Mysteries of the Kingdom V ~ Selling All

St. Matthew 13:44-54 (7/25) Gospel for Friday of the Sixth Week after Pentecost Mysteries of the Kingdom V ~ Selling All: St. Matthew 13:44-54, especially vs. 52: "'Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven...brings out of his treasure things new and old.'" This passage from St. Matthew continues a series of meditations on a set of the Lord Jesus' parables that introduce us to the mysteries of the Kingdom. There are four parables in these ten verses. They show how the Kingdom of Heaven must be acquired. As a preface to the four parables, the Lord encourages us to be attentive that we may obtain the blessings of the righteous and shine "forth as the sun in the Kingdom" (Mt. 13:43). Then, in the four parables, He describes 1) the process through which those must pass who would acquire the Kingdom, 2) what sort of persons obtain the Kingdom, and 3) the nature of what they gain. In the first two parables - the Treasure in the Field (vs. 44) and the Pearl of Great Price (vss. 45-46) - Christ our Savior reveals the process through which one must pass to acquire the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven - the true and full Life in Christ. In the first parable, an "unnamed Person," Whom the Faithful will recognize as God, places a treasure in a field - speaking in material terms. Likewise in the second, the pearl already had been harvested - again by an "unnamed Person;" but it is available "for purchase." The Lord Jesus unobtrusively includes these prior actions as givens. They set the stage for "finding"- in the first an unnamed man hastens to buy the field and in the second so does a merchant (vss. 44,45) who sells all his stock to buy one, single pearl. Note, however: the Lord does not say that these two found these treasures due to any special searching. Unspoken, He conveys the impression that both men simply happened upon something priceless and that each of them instantly recognized the value of what he had discovered. Of course, the discoveries were not "fortuitous." Rather, they are examples of God's grace-filled provision embedded in the Gospel. The man who discovers the treasure is "generic." Nothing about him is described (vs. 44). He is "a man." The "merchant," however, is not a retail peddler, but a wholesaler who knows the value of pearls of every sort (vs. 45). God provides His ultimate treasure of Life in Christ for ordinary men as well as for those who pursue life's noble and spiritual goals. See how both "finders" realize what must be done to procure what they have found. The man hides the treasure, leaving it in the field and goes to buy the field. The merchant "went" to a mart where he could sell all the pearls he possessed, leaving the incalculably valuable pearl right where he found it. To gain the Kingdom requires total investment in "the prize." The "Dragnet" or the third parable (vs. 47) speaks of a huge seine with floats at the top and weights at the bottom used by fishermen. It encompass as much as a half-mile wide area. A large group of men must place it and haul it in. The Church is spread out over the whole earth, gathering in those who are in earnest about the Faith (like that man and the merchant of the first two parables). When the net is pulled up on ashore, there will be a sorting of good and bad fish. Here, the Lord returns to the theme of the Last Judgment found in His Parable of the Tares (Mt. 13:40-43). "Finders" who invest all - the "good" or "just" (vss. 48,49) - will be gathered into vessels, but the wicked will be "cast into the furnace of fire" (vs. 50). Woe to those who disdain God's grace for all men - His immeasurable and wondrous gift of Life in Christ! What is it the "finders" discover that is so precious? Some of the treasure consists of things old, things already known from God's revelation prior to the Incarnation of Christ, but also much is new. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the new and very Good News (vs. 52)! O Lord, finding the mystery of Thy dispensation, I invest all that I may worship Thee.