Rev. Patrick J. McDevitt, CM, PhD, offered this homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) based on the following readings from the Lectionary:
- 1 Kings 3:5, 7–12
- Romans 8:28–30
- Matthew 13:44–52
The Kingdom of God Is Precious Beyond Compare
The Kingdom of God Is Precious Beyond Compare.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a treasure hidden in a field and to a pearl of great price. In both parables, the one who discovers the treasure joyfully gives up everything else because nothing compares to what has been found.
The remarkable thing is that we do not have to travel anywhere to discover this treasure. We do not need to journey to distant shrines or sacred places. The holy ground is here. The sacred sanctuary is the present moment.
Jesus tells us, “The kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21). Saint Paul writes, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). The Kingdom is God’s living presence within us and among us—a divine reality deeper than anything our senses alone can perceive.
Jesus says in John’s Gospel, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The Greek word pneuma means both wind and spirit. Like the wind, the Spirit of God is invisible yet unmistakably real. We cannot see the Spirit, but we experience its power and its transforming presence.
Mahatma Gandhi, though a devout Hindu, expressed this mystery with remarkable beauty. Shortly before one of his imprisonments, he delivered a talk entitled My Spiritual Message on October 17, 1931. He said:
“There is a mysterious power that pervades all things. Though unseen, I experience its presence. It cannot be proven by the senses because it transcends them, yet reason points toward its existence. Beneath the constant change and passing of the world is an unchanging, living power that sustains, creates, dissolves, and renews all things. That living Spirit is God. In the midst of untruth, truth remains; in the midst of darkness, light persists. Therefore, I know God to be life, truth, light, love, and the supreme Good.”
Those words echo what today’s Scriptures proclaim.
The Kingdom of God is not merely an idea to be understood. It is a reality to be discovered. It is an encounter that transforms us. It is an experience that fills us with joy and reorders our lives.
The treasure in Jesus’ parables is hidden at first. Yet once it is discovered, everything changes. What once seemed important suddenly becomes secondary. The Kingdom becomes the center around which every other priority revolves.
Saint Augustine understood this well. After searching everywhere for happiness, he discovered that the One he sought had been dwelling within him all along. He famously prayed, “You were within me, but I was outside.” Augustine teaches us that discovering God does not end the search. Rather, it awakens an even greater desire to seek Him. The more we discover God, the more our hearts long for Him. Our restless hearts gradually find their rest in the One who is Truth, Beauty, and Love itself.
There is another beautiful insight hidden in today’s parables.
We are not only the ones searching for the treasure.
We are the treasure.
God relentlessly seeks each one of us with a love that never grows weary. Francis Thompson captured this mystery in his famous poem The Hound of Heaven, portraying God as the One who lovingly and patiently pursues us even when we run from Him.
The Gospel, then, reveals a profound reciprocity. We seek God, and God seeks us. We treasure God, and God treasures us. We discover the Kingdom, and we discover that we ourselves have always been God’s precious treasure.
This changes the way we look at one another. Every person becomes a hidden treasure. Every encounter becomes sacred. Every moment becomes an opportunity to discover God’s presence anew.
Both parables end in the same way: the discovery of the Kingdom fills the heart with joy and transforms one’s entire life. The Kingdom does not simply become one priority among many—it becomes the lens through which everything else is seen.
That is what happens here at every Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the priceless treasure of the Kingdom of God. Here Christ gives Himself completely to us. Here we discover once again that we are God’s beloved and precious treasure. Here we receive the grace to seek Him more faithfully—in ourselves, in our families, in our communities, and in every person we meet.
May we never stop searching for the Kingdom.
May we never forget that God never stops searching for us.
For the Kingdom of God is, indeed, precious beyond compare.