Ordinary Time 17
July 26, 2027
Risky Business
Back in
2010, computer programmer Laszlo Hanyecz used a new currency to pay for two
pizzas – 10,000 Bitcoin, a new cryptocurrency that was slowly catching on.
Although those pizzas were delicious, if he had kept those Bitcoin instead of
spending them on pizza, they’d be worth $1.1 Billion today!
The key
to good investing is to know when to spend and when to save, and what types of
things we should invest in. Anyone remember the Beanie Baby craze of the late
1990s, when people bought those trendy little stuffed animals in the hopes that
they would make millions in resale? They’re all sitting at the backs of closets
right now, gathering dust, worth only pennies.
There is
a similar risk in Jesus’ investment strategy outlined in today’s Gospel. What
if the man sold everything he had to buy the pearl, but it turned out to be a
fake? What if the man sold everything to buy the field, but it turns out that
the treasure buried within was counterfeit? Investors will tell you never to
put all your eggs in one basket, but that diversification is the key to
financial success. And unfortunately a lot of Christians take that advice to
heart, when it comes to their pursuit of the Kingdom of God.
In these
parables, the Kingdom of God means two things – really, two sides of the same
coin. It means that we allow Christ to be king of every aspect of our life –
our thoughts, our words, or internet browsing, our private thoughts, our goals
and dreams, our relationships, the jokes we laugh at, the media we consume. We
allow Christ to be King of every aspect of our life. But while we imperfectly
acknowledge Christ as King here, the idea of the Kingdom also points to Heaven,
where Christ will be perfectly the King over our lives and our eternity.
But many
Christians want to play it safe. Yes, they want to acknowledge Christ as King
and pursue Heaven, but they also think, “Well, Heaven isn’t a sure thing. I’ve
never seen it; I’ve never been there. So I will try to pursue happiness here,
and make Christ only a part of my life, and not the center.”
I do
admit that it is hard to live for a Heaven that we cannot see. It is risky –
what if it’s not true? What if, after death, there is nothing? Yet I believe
that there are two reasons why we can believe in Heaven – which should make us
want to live for Heaven.
First,
because our hearts desire it. CS Lewis once said, “If we find ourselves with
a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation
is that we were made for another world.” Have you ever experienced what I
call “Christmas Afternoon Syndrome”? When we were younger, for twenty-five days
we were all excited to get that new thing – the iPad, the bike, the
Beanie Baby. And then Christmas morning comes, and we get it – yes! But then
Christmas afternoon comes, and we feel – “Ugh, I thought that would have made
me happier.”
No
matter how much happiness we experience on this earth, it’s temporary, while
our hearts yearn for permanent. I remember reading an interview with the
baseball great Cal Ripken Jr., who is a Hall-of-Famer and has a World Series
ring. The reporter was asking him, “How does it feel to be retired?” He
replied, “I hate it. Every year since I was five years old, I had a next season
to look forward to. Now there are no more next seasons. I don’t know
what to do with my life.” If our happiness is only based on the things of this
world, we will feel this “what now?” moment when the pleasure wears off, the
friends go home, and we’re left with ourselves.
But we
also believe in Heaven because Jesus revealed it to us. It says in Scripture
that “no eye can see, no ear can hear, nor has the mind of man ever understood”
what God has prepared for those who love Him. I’ve never been to Heaven, but I
know the Man Who came down from Heaven, and when He says “follow Me”, I know
that He is leading me back to where He came from – to that place where we
belong.
The
asking price to invest in everlasting life is nothing short of everything. If
we hope to live in the Kingdom where God is all-in-all, we train ourselves by
living for Him here and now. We can’t hedge our bets and say, “Well, I’ve given
God an hour a week. That’s enough.” A few dollars weren’t enough to purchase
the pearl or the treasure in the field – it took every bit of a man’s fortune,
but the payoff was so much greater. An hour a week isn’t enough to learn how to
live in the Kingdom – only our entire lives will do.
So here
is my challenge. What aspect of your life have you not surrendered to Christ’s
Kingship? Do we recreate for His glory? Do we use our phones in a manner that
pleases Him? Are our friendships, our work, our marriage lived for Him? Today,
let’s make the commitment to give that aspect of our life to His Kingship, that
we may find ourselves living for Him now so we can live with Him for
eternity.
Back in
the early 500s in Persia, a Christian nobleman named James Intercisius served
as a military officer for the non-Christian Zoroastrian king of Persia. The
king was quite tolerant with the Christians and allowed them to build churches
and bury their dead, which was forbidden in Zoroastrianism. But soon the
Christians became bold against the king and started tearing down the pagan
temples, sometimes even celebrating Masses on the formerly-pagan altars. This
turned the King against the Christians, and he began a severe persecution of
them.
His
military leader James, to save his skin, sided with the king and abandoned his
faith, often carrying out the King’s commands to capture and torture
Christians. But when the King died and another was named, James’ family begged
him to return to the faith of his fathers and believe in Christ. This
intervention woke James up – how could he prefer his position and his riches to
the everlasting joys of Christ in Heaven? He returned to his faith – just in
time to be arrested by the new king for his Christian faith. He ended up being
tortured, while his family watched – but that was too much for his family to
bear, and they begged him now to abandon his faith to save his life.
This time, James held firm, preferring to die for Christ than to live with all
the riches of the kingdom. He is now St. James Intercisius, who lived for a
Kingdom he could not see.
Investors
may say that we shouldn’t take risks with our money, but Christ says that
Heaven is worth the risk. Do we really believe that living forever with Christ
is greater than all the passing pleasures this world can offer us?
No comments:
Post a Comment