1 Kings 3:5, 7-12/Psalm 119/Romans 8:28-30/Matthew 13:44-52 (or 13:44-46)
Whenever I would watch a Canadian or American TV channel, usually during the NBA Regular Season until the NBA Finals, I would sometimes catch attention to advertisements during commercial breaks. The advertisements of some products usually end with the saying, "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back." This statement basically means that if you are not happy or satisfied with the advertised product, there are refunds available for the product so that your money will be returned to you.
In today's Sunday Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God in Heaven to riches being found in this world. How happy does a person become when he/she finally finds the treasure he/she was looking for. After all the hard and tiring work of trying to find the treasure, the treasure has finally been found. The feeling of finding a treasure is very good. A person feels relieved once he finds the treasure he has been looking for. The hard work has paid off. He finally earned what he has worked for.
For Jesus, there is only one treasure that all of us should strive for - the Kingdom of God. The very first words Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God should be the first priority in life. Our main goal in life should be attaining and submitting ourselves to God. By doing so, we would obtain the promise of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is greater than any wealth in the world.
How do we submit ourselves to the kingdom of God? By being poor in spirit. Christ said in Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." This is very hard for all of us. Why? Because a lot of people don't like being poor. It is hard to become poor in spirit. Being humble needs strength to do so. We are being taught nowadays that we have to become aggressive and we can't be humble. But, in the eyes of the Lord, we have to be humble because we are all human beings and He is greater than us.
Remember the young man who approached the Lord and asked Him what he should do to gain eternal life? When the Lord told him that he should sell all his belongings to the poor and follow Him, the young man felt torn. The young man could not decide. Why? Because he had a lot of riches. The young man was very rich. He found it hard to let go of all his riches. Letting go of his riches is not easy. He needed strength to let go of his riches. But he couldn't. Why? The amount of riches he has (although not mentioned) was quite tempting for him, in my opinion.
Money could be good and could be bad. The good thing about money is we get to buy all the things we need like food, clothes, etc. We would have better life because of money. Money is a blessing from God. The bad part about money is when it is abused or misused. Another bad part about money is that the amount of money could be tempting. People nowadays are tempted whenever they see huge amounts of money. For example, the lottery. When the lottery jackpot prize is like a million dollars or pesos, how could a person not ignore it? How could a person resist it? It's too tempting.
We get carried away by the amount of money. Some people even think that money is the source of everything and money can buy everything. This is how money can carry away and tempt humans. The truth is, money is not the source of everything in this world and there are things that money cannot buy. Money is not the source of everything? Why? Because the Lord God is the source of everything. What are things money cannot buy? Love, human beings, souls, life, etc. Everything is not always about money.
Allow me to share with you this story I heard from Fr. Jerry Orbos SVD. For those of you who do not know Fr. Jerry Orbos SVD, he is a priest of the Society of the Divine Word of the Philippines. For more information about him, you can just Google him if you have time. There was this story about a man who was walking on the street one day. As he was walking, he found one dollar on the ground. He was so happy because he was able to find one dollar. The story could have ended there. But, since that day, whenever he walks on the street, he body is bent because he is looking for that one dollar on the ground. He doesn't have time to look at the surroundings, the sky, his family or other people. He would probably ask if he happens to be meeting another person, "Does this person have one dollar?" It's all about money for him. Money, money, money. Worst of all, he doesn't have time to look at God, the source of everything.
Brothers and sisters, let us not forget that God is the source of everything. Just because we have lots of money doesn't mean that we should forget the source of every blessing - God. God provides us with everything we need. God can provide the things money could not even buy. This is why we should always rely on God. There are things that money can't provide. Only God could provide us with everything. Everything in this world would not be here if it weren't for God, the source of all that is good.
Just as how people work hard and strive to find a treasure, we should work hard and strive to attain the kingdom of God. Although there may be sacrifices, the sacrifices are worth it. For Jesus, the kingdom of God is the greatest treasure of all. No matter how many treasures there are, no matter how much they are worth, the kingdom of God is much more than a treasure. Once we obtain the kingdom of God, satisfaction is guaranteed. There will be no regrets. We will not regret sacrificing earthly things for God's kingdom. Because God's kingdom is more than enough for us.
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