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Matthew 13:36-46
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[Jesus'] disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
(ESV)
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The Price of Love
Patrick, Missionary to Ireland
17 March 2011
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"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it" (Mt 13:45-46). As far as we know, St. Patrick had been a slave in Ireland before escaping to Christian England, where he became a Christian priest and missionary to the same Irish, who had enslaved and mistreated him. Who returns to evangelize those who were his persecutors and tormentors? Only someone who knows the worth of the redemption that the Lord paid on his own behalf. Such a one must share the tremendous message of indefatigable love shown to him to those who showed him no love. The risk and price cannot be reckoned in human terms, or the price would never be paid. It is too costly. The price can only be paid where God's reckoning is used to determine the price. Our heavenly Father was willing that the full price should come from His true and only Son.
We often take the pearl of great price to be the Savior; as though, if we could put down a sufficient price, we could buy the field and then possess our salvation. Then we could say, "Lord, look at how much I did for you. What a great price I was willing to risk for you. See how much I love you." Fortunately, the pearl of great price is you, not Jesus. Jesus is the merchant who is willing to risk everything to buy the field and to possess the pearl. He is willing to spend everything, even Himself to possess it. Our claims to the passion of our love and our willingness to follow Him become ludicrous in the face of His passionate love for us. Look at the difference in those loves. Of course, if we loved Him, He would be worth our love. Absolutely. But are we worthy of His love for us? Never. Ask an unattractive man, who has won the love of a fabulously beautiful woman, if she is worth it. Of course, she is! That calculation makes sense. But we suspect the fabulously beautiful woman of some fault if she wins the love of an unattractive man. He is worth being loved by her? We doubt it.
The beauty of divine holiness is at stake in His loving of us. We continually claim our love of Him: "Lord, Thee I love with all my heart!" This is a thing which is most certainly owed to Him by us. He is worthy of our love. Yet, we withhold it time and again, in our thoughts, words, and acts. The remarkable thing is that though we constantly abandon Him, He never abandons us. Though we have come to love other persons, our money, our power, our home, or our hobby more than Him, He never ceases to love us. He never ceases to seek and to save the lost (Lk 19:10). We pass Him by, and He reaches out to us. We proudly point out our sufficiency without Him, and He humbly begs us to return to Him. We flee to other loves, He chases us to wherever those counterfeits lead us, proving His love for us at every turn. We play hard to get. He gets us the hard way: by suffering and dying. The most fabulous beauty of holiness has been offered for us. That is love. He, who is love, has paid the price to the utmost.
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John Chrysostom
"Let us then so love Christ as we ought to love Him. For this is the great reward, this is royalty and pleasure. This is enjoyment, glory, honor, and light. This is the great happiness, which mere words or reason cannot set before us, nor the mind conceive. "Hear how Peter burns with love toward Him, setting Him before soul, life, and all things. When Peter had denied Him, it was not the fear of punishment that troubled him, but that he had denied Him for whom he longed, which was more bitter to him than any punishment. All this he showed before the grace of the Spirit was given ( Acts 2). Peter perseveringly pressed the question, 'Lord, where are you going?' ( Jn 13:36) and before that; 'To whom shall we go?' ( Jn 6:68); and again; 'Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death' ( Lk 22:33). Christ was all things to the disciples, and neither heaven nor the kingdom of heaven did they value in comparison to Him for whom they longed for. He means, 'You are all these things to me.' Why are you amazed that Peter thought this? Hear now what the Psalmist says: 'Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you' ( Ps 73:25). Now what Peter means something like this: 'I desire none of the things above nor of things below except only You.' This is passion. This is love. Can we love, so that we will love only things present? Or will we love also things to come, which we shall reckon as nothing compared with His love, and even here shall we enjoy the kingdom, delighting ourselves in His love? "How is this to be? Let us reflect how often we insult Him after His numberless goodnesses, yet He stands and calls us to Him. How often we run by Him, but He still does not ignore us, but runs to us, and draws us to Him, and gathers us to Himself. For if we consider these things, we shall be enabled to kindle this longing. If it were a common man that loved a king so much, would the king not feel a respect for the greatness of the love? Of course he would. But when the case is reversed, and His beauty of the lover is unutterable, and the glory and the riches of Him that loves us is so magnificent, and our vileness so great, that surely we deserve the ultimate punishment, vile as we are and outcasts, who are treated with so exceeding great love by One so great and wonderful, and yet we act wildly against His love? "He does not need anything of ours, and yet He never ceases loving us. We need much that is His, and despite all that, we do not cling to His love, but instead we value money more than Him, or human friendship, leisure, power, and fame, more than Him who values nothing more than us. For He had One Son, true born and Only begotten, and He spared not even Him for us." John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans, 5 |
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Prayer
Almighty God, who in Your providence chose Your servant Patrick to be missionary to the Irish people, that the light of the Gospel might shine in their midst, grant that we together with them may so walk in that light that we may come at last to the glory of Your presence, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Clark Murray, who is celebrating his birthday today, that the Lord Jesus would grant Him grace and every blessing
For Michael Albrecht, as he undergoes carpal tunnel surgery, that the Lord would grant him healing
For all those who are offering relief to those suffering the ravages of the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, that they would be strengthened for desperately needed service
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Art: GRÜNEWALD, Matthias Isenheim Altarpiece (1515)
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 © Scott R. Murray, 2011
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