Dime or Dollar? Wednesday, 17th week in ordinary time- Matthew 13: 44- 46

Today’s reading allegorically fits in beautifully with fidelity in a relationship. For the kingdom of heaven is like the spouse one clings to, forsaking all others, having realized the worth and the value of the loved one.

The Gospel of today is a meditation; not only on the kingdom but also the subjects of the kingdom. Jesus uses two examples to make a point. He compares the kingdom of heaven to a treasure hidden in a field which a man finds, and to a pearl of great price that a man seeks passionately.

In one case the kingdom is stumbled upon and in the other, it is actively sought. In either case, the person having found it, realizes the great value at hand and then does the next obvious thing; even if that would involve a great deal of inconvenience.

Palestine was a hot bed for civil and political unrest. Its geographical location made it the default route to be taken, if you were marching to war against one of the great empires that surrounded this tiny nation. War would bring plunder, and the best safe deposit vault was a natural one; dig a hole and hide it in the earth.

But wars also had the ability to change the landscape. ‘X’ no longer marked the spot, for ‘X’ could have been a tree that was uprooted as a consequence of the war and with it, the location lost forever; that until someone came digging.