SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

We all want to find our life’s treasure. When we finally do find it, we need to claim it boldly. In today’s Gospel parable, it says the man sold eveything he had to buy the field with the treasure in it. The story, told simply, contains enough detail to be a stage play. A man is working in someone else’s field, perhaps as a day laborer digging out stones. He discovers a treasure and knows it will be claimed by the landowner, so he plots to buy the land and claim the treasure for himself. Until the deal is sealed he can tell no one, not even his wife as he rushes home to gather their life savings. He must approach the landowner and buy the filed without revealing the truth. Greed and deception are part of this complex tale. The man sells, in a sense, his soul, to get the treasure. Can this be the shocking message of the parable? What would you have done?

Deacon Dick Folger