17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 27, 2014 (1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52)

The first reading takes place shortly after Solomon had succeeded David as Israel’s king. Upon becoming king, Solomon arranged for his half-brother, Adonijah (and other enemies) to be killed, and only then does he utter the lofty prayer of today’s reading. Obviously this court historian was favorable to Solomon. Given his parents (David and Bathsheba) it is no surprise that Solomon was aware of the palace intrigue, even before David died, once Solomon had been named by David to succeed him as king.

Solomon is praised forever after for the content of this dreamlike sequence, in which the “humble and innocent” new king prays for “an understanding heart” and to be able “to distinguish right from wrong.” The Lord is reported pleased by his request and responds “Because you have asked for this—not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding…--I do as you requested.” The Lord adds that Solomon will never have an equal for his wisdom and understanding. Obviously Solomon’s actions in chapter two were overlooked by the author of this prayer sequence in chapter three. As we have seen so often though, we cannot hold ancient authors to our own standards of historical accuracy.

The link between the first reading and the Gospel must be the wisdom revealed in the teaching of Jesus, specifically the wisdom of the parables which conclude Matthew 13. In the first parable the kingdom of heaven is like the case of a person who finds a treasure buried in a field, who will sell all she owns in order to buy the field (and the treasure hidden there). Some have tried to fault the buyer for dishonesty but they miss the point of the parable when they do.

Those who would sell all they own to possess the treasure are like those who give up all to follow Christ. That is the treasure of the kingdom, which only the treasure hunters find. The stress lies in

discovering what is truly important and ridding oneself of everything else in order to possess it.

Very similar to this is the case of the pearl merchant. In this case there is not a question of coming by his find in some devious way. He goes off and sells all he has to buy the pearl. In and of itself, that seems futile, and it is, if we are talking about pearls or gems of any other thing on earth. But Jesus is talking about how someone discovers the value of the kingdom of heaven and will part with everything in the way of possessing it.

The parable about the dragnet which collects all kinds of things besides fish is not about discovering the kingdom and wanting to possess it. It is rather about the end time judgment when the righteous (fish?) will be separated from the wicked. Like the weeds sown among the wheat, it is not until the harvest that the separation comes (last week’s Gospel). Commentators note the oddity of applying “righteous” and “wicked” to a haul of fish.

The wicked are thrown “into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” That was the same result for the weeds of last week’s parable. Surprisingly, nothing is said about what happens to the righteous, which makes this more of a warning not to be bad than it is an encouragement to be righteous.

Fr. Lawrence Hummer