Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr A

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr A

30 July 2017

Homily

We continue this week with parables. One of Jesus’ successes as a teacher is that he used examples that his audience were familiar with – if only sometimes to subvert them!

In a time and place of regular conflict, it was common practise to bury one’s wealth during invasion or conflict. In the UK alone dozens of such hoards have been found, as often the owners never returned. Thus his audience were aware that it was indeed possible to find a buried treasure.

You notice that the treasure and the pearl are found, but not immediately possessed? This reflects the now/but not yet tension of God’s kingdom in Matthew. The two people must respond to the call of the kingdom. Remember, many people prefer the familiar to what might be. They are risking what they already have for what might be. That is not a reaction unknown today. Everyday we see people rejecting change because they are comfortable with where they are, regardless of the long term impact. As an example look at how the tobacco industry, even knowing, as they did, the harm tobacco use caused, fought – and fights – any restrictions.

The dragnet reminds us, as did the passage we heard last week, that God’s call is not to the “deserving” but to all. However, while all are called, we have to respond to that call. Again, as last week, we should hear of the angels going through the catch, not as a threat but a promise, A promise that no matter what we may be going through at the present, it will not continue forever.

Finally, a regular theme in Matthew, Jesus’ message does not replace God’s earlier messages through the prophets, but rather complements and completes them, hence the image of going through the storeroom and bringing out both the new and the old!

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