King Solomon in our first reading told God that he wanted to be wise, and apparently God granted this wish. If you continue reading the story of Solomon, you’ll read the part where Solomon judges between two women arguing over possession of a baby. Solomon proposes to split the baby in two as a way of settling the argument, and the reaction of the two women reveals who the real mother is. It’s supposed to show how wise he was.
But the fact is, Solomon was not always wise. He was a king, and the powerful especially lose sight of wisdom all the time. It turned out his kingdom started up forced slave labor, a black mark in the history of the Jewish people, and then there is the matter of his 700 wives and 300 concubines. So he was only wise now and then, at best. He became just like any other king, and maybe like the rest of us.
The fact is, wisdom is elusive for all of us, the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, and maybe even more important, the ability to know what we truly want, what would genuinely give us joy in this life. We think we know, we make choices, but then we wonder, is this where I am meant to be? Am I genuinely fulfilled, doing what I need to be doing to be fully myself? We do have moments when we see the way life could be, we’re inspired by God or by the life of someone where we clearly see God active, we see injustice and we realize that this needs healing, we have a moment of grace in our life when we see this is what matters. But then life intervenes, and we lose sight of what we saw for a moment was the secret to everything.
Jesus also realized that this search for what is truly valuable is not so easy. So the story that he tells in the gospel today about the pearl, and the treasure in a field, are all about finding something tremendous that most people aren’t looking for, a treasure that has been hidden in a place where most people see nothing. But that is what makes these treasures so miraculous, because one day, you know what they are worth, you have seen that the way human beings normally live can be turned upside down, just like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. One day you see the beauty of this kingdom he wants us to live in, because what you see is a place where generosity and healing and justice and redemption for you and for everyone all being offered now. People take care of one another regardless of the cost and regardless of who is in and who is out. We can live in that kingdom of God now, but most people don’t see that, because this is a hidden kingdom, it doesn’t look like much like a kingdom from the outside. And yet any day, you can find a doorway into it, the treasure hidden in the field.
I think one of the things to notice about the story of the pearl and the buried treasure, is the idea that once you see these things, you would just want them so badly you’d do anything to get it. It’s not a should, I should want this new way of living, it’s of course I want it, who wouldn’t want this, why would you live any other way if you could have this? Could life in the kingdom of God really be so joyful, so much the way things were meant to be, that you would do anything to get it? You’d sell all the things you don’t need any more, you’re getting rid of the identity that maybe is no longer you, you’re selling all your past failures and the mistakes you made that don’t matter any more, you’re unloading anger and sadness and exclusion and prejudices, all the priorities that made no sense and that we could have put aside a while ago. What you’re selling is the past, and you’re getting the treasure we would have wanted all along if we had known, a life where things work the way Jesus told us they would, a kingdom of the redeemed.
The disciples, at the end of these parables, when Jesus asks them if they have understood him, they give him an enthusiastic “yes.” I wonder if they really did understand. Most humans think the kingdom of God governed by love alone is off in the future, and at best they think you can live there now and then. But why would you do that when you can have the whole treasure? If you’re still looking for it, keep your eyes open. Everything that God has offered us is still there waiting.