The Hidden Treasure and the Precious Pearl: The Decisive Hour of History

*By: Monsignor César Balbín, Bishop of Cartago

The liturgy of the Word of these last Sundays confronts us with the so-called parables of the kingdom: the parable of the sower (Mt 13, 1-23), the parable of the wheat and the tares (Mt 13, 24-43), and today the treasure and the hidden pearl (Mt 13, 44-52), which are located in the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

What does Jesus want to tell us with the two parables of the hidden treasure and the precious pearl? That we are at the decisive hour of history. The Kingdom of God has come to earth! Specifically, it is about Him, about His coming to earth. The hidden treasure, the precious pearl is none other than Jesus himself.. It is as if Jesus wanted to say: salvation has come to you free of charge, by God’s initiative, make the decision, seize the opportunity, don’t let it get out of hand, don’t let it slip away.

Jesus, with these two parables, wants to tell us that somewhere there is a treasure, that somewhere there is a pearl, and that it is necessary to search for it. There is a treasure or a precious pearl that awaits us. In the case of Jesus, everything is played for everything. The Kingdom is the only thing that can save from the supreme risk of life.

We live in a society that lives on security. People insure against everything. Today everything is insurable. They are made safe even against the risk of bad weather during vacations. Among all, the most important and frequent insurance is life. But, what good are insurance and what or what does it insure us against? Against death? No! It ensures that, in the event of death, someone receives something, someone who may need it like the family, or someone who would not need it, but still receives it because they are a beneficiary.

The kingdom of heaven is also life and death insurance, but real insurance, which benefits not only the one who stays, but also the one who leaves, the one who dies. “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, he will live”, says Jesus. In this way one also understands the radical demand that a business poses, such as the one in these parables: sell everything, leave everything. In other words, be ready, if necessary, for any sacrifice. Not to pay the price of the treasure, but to be worthy of it.

In the two parables there are two actors: an obvious one, who goes, sells, buys; and, another hidden, taken for granted. This is the owner who does not realize that there is a treasure in his field and sells it off to the first person who asks for it; it is the man or woman who possessed the precious pearl, does not realize its value and gives it up to the first buyer who passes by. How can we not see the warning that is addressed to those of us who sell badly, or who do not take care of our faith and our Christian heritage?

Now another reflection that the text provokes in us: it is not said that “a man sold everything he had and began to look for a hidden treasure”. He has already found it. He found the treasure and went and sold everything he had to buy it. It is necessary to have found the treasure to have the strength and joy to sell it all.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the hidden treasure: let us look for it, and we will find it, and we will renounce everything we have to renounce to have it.