JOYFULLY SELLING EVERYTHING

“JOYFULLY SELLING EVERYTHING”

A Reflection on the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

The two parables mentioned in our Gospel reflect what is happening in our world today. We are all in a constant search for that which can satisfy our needs. Alongside this search is our conviction to do everything in order to meet our needs. A father gives his all in flesh and blood in wanting to have a stable and secured family. A serious student devotes himself to assiduous study, burning all the midnight candles just to have a better and brighter future. We give all in order to have that which gives us contentment, happiness, and security.

In Christian life, we are also in a constant search. We are looking for a priceless treasure, a pearl of great price—a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. In our journey on earth, we realize like Solomon in our first reading today that neither riches nor a long life can satisfy our human longing but an encounter with a person, Jesus, who according to Paul in our second reading today, has predestined, called, justified, and glorified us! Searching for Jesus Christ does not require an exterior journey. We look for him in the very life that we are called to live whether single, married, or religious. Hence, we ask ourselves, Have I found Jesus in my life?

However, finding Jesus is not enough. In our gospel, after the man found the treasure and the pearl of great price, he sold everything in order to buy the piece of land and the pearl. This is also the next requirement in Christian living. To be in a relationship with Jesus requires us to “sell everything,” to let go of those things and persons we are attached to. But most of all, to be with Jesus means to crucify our old self with him “so that our sinful body might no longer be in slavery to sin” (Rom. 6:6). And such decision would entail pain and suffering. Yet we are assured in the second reading today that “all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

In the gospel, when the man found the treasure, full of joy, he sold everything in order to buy the piece of land. This too is our motivation. As we find Jesus and in finding him, we sell everything that we have, all these should be motivated by joy. And what is this joy? According to Pope Francis in Evangelii gaudium, “Whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms” (EG 3). This is therefore our source of joy in this quest for God. As we find Him and dedicate ourselves totally to Him, we realize that Jesus himself has made the first move. Jesus himself has already been looking for us, waiting for us with arms full of love.

On this Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we pray to the Lord that we may joyfully “sell everything,” to let go, to surrender, including our sinfulness, in order to obtain that “treasure and pearl of great price,” this God who has already loved us first with an everlasting love.

*this has been published at the Boletin Ecclesiastico De Filipinas journal