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July 26, 2008
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - True Treasure
When I lived in Anchorage, Alaska, I could always tell when spring was near. It wasn’t the disappearance of the snow or the appearance of trash that had been lying beneath it all winter. Actually, it was not even the first sight of the tulips I had planted last September. The first clue I would notice was always the ragged, ill-conceived and poorly-constructed signs on the corner of my street: Garage Sale, Moving Out of Town Sale, Yard Sale, Everything Must Go . Some are fairly creative, but most were probably hastily put together in someone’s kitchen a half hour before they were placed on a wobbly stick for all to see.
Garage sales are so common and so frequent in the summer months we hardly even think much of them. For those of us who do not frequent such mercantile ventures, they mean little. However, for others, they are a way of life. Some folks spend an entire Saturday driving from one home to another searching for that one piece of treasure that will make all the difference in their lives. They are rarely very costly, but they mean something to this person, something to take home and be stored in the garage or the basement until it’s time to take the piece and sell it at another next garage sale!
The well-known saying: One person’s trash could be another person’s treasure surely seems to apply here.
The point, of course, is that we do not seem to know the true value of the things we buy or accumulate. What we thought would be a treasure, often turns out to be useless “stuff.” So, off to the next garage sale they go. Material things usually do not have much “staying-power.” Our interests change from moment to moment.
For those, however, who take the time to look more deeply into life’s human patterns, non material things often have more lasting power. Of course it takes some thought and discernment to see the difference. There is no price-tag on such non-material realities. It’s how we prize them that make the difference.
Those thoughts came to me as I read the scriptures for this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The story of Solomon and his choice of prudence and wisdom over gold and power is an example of a man who knew the true value of life’s treasure.
Following this, we have Jesus telling several stories which compare the Reign of God to various sorts of treasures. The point Jesus is making is that the Reign of God is truly a treasure, although we seldom think of it that way.
So, what is this Reign of God? One author I read described it as how the world would look if God had his way. Sometimes the way we look at the world, of course, does not resemble any sort of treasure. The news in morning paper or the evening television will tell you pretty quickly where the world’s treasures lie.
The real question, however, is not where the world’s treasures lie, but where ours lie. We, each of us individually, are responsible for our own perception of what is of value in our lives. Running from one garage sale to the next may be an exciting venture. The real question, however, is this: What do these items mean to us, what lasting value do they have? What does the quest for having these material things tell us about the deeper meaning of life?
Granted, material things usually exert a strong attraction on us. The reign of God, on the other hand, can only be discerned if we avail ourselves of some quiet time each day to discover what is or should be important to us. Perhaps the garage sale sign on the street corner may still entice us but the attraction may soon lessen if we compare it to God’s Reign.
The scriptures: 1 Kings 3, 5 7-12; Romans 8: 28-30; Matthew 13: 44-52
Posted by Cindy Lentine on July 26, 2008 09:34 AM.
