XVII ORDINARY TIME SUNDAY (Cycle A)
Readings: 1 Kings 3, 5.7-12; RM 8, 28-30; Mt 13, 44-52.
This Sunday’s Word makes us reflect on God’s centrality in human life. God is absolutely absolute, before whom everything else is relative. Finding and serving God is worth more than all the assets of the earth. Winning the kingdom of God is what gives meaning to human existence.
In the first reading (cf., 1 Kings 3, 5.7-12) we see the interest of the young Solomon to serve his people and be faithful to God. Solomon considers that this is the most important in life; therefore, he does not ask God for material goods but for wisdom and prudence to act with justice. That beautiful prayer of Solomon: “Give your servant a docile heart, to govern your people, to discern the evil of good …” should be the prayer of every ruler who really cares about his people. The misfortune of many people has been to have rulers and authorities that have used power for their own benefit.
In the second reading (cf., Rm 8, 28-30), Saint Paul tells us that “those who love God everything serves them for good.” Indeed, those who have found God live worried about loving and serving him. God, by virtue of salvation worked by our Lord Jesus Christ, has enlarged us and has made us deserving of the kingdom of God. Jesus invites us to enter that kingdom.
In the Gospel (cf., Mt 13, 44-52), Jesus tells us about the importance of the Kingdom of God, for this he uses the parables, such as the parable of the hidden treasure, the precious pearl, the network that collects all kinds of fish. Through these parables, he wants to make us understand the priority of the kingdom of God and the urgency of entering him.
The “Kingdom of God” means, fundamentally, salvation brought by Jesus, the realization of God’s promises. With the coming of Jesus to the world the kingdom of God is inaugurated, he himself is the presence of the kingdom. The Church, as a continuator of Jesus’ work, makes the kingdom present in the world and extends it. The fullness of the kingdom of God will come with the glorious coming of the Lord at the end of time.
In the Gospel the comparison of the Kingdom of God is made with a hidden treasure; obviously, who finds it cannot cross his arms, but will do everything possible to appropriate such treasure, if necessary, it will detach from all those goods that he considers of less value. Using this comparison, you can understand why a believer who says “having found Christ” cannot remain indifferent to such a fact. The salvation that Jesus has brought us is the greatest of our treasures.
Salvation is a treasure that the Lord gives us for free, but that also requires on our part the will to accept it, and that will have to be evidenced in our actions, in our life, renouncing everything that prevents us from accessing the kingdom of God. There are certain necessary conditions to enter that kingdom of God. We have pointed out how Solomon understood that the most important thing was not to obtain power and glory, the victory over his enemies, but to have the gifts of wisdom, prudence, and justice to govern in favor of others, which is why in his prayer he asks God to wisdom. In that sense, it constitutes for us a reference, and leads us to reflect on what are the priorities we have in our lives, what we consider most important; Because, as Jesus says: “Where your treasure is there will also be your heart” (Mt 6, 21).
What would we ask God in the place of Solomon? There is no doubt that many people would ask for health, work, and material well-being, among many other things. Obviously, it is not that it is wrong to ask God for those things, the bad would be to ask for only that, very little compared to everything God can give us. In fact, he has already given us riches that can be considered invaluable: such as the gift of life, health, freedom, etc. Jesus tells us that we should not be worried about what we are going to eat or what we are going to dress (cf., Mt 6, 25ss), but that we must trust his providence, he knows what we really need and will know how to provide us with what really suits us; The most important thing is to seek the Kingdom of God: “Search your kingdom and justice first, and all those things will be given to you.” (Mt 6,33). The incompressible thing is that many people prefer to keep the ‘addition’ and not seek what is really fundamental and valuable. On the other hand, we should not forget the words of Jesus in another passage of the Gospel “What is the use of the whole world if in the end ruins his life?” (Mc 8, 36), life understood in its full sense, eternal life, salvation.
The unhappiness of man lies precisely in looking for the wrong way, having made things an end in him, in short: in not having accepted God and his kingdom, in not wanting to give up what is accessory in life. When we have come to discover the centrality of God in our life, everything else seems secondary to us, as Paul said: “I estimate loss in order to win Christ” (Flp 3, 8). The apostle had relentlessly sought that hidden treasure until his search had a happy term in his encounter with the Lord. Hence you can say rightly: “For me to live is Christ” (Flp 1, 21).