Mt 13, 44-52
“And, full of joy, he went and sold what he had and bought that field.”
The key to the parable of the hidden treasure lies in the expression “full of joy.” The man who discovers the treasure sells everything without any regret; he happily gives up some things because he has found others much better. And he is happy. And this is the deep model of following Jesus. It is not about sacrificing oneself in this life to be happy in the next. No, it is not about that, but about living the joy of having discovered a treasure before which everything else loses interest.
But what is that treasure of such value?… The treasure is the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is above all the knowledge of Abbá that leads us to overcome ancestral fears that have always gripped human beings: the fear of God, the fear of sin, the fear of death. The Kingdom is also the knowledge of our condition as Children invited to be in our Father’s affairs; to collaborate with Him in achieving His project of fullness which we have seen in Jesus. That is why the Kingdom is the best stimulus for living meaningfully and looking at our destiny with hope.
What governs in the Kingdom is not what governs in the world: money, power, or prestige. In the Kingdom reigns fraternity, service, forgiveness… To be in the Kingdom is to enjoy the satisfaction of feeling like a brother to all, of helping those in need, of always standing on the side of the victims, of forgiving the offenses we receive, of living with what is necessary, of sharing what we have with those who do not have, of not wasting the talents that God has invested in us… It is enjoying the satisfaction of giving meaning to our life by striving in that passionate project to which Christians have committed themselves; delighting in that commitment and in the confidence that working on such a project gives us…
We make a great mistake if we conceive of the Kingdom as renunciation. The Kingdom is Good News, it is the wisdom of life, it is feast, harvest, abundance, and it only asks us to renounce what spoils our lives…
But the joys that the world offers are so evident and immediate – comfort, wealth, well-being – that its proposal for life seems the most logical way to achieve the happiness we seek. But Jesus tells us not to be deceived, that there is much more; that we are Children and cannot settle for less. And he does not just say it, but shows it with his life. Those who have found him also show it to us with their lives, because in them we see that it is worth it; that when it is found, all those values that fascinated us so much pale.
Discovering the Kingdom is discovering Jesus: the man who found the treasure and sold everything to obtain it. As Ruiz de Galarreta said: “Jesus is the key, he is the treasure, he is the Kingdom, and for that we believe that all catechesis must revolve around the knowledge of Jesus, so that he may fascinate us, so that he may draw us to follow him and imitate him.”
Miguel Ángel Munárriz Casajús
To read an article by José E. Galarreta on a similar topic, click here