More parables of the Kingdom of Heaven

For the past two Sundays we’ve been discussing the many parables that our Lord Jesus Christ have handed down to his Apostles, from his Apostles to his disciples, and finally the Early Fathers of Christianity and all the way down to when it was written in the Holy Bible. This Sunday Gospel we still have another parable of the kingdom, which you will find in Matt. 13:44-52.

“[Jesus said to his disciples.] 44 The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls, 46 When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. 48 When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. 49 Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

51 Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes” 52 And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household of heaven who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”

The first parable talks about a person who discovers a hidden treasure, obviously in a land that didn’t belong to him and the only legal (in Israel, if you find buried treasure in someone else’s land, legally it would still belong to the owner of the land) way of securing this treasure as his own is to buy the land even if he has to sell everything that he got.

In fact we learned this from the story in Matt. 19:16-30 when our Lord Jesus Christ met a young rich man who asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” The Lord replied, “Why do you ask me about good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then the young man asked, “Which ones?” Then Jesus proceeded to tell him about the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments to which the young rich man replied, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”

Then Jesus told the young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” I’m sure every Christian knows how this story ended, the young man went away sad because he had so many possessions.

What most of us do not see in this story is that the young rich man was talking to the very treasure in heaven all of us are seeking… the face of Jesus! But like most of us in all our humanity, we look up to worldly treasure not divine ones. It’s almost like saying that finally you found our Lord Jesus truly present in His body, blood, soul and divinity in the Blessed Sacrament and decide to sell all your possessions just to be with Him. But that’s a story that’s never been told.

Only a few rich men would dare leave the comfort or the richness of their homes to take the vow of poverty to follow Jesus. Indeed, it is a materialistic world out there and we still wonder why vocations for priests have declined worldwide? For 2,000 years, the teachings and doctrines of the Catholic Church have been handed down to us Catholics and many of us who profess to be Catholics cannot even see fit to obey the teachings ofthe Scriptures? I guarantee you that when your life is long gone from this earth, the Catholic Church will still be around, until the end of the ages as the Lord Jesus Christ himself promised us that “The gates of hell shall not prevail against her.”

In His final story, Jesus talks to us that the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea and when the fishermen haul the net, it separates the good fish from the bad ones. This story is so plain and simple; it doesn’t even need any further explanation from priests, bishops or even this writer... That at the end of the ages, the wicked will be separated from the righteous is something that the majority of the human race believes would happen.

At the end of this parable, Jesus asked, “Do you understand this? In all truth and honesty, this question is being asked from all of us Catholics? So let’s look at the mirror and ask ourselves… what if we found Jesus in our hearts, would we sell everything so we could gain eternal life? I’m sure many would hesitate… because most of us are still attached to worldly or material things. But there is something you can do about it and that’s having a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. You can start by making it a habit to visit our Lord Jesus who is fully present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Blessed Sacrament. He’s just there waiting for you to come.

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