Ordinary 17

The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Psalm 119; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52

Which do you prefer, answers or questions? Why do you prefer your choice?

Consider that answers end discussion while questions invite us to continue to probe further. Answers are safe and secure. Well, as long as they are the correct answers. Questions can be threatening. Uncertainty and a sense of thrill can mingle though when questions drive us forward. Ask any scientist, astrophysicist, or mathematician.

We are all familiar with the TV game show “Jeopardy” which does what? It reverses the question–answer equation. Questions are the answer.

The same is true for the Word of God. The Word of God poses more questions than answers. If we are to probe the depths of the spiritual life, the Spirit knows we must encounter questions. Questions that make us uneasy, even threaten our sense of self. Questions that will drive us forward while not revealing what we are in search of. Questions that will thrill us. Questions that will not have answers but remain open–ended.

We daily ask God for many things: bread, forgiveness, deliverance, that God’s will be done. We ask God to protect our children, to heal the sick, for peace, for insight and wisdom. These requests come from within us. In the case of Solomon, God initiates the request.

“Ask something of me and I will give it to you”. The underlying question? What would you and I ask for ourselves? The answer will define who we are or who we want to be.

The parables of Jesus raise more questions than they answer. In the parable of the buried treasure, the person stumbles upon the treasure by pure chance while the merchant has long been in search of costly pearls. Do we stumble upon the reign of God or search for it like the merchant? Or both?

Why does the person who finds the treasure rebury it rather than just taking with them? Why buy the entire field? What about the person’s dishonesty? The person never tells the owner of the field about what they found. Is not the treasure obtained by fraud? Have you ever noticed how often Jesus uses immoral and disreputable people in his parables to tell us of the kingdom of God? Have you wondered why?

Why does the merchant sell everything he has for the purchase? He’s left with just a pearl and the clothes on his back.

In both parables each situation is a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity; an opportunity that requires them to act decisively. When was the last time any of us acted decisively? What was the situation? For whom or what have we given over everything to attain?

Jesus gave over everything for the sake of the reign of God. He gave up the security and comfort of a family and a spouse. He did not own a house or property. As Paul wrote, “he emptied himself…” He avoided putting himself at the center of everything thus exercising a very sublime and subversive kind of power.

Do we understand how subversive the reign of God as revealed through Jesus’ parables? The first become last and the last become first. Everyone is paid the same amount no matter how long they worked. One person is valued more than ninety–nine other people. The sinner is embraced as deeply as the righteous and good. It does not seem fair, does it? So what is this reign of God, this kingdom of heaven we are contemplating?

Is your head spinning? Answers are easier, are they not?

That’s why “Jeopardy” and the Gospels understand that questions are the answer.