Matthew 13:44-52   Hidden treasure

“Have you understood all this?”  Jesus asks his disciples.  Over the past few Sundays, we have heard Jesus speaking in parables to the crowds and explaining them privately to the disciples. The disciples are confident they understand everything he has said about the mysteries of the Kingdom.  We, the readers, are also privy to this ‘insider’ view.  Do we understand?

The three short parables in today’s Gospel – comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to treasure, a pearl and a fishing net – are unique to Matthew’s Gospel, and they are addressed only to the disciples.  So, what does Matthew want followers of Jesus to know about the Kingdom? It is precious – so precious that its discovery requires us to put aside everything else in order to immerse ourselves wholeheartedly in it.  We are called to set aside all selfishness and self-interest, all judgement, all our certainties and superior attitudes, and to live the Kingdom values of humility, openness and compassion.  Jesus emphasizes that ‘Kingdom people’ “bring out of their treasure what is new and what is old”.  This would have resonated with Matthew’s community, a melting pot of Jew and Gentiles who were discerning the parameters of this ‘new’ movement.

Perhaps the fishing parable, the last in this series of parables, holds the key.  It echoes the tone of the parable of the weeds among the wheat – everything is gathered in, a variety, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ alike.  As he addresses his disciples, Jesus is aware that they are not perfect.  Like us all, they have flaws and weaknesses. Yet we are called to this wide-open vision of Jesus, where all are gathered and none are excluded, and the hidden treasure of the Kingdom are revealed.  Copyright © Triona Doherty & Jane Mellett, 2022. The Deep End, A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Matthew.

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“God’s dragnet gathers all kinds.  The diversity of the in-gathering is borne out in the unlikely swirl of peoples around Jesus: sinners and tax collectors, a Roman centurion, people with leprosy and all kinds of diseases, a Gentile woman, people possessed by demons, a little child, a disciple who betrays Jesus, a disciple who denies him, Pharisees who plot his death. All are drawn in.         – Anna Case-Winters