My Precious

Seeing the Kingdom of Heaven as our most prized possession

08/01/2018

Matthew 13:44-46 Jesus said to his disciples: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it."

What is the most precious possession in your life? What is the one thing without which you would not want to live, or that for which you would be willing to give your life? Most parents would probably answer immediately, “My children are my most precious and prized possession!” But I remember one lady observing very honestly: “I never thought I could love anyone more than my own children. And then I had grandchildren.” Any grandfather or grandmother will tell you their most precious possession is their grandchildren.

But sometimes what’s most precious to someone is not always healthy or holy for them. It can even destroy them. There’s no more startling example than the creepy character Gollum from J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic novel, The Hobbit. As a young hobbit – his original name was Smeagol – Gollum finds an amazing gold ring of tremendous power. In order to possess it, he kills his brother, Deagol. Gollum’s obsession for the ring drives him mad, and he begins to refer to it as, “my precious.” Too bad Gollum didn’t have any grandchildren, maybe he would have loved them more than the ring of power. Gollum plays a pivotal part in the rest of Tolkien’s trilogy called The Lord of the Rings, and in the end destroys the ring and himself in the fiery lava-depths of Mount Doom. The creature Gollum reminds us of people who are addicted to alcohol or drugs or pornography or gambling, for whom these destructive possessions become their “precious,” more valuable than life itself.

Jesus builds on this experience of our most precious possession but directs it differently, namely, to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Notice how Jesus says the Kingdom should be more precious to a disciple than all his or her other possessions, so much so that he would sell everything else to have it. Later Jesus would explain this same principle in terms of love and death. In John 15:13, we read: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Dying for one’s friends is driven by the same desire as selling everything for the Kingdom: it identifies your most prized possession, what is “your precious.” For a disciple of Jesus, his or her most precious possession should be the Kingdom of heaven, worth more than earthly life because we exchange it for eternal life.

I believe we should experience an evolution of what is precious to us over the course of our life, and if all goes according to plan, our most precious possession at the end of life will be the Kingdom of heaven. As small children what is most precious to us is our toys, our legos or our videogames. For teenagers it’s their telephones and texting and tweeting. For young adults it’s their job or career or perhaps a boyfriend or a girlfriend. After marriage our children become what’s most precious to us. And later, like that lady said, we love our grandchildren more than our children. Sadly, some people pursue destructive things as their precious possessions: fame or fortune, drugs or alcohol.

But at some point we perceive we cannot cling to these possessions – no matter how good they are – and the only possession we can keep is the Kingdom of heaven. My parents are slowly becoming aware they might have to move from their home of thirty years to an assisted living center. The only request they made was: “We want to attend daily Mass.” They have found the buried treasure in the field worth giving up everything else for. The Kingdom of heaven is the most precious possession of their life. My parents are right on schedule.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could figure that our sooner rather than later?

Praised be Jesus Christ!