Seventeenth Sunday Ordinary

Seventeenth Sunday Ordinary
July 24, 2005

"Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong." (I Kings 3: 5-12). "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field... and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field" (Matthew 13:44-52)

Solomon prays for wisdom and understanding of right from wrong rather than a long life, wealth, or power over his enemies. The irony is that Solomon was the wealthiest and most powerful king Israel ever had. Jesus continues to instruct his disciples on the kingdom of God with metaphors about its value. He promises that those who listen and understand will be "like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old".

I remember back in the golden age of my childhood, idling away summer days reading my three foot-high stack of comic books (which would now be worth a fortune) and speculating with my friends and my younger brother Steve about what we would do if we had three wishes. We thought it was very clever to have enough foresight to use one of them for additional wishes. The wishes were usually similar to things which enticed Solomon: no more school or work, lots of stuff, freedom from death, and power over other people, especially my current enemies. The seduction of these childhood wishes is that we want them without any work or sacrifice.

One of the most difficult aspects of my situation came early on, when it occurred to me that the end of my life might not be as far off as I had planned. I was tempted to pray for a restoration of that anticipated future. We routinely pray for health, safety and prosperity, more often than we do for the treasures of discernment and of where the kingdom of God is to be found. Solomon by choosing the more difficult path of wisdom for himself was given the privilege and responsibility for making judgments about this for others as well.

There is a saying to the effect that where our heart is, so is our treasure. What we pray for is a reflection of what we regard as our treasure. In this sense we often get what we pray for, and then wonder why life seems unaccountably empty. We perhaps should be more careful about what we desire and pray for, lest we be disappointed by the result. Theologies (such as those often encountered in highly "successful" evangelistic enterprises) which promise a payoff of prosperity in exchange for contributions of prayer and money seem to miss Jesus' point. Success in the kingdom of God is not measured by financial prosperity, health or any other "rewards". The spiritual life of God's kingdom is its own reward. It is only attained when we decide that everything else is useless, and worth the cost of all our other treasures.