THERE IS A TREASURE 

IN YOUR MIDST

INTRODUCTION

This morning I would like to reflect on the theme of today’s gospel, “There is a treasure in your midst.” It's the gospel for this 17th Wednesday in Ordinary Time.

There is a treasure in our midst. It’s the pearl of great price. It’s within our grasp. It’s in our midst. But are we aware of it. Or are we unhappy, always thinking happiness and peace is elsewhere?

One of the secrets of a happy life and a high energy life is to know what we want.

Do we know what you want? Do we have a clear vision of what we want in this life?

A DIVIDED HEART IS AN UNHAPPY HEART

If we are searching for 3 or 4 things at once, if we are undecided, if we don’t know our goal, then we can be killing ourselves and spending a lot of energy that is a waste.

There is an Argus poster that says, “If you don’t know what port you are sailing for, no wind is the right wind.”

There is a Russian proverb that states, “Chase two wolves and you won’t catch either of them.”

JESUS: KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

So Jesus is saying here, to put our hand to the plow and to know what row we want to hoe.

To know what we’re doing.

To find the treasure in the field

GYPSY POEM

I read a  poem once about a couple on a porch of a house looking down at the road below that went by their house. They spot a gypsy couple going by. They are talking to each other. They wish they were like the couple on the road, no worries in the world, free, not tied down, no mortgage payments killing them. And the gypsy couple on the road look up at the house and say, "Wouldn’t it be nice to be the couple there in the house. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a home of our own, no problems. We wouldn’t have to spend all our time and energy as gypsies, wandering down all these roads, Wouldn’t it be great to settle down like that couple in the house there in a home of our own. Life would be that much easier for us.

That poem is happens and is rewritten every day.  

GOSPEL OF THOMAS

I looked up my favorite book on the Parables - The Parables of Jesus by Joachim Jeremias - to see what he would say about the Parable of the Treasure in the Field - here in Matthew 13: 44-46.

Jeremias says that this story is also found in  the gospel of Thomas. Thomas tells the story about a man having a field with a treasure in it, but he never knew it. He died. He left the field to his son, who never found out that he had a treasure in his field. He sold it. The buyer - while plowing discovered the treasure.

There is also a Jewish tale about a man who had a garbage dump that had a treasure in it. However, he too was too lazy to find about the treasure in his garbage dump. He sold the field or willed it to his son without knowing about the treasure.

There are many similar stores in many cultures - that tell this story of hidden treasures in our midst.

Somewhere along the line, I’m sure you heard the story, “Acres of Diamonds.” It was a story and a speech given by Russell Conwell 6,152 times all around the world. He was in the Civil War. He was founder and first president of Temple University. The message was that there were acres of diamonds right under out feet.

ANCIENT HASSIDIC TALE BY JOHN SHEA

John Shea, a great story teller - features this theme of the treasure right under our nose - in various ways.

I’m sure you heard this story - told by John Shea.

There was a poor rabbi who lived in the city of Krakow. He lived on the street of the Lost Angel, in the last hovel on that street, with his wife and four children. Since he was extremely poor, he dreamed every night of riches.

He dreamt that underneath a bridge in the city of Warsaw there was a treasure. When he awakened in the morning, he excitedly told his wife and his children about his dream He then packed food and clothes, and set off for the long journey to find the bridge, to unearth the treasure and be rich. He traveled many days and long nights and finally he arrived in Warsaw.

It was just as the dream had pictured it, except for one thing. (There was a guard on the bridge, a sentinel who paced back and forth.) And so the poor rabbi, tired from his journey fell asleep in the bushes.

When he awoke, he rattled the bushes with his arm, and the guard spun on him, “You there, come here!’ Being a simple man who would not run, he was also a simple man who could not lie. He said, “I have dreamed that underneath the bridge there is a treasure and I have traveled many long miles to find that treasure and be rich.” The guard said, “That is strange. Just last night, I too, have had a dream. I have dreamt that in the city of Krakow, on the street of the Lost Angel, in the last hovel on that street, where lives a rabbi and his wife and their four children there is buried behind the fireplace a treasure. And I leave tonight to find it and be rich.’”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “There Is A Treasure in Your Midst.”

I often wonder how many poets and artists and athletes there have been who  never knew they had a hidden talent.

Hopefully, we’re all in favor of schools that help kids discover talents and gifts deep within them.

My brother had a gift for being able to translate Russian Air Force Signals. When he was at Georgetown someone told him about a test they were giving - looking for researchers and surprise they discovered he that gift and he spent time in the Library of Congress working on tapes from the Aleutian Islands - sent to Washington - to be translated into United States Air Force signals. 

How about you?