The readings for the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) May be found at:
Behind the altar, there’s a little room called the Sacristy. And in that room, there’s a needlepoint in a little frame hanging on the wall. Now for those of us that aren’t familiar with needlepoint, it’s a kind of art made by stitching yarn through a stiff open wave piece of canvas.
Yep, I totally had to look that up. Anyways.
Needlepoint can show an artistic scene, some kind of design or sometimes, show meaningful words or a quote.
Needlepoint is a labor of love.
It’s not easy to make and it’s hard to see what the end result will be while it’s being made.
But if done right, it’s beautiful when it’s done.
This one, in particular, has words on it.
The words say, “Work for the Lord. The pay isn’t great, but the retirement plan is out of this world.”
As I reflected on today’s gospel, I kept seeing that needlepoint.
Jesus again is using one of his parables, his way of hiding treasure and making you search for it.
He teaches about a man who becomes aware of a hidden treasure, buried in a field that doesn’t belong to him. The treasure was earned by someone else.
But after this man stumbles across it, he recognizes its great value and he decides he has to have it and joyfully goes after what he wants.
Likewise, Heaven, Faith, a right relationship with God are treasures whose values we can’t even begin to understand, much less put a value on.
And they’re hidden to many of us most of the time to be honest. This world doesn’t make it easy for us to keep our focus where it should be.
Now, this treasure is not something we can earn, heaven, especially. It was earned by someone else. Salvation is a gift, pure and simple, that was made available to us because of the great cost Jesus paid for us when he suffered and died on the cross.
The kingdom of God, that incredible treasure is possible because our Lord gave everything to save us.
We may not have earned it, but it’s right there for the taking.
But it costs. A lot.
And we can’t cover the cost with forty five minutes a week on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday.
Getting our hands on that treasure, requires us to make a choice...to make many little choices each day and to do so joyfully and with love in order to get it.
But do we make those choices?
Do we take time to pray each day? Do we pray when we wake up? Even a simple prayer to thank God for another day, for the breath in our lungs.
Do we go to a regular sacramental confession? Yes, this means telling your sins to Jesus in the presence of a priest and being sorry for your sins and intending not to do them again.
Do we love people? Do we do it only when it’s easy or when we want something from them in return? Or do we love selflessly and sacrificially?
This doesn’t mean we have to give our literal life like Jesus did, but it often does mean that we need to die to our own wants and needs sometimes for love of other people - especially those in need and those that at times, can’t give us anything in return.
Do people know we are Christians? Do they know it because of our license plate or because we wear a cross or because we shake our fingers at them, scolding them about something they shouldn’t be doing.
Above all, do we have a personal relationship with Jesus and do we try to strengthen it on a daily basis? Do we talk to Him? If so, what do we say to Him? Do we stop talking and turn off the noise so we can listen to what he has to say to us?
God wants us to be happy. He wants us to have nice things. What he doesn’t want is for those things to get in the way of our relationship with him. Much like the treasure that was buried in the field - hidden to keep it safe, that is exactly what we cannot do with our faith and our relationship with Jesus. It is not meant to be hidden. We are meant to go after them with great joy.
Being a Christian is not always easy, in fact, sometimes it can be really hard. The pay may not always seem like much when we work for the Lord.
But If we live in a right relationship with God and we do so with joy, the retirement plan is out of this world - literally.
