17th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Cycle A
July 26, 2020

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton

Stumbling upon the Kingdom

In Jesus’ day, there was no M&T or PNC or any other kind of bank.

There were no savings accounts and no safe deposit boxes. Instead, people would often bury their valuables in the ground, in a piece of property that they owned.

As you can imagine, one problem was that if the owner died and no one knew about the buried treasure, it could lie there for years and years. Sometimes someone would accidentally find it.

And if they did, the finder might use every last penny he had to buy that piece of property so that the treasure would be his. That’s what sometimes happened in Jesus’ day – very different from our day!

This is the situation in the first short parable we hear today. And Jesus’ point is that sometimes we kind of stumble upon the kingdom of God.

Sometimes we are not looking for it, but we find the kingdom of God in unexpected ways – much like the guy in the parable who stumbled upon this treasure. Maybe in the kindness of a friend, maybe in something that happens at work, or maybe right here, in the Eucharist, with the fresh awareness that God is really present and close to us!

 Often, in ways like this, we stumble on the Unexpected One – spelled with capital letters – we stumble on the Unexpected One. We find God and the kingdom of God and Jesus calls us to value this above all other things. 
 

Seeking the Kingdom

Then, Jesus also tells a short parable today about a person seeking – actively looking for fine pearls.

Unlike the person in the first parable, the guy here is deliberately looking for a precious pearl. He eventually finds one, realizes how precious it is and sells all that he has to buy it.

Jesus’ point is that the kingdom of God is like this – and when those who have been looking finally find it, we are to give ourselves to it. So maybe we have been looking within the structure of our religion and faith, or maybe we have been looking outside that structure.

And then we find God maybe in an amazing insight in Scripture or in some other book, or maybe in the fulfillment that comes from serving someone in need. And then we know what is important in life and where God is and what this kingdom of God is all about.
 

The Kingdom Nearby 

I want to close with a Jewish, Hasidic tale that I recently came across.

It is a story about a Rabbi Eisik from Cracow in Poland. This rabbi is very poor but has never given up his faith in God.

The story goes that he dreamed three nights in a row that he should look for a treasure in Prague in the Czech Republic. In his dream, he learns that the treasure is under the bridge that leads to the king’s palace.

So, Rabbi Eisik leaves Cracow and sets out for Prague. He arrives there but finds that the bridge is patrolled by the king’s guard.

Still, Rabbi Eisik goes to the bridge every day and just looks, wondering how he can search for the treasure that was in his dream. Finally, the captain of the guard asks him if he is looking for someone or something.

Rabbi Eisik tells the captain about his dream – without telling him his name or where he came from. The captain smiles and says, “And so, to pursue the dream, you have worn out your shoes to come here.

“As for having such faith in dreams, if I had that, I would have been off to Cracow to dig for a treasure under the stove in the room of a Jew named Eisik.” With those words, Eisik bows to the captain, travels home to Cracow, and digs up the treasure from under his own stove.

The point of this Hasidic story! The treasure of the kingdom of God may be something we accidentally stumble upon or something we find after a lot of seeking and searching.

But, it may be very close at hand. It may be right at home, right in our ordinary, everyday life.