Homily for Sunday, 27 July 2014

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52

This homily was given at The House of Mercy, a center for the homeless in Rochester, NY. My thanks to Sr. Grace Miller, RSM, for the invitation to celebrate Mass with the people of the House of Mercy.

If you were able to ask God for one thing‒ anything you want‒ what would you ask of God?

Our first reading speaks of King Solomon, one of the great people of the Old Testament, known especially for his wisdom. In our reading from the First Book of Kings, Solomon has just been made king of Israel. He is following in the footsteps of another great king, Solomon’s father David. And so would we hold anything against Solomon for being a bit unsure of himself and how he might lead Israel after the great reign of his father? I think not.

I can imagine Solomon, the brand-new king, as quite nervous as he begins his reign over Israel. And so God enters into the story of King Solomon; into Solomon’s dream. God makes Solomon an offer: “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Now, if God made you a similar offer, what would you ask of God?

If God were to offer to give me anything I wanted, I would ask for peace in our world. I would ask for an end to war, violence, and oppression. I would ask for an end to poverty; underemployment and unemployment; racism; homelessness. I would ask for justice, especially in our nation’s social policy toward migrants and refugees. What would you ask for if God were to offer to give you anything you asked for in prayer?

Solomon could have asked God for anything he wanted. Does Solomon ask God for “a long life”? No. Does he ask God “for riches”? No. Does Solomon ask God “for the life of [his] enemies”? No. Solomon asks God for “an understanding heart to judge [God’s] people and to distinguish right from wrong.”

God, we hear in our first reading, is so pleased with Solomon’s prayer for wisdom; for “an understanding heart” that God gives to Solomon more than he could have imagined. God says to Solomon, “I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.”

As remarkable as Solomon’s prayer for wisdom is, when he could have asked God for anything, God’s reply is as though Solomon could not have asked for enough. Whatever Solomon could have asked for, God would have gone beyond his wildest expectations. And no matter what we ask for, how many of us think that God would do the same for us as God did for Solomon? How many of us think that, if we were to ask God for anything we wanted, God would go beyond our wildest expectations?

This is what the story of Solomon is about and what Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom of heaven in our Gospel reading are about: God going beyond our wildest expectations.

How many of us want eternal life; to go to heaven one day? I think that would be all of us. Jesus asks us in our Gospel reading from Matthew to imagine what the Kingdom of heaven is like. Heaven is “like a treasure buried in a field,” Jesus says. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

Let us picture heaven in our minds for a moment. What is it like? What is the treasure we would go to any effort to find; for which we would buy the field in which the treasure is buried? What is the pearl that we would seek at any price?

Every time we gather to celebrate our Mass; our Eucharist; when we pray the “Our Father,” the words that Jesus has taught us, we pray for this treasure; for the pearl of great price; for the coming of God’s kingdom. We pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We pray, on the one hand, that we will be received into God’s kingdom and, on the other hand, that God’s kingdom will come to us; a kingdom of justice, mercy, and peace here on earth. 

We have an idea; an image of what God’s kingdom might be like, and yet, while we live here on earth, the fullness of what heaven is a mystery; an image. Our understanding of it is incomplete. We are like Solomon, the new king asking for “an understanding heart… to distinguish right from wrong” so that he might govern his people wisely. God hears Solomon’s prayer; is pleased with it and exceeds Solomon’s wildest expectations. The same will be true of us when we pray for the kingdom of heaven.

God’s kingdom is like a treasure or a pearl that we seek at any price. God invites us to ask for heaven; to ask for eternal life, even if we cannot yet know fully what we are asking for. But let us not be afraid to ask. God will work with our partial understanding; will be pleased with our prayer for eternal life because we are creatures made for eternal life; made for life in and with God. Our God will forgive us; will set us back on our way to the eternal life we seek should we sin; should we fall short but then seek reconciliation with sincere hearts.

And if we ask for eternal life; if we pray to God, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done”; if we ask for heaven as though we were seeking the greatest treasure or “the pearl of great price,” God will go beyond our wildest expectations. We will be received into the Kingdom of heaven we seek; the Kingdom of heaven for which we pray, but for now can only understand and imagine in part.