t strings attached to what we offer,” she shared. “I think we are learning what it means to really sacrifice in the way love is meant to be shared.”