Whenever I hear the parable about the pearl of great price, I
think about a book I read when I was a teenager called The Pearl, by John Steinbeck.
The book is about a poor young Mexican-Indian pearl diver named Kino,
his wife Juana, and their baby Coyotito.
The baby gets stung by a scorpion, but the doctor won’t treat him,
because they don’t have any money. One
day while diving, Kino finds a pearl, the likes of which no one has ever
seen...“a pearl of great price,” if you will.
Kino believes that this pearl will solve all of their problems, and will
allow them to pay for education for their son, and ultimately, a better life
for them all. Unfortunately, possessing
this pearl leads to heartache, tension between he and Juana, violence, and
ultimately, the death of their child. Early
on, Juana senses that the pearl is evil, and tries repeatedly to get Kino to
throw the pearl back into the sea, but each time Kino fails to recognize the
pain and suffering it brings to his family—only seeing its extreme earthly value. Finally, after his son is killed by would-be
robbers who were after the pearl, Kino and Juana walk to the shore where Kino hurls
the pearl as far as he can and watches it sink back into the sea.
Steinbeck’s book, and the Gospel today, both use
a pearl to teach us a valuable lesson about life, and what truly is
important. As early as the Middle Ages,
a pearl has been used in literature to represent spiritual purity, chastity,
and goodness. Steinbeck reverses this
symbolism in his book by having the pearl represent evil, and only by casting
it away can Kino regain a spiritual sense of well-being. During the course of the story, a simple
family, through no fault of its own, and seemingly just trying to have a better
life, is torn apart by tragedy. Their pearl is supposed to be used to bring
their child out of darkness and into the world of light, where he can learn to
read and write, and help others in his community. Instead, the pearl becomes the direct
instrument of the child's death. Kino
learns, the hard way, that there are more important things in life than earthly
riches.
What is your pearl of great price in your life
today? IF what we seek, what we value
above all else, is something of THIS world, and not of God’s kingdom, then my
brothers and sisters I suggest we have our priorities all wrong, and we are
headed down a path that leads to sadness, emptiness, and maybe even eternal
separation from our creator. We must
realize that the only pearl of great
price for us is the Kingdom of God; it is THIS that we should sacrifice
all of our earthly belongings to obtain, to possess. This was Jesus’ message in the Gospel
today. Strive not for the things of this
world, but strive rather for the Kingdom of God.
Simple, but not easy.
And what of the parable of the fish and the
net?
“Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit
down to put what is good into buckets. What
is bad, they throw away.”
On one level, this
parable is a continuation of Jesus’ teachings about good and bad. Two weeks ago we heard Jesus teaching in a
parable about good and bad soil. Last
week, Jesus talked of the wheat and the weeds growing together until harvesting. Today, we hear about good fish and bad
fish. And so, are you a good fish, or a
bad fish? That’s not really a fair question. What I should have asked is: are you a good fish, or a bad fish...right
now? Because, we can change...if we choose to. It’s like that old joke: how many psychiatrists does it take to change
a light bulb? The answer is one, but the
light bulb has to want to change. To combine these two parables, you could be a
fish that covets the things of this world, and is only interested in material
wealth—you know, a bad fish. But, at any
moment, you can change. We can change. Through prayer, by
opening our hearts to God’s word, and with the healing forgiveness that we
receive in the sacrament of reconciliation, we can all become better people;
people who are focused on Jesus and his gospel of love. That’s
our pearl. But there’s another level to the parable. What about the net? Drag-nets of those days were a common way to
fish. A large net was lowered into the
water and dragged behind the boat. As
the boat moved through the water, the net was drawn into the shape of a great
cone, which indiscriminately took in whatever was in its direct pathway—good
fish, bad fish, whatever. What is Jesus'
point here? Just as a drag-net catches
every kind of fish in the sea, so the Church acts as God's instrument for
gathering in everyone. Just as the
drag-net does not or cannot discriminate, so the Church does not discriminate
between the good and the bad. Like
Father Francis said last week, it is not our job to judge; that’s God’s job,
and his alone. We are just to spread his
Good News to everyone we meet; because, God's kingdom is open to all who will accept and believe. And we are called to bring that kingdom to
others, not to keep it to ourselves.
This treasure, this pearl of great price, must be shared. And, unlike
earthly goods that, when you share them with others your value is lessened by
the number of people with whom it is divided, the more we spread God’s kingdom,
the more valuable it becomes—to others and to us. Jesus tells us though, that there will come a
time of separation, at the close of the age, when he will send his
angels to separate the good from the bad.
Our duty is to gather in all who will come. God, in the end, will give
the good and the bad their respective rewards. God offers the treasure of
his kingdom to all who believe. Because
he has given us free will, we can choose either to love him and follow him, or
turn our backs on him. We must
understand that, in the end, we will be held accountable for our actions, and
the choices we’d made, throughout our lives.
This past Tuesday
we celebrated the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene. According to tradition, she had been
possessed by seven demons. Through the healing power of Jesus, the demons were
cast out, and she became one of his greatest disciples. St. Augustine labeled her the apostle to the
apostles. Mary was even allowed the
distinct privilege to be the first person to see Jesus after his
resurrection. Why? Because she recognized Jesus as her pearl of
great price, and dedicated her life to following him and spreading his good
news. It’s never too late to
change. It’s never too late to exorcize
our own demons, to put behind us the so-called treasures of this world—or
whatever distracts us and keeps us from focusing on our one true
treasure—everlasting life in heaven with God, and all the angels and
saints. The time is now to be a good fish.
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