July 27 2014
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Rom 8:28-30; Matt 13:44-52

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells two stories comparing the kingdom of heaven to a treasure.  The term “kingdom of heaven,” of course, refers to the reign or rule of God.  It’s not about heaven or life after death, but about what things will be like—on earth—when God is in charge.

In the first story, a laborer unexpectedly stumbles on a hidden treasure.  He isn’t looking for anything, but when he finds the treasure, he immediately realizes that it is just what he wants.  The second is about a pearl merchant who is looking for fine pearls.  He knows that he wants pearls, but he has no reason to think he will ever find a truly fabulous pearl.  Like the first man, he recognizes the treasure only when he finds it.

Each of these stories takes place in three steps.  In the first step, a person finds something and realizes that it is a treasure.  Obviously Jesus doesn’t mean that we should look for money and jewels; he’s no televangelist.  But he also doesn’t define the kingdom of heaven.  He doesn’t tell us how we will recognize it when we see it.

I think the key here is the joy the finders feel.  In practice, God often gives us hints in the form of joy.  It’s like when you are looking for something, and a person who knows where it is hidden says “warm, warmer” as you get closer to it, and “cold, ice cold” as you get further away.  That feeling of joy is a deep sense of fulfillment and rightness, like when you find the right person to marry or the right job to fulfill your vocation.  We feel the joy because the kingdom of heaven is a perfect fit for our natures, even if it’s not what we expect.

The second step after discovering the treasure is that the finder sells all that he has.  If we didn’t already know that life is unfair, it would become clear in today’s readings.  In the first reading, God appears to King Solomon in a dream and offers to give him anything he wants, even though he already has a storeroom full of gold and treasure, a closet full of fancy clothes, and a harem full of wives and concubines.  Jesus’ story is more realistic, at least in that the rest of us have to pay for our treasure.

A few years ago, I read an article in Forbes Magazine entitled, “Money Can Buy Happiness.”  The subtitle was “If You Spend it on Other People.”  Among other things, it described an experiment in which people were asked to evaluate their happiness on a scale from 1 to 100, and were then given either $5 or $20 to spend by 5 o’clock.  Half were told to spend the money on themselves and half to spend it on somebody else—anybody else.  When asked, all predicted that spending it on themselves would make them happier than spending it on others.  At the end of the day, the researchers asked the people again to evaluate their own happiness.  “Those who had spent their money on others reported feeling much happier at the end of the day than those who had spent their money as they usually did, on themselves.  There was no difference in happiness between those who spent $5 or $20, suggesting that it is not how much money you spend, but how you spend it, that boosts the spirits.”[1]  Religions have known this for millennia, of course, but it’s nice to see psychology catching up.

Does Jesus really expect me to sell my house and cash in my 401(k) so that I can be part of the kingdom?  He was a pretty intense guy, but I sure hope that selling everything one has is an exaggeration, meant to emphasize the value of the kingdom and the joy that it brings.  I hope he is saying that Gandhi and Mother Teresa knew a more perfect joy than I will, but that if I grow in the direction of generosity and compassion, I can taste some of that joy too.

Helen and Scott Nearing once wrote, “Money has to be paid for, like anything else.”  People often come to regret the price they’ve paid for money, in human relationships and lost opportunities.  But like the participants in that experiment, we never seem to regret the price we pay to give to others.

[1] Michael Norton, “Yes, Money Can Buy Happiness – If You Give It Away,” Forbes Magazine, September 13, 2010.