In our Gospel, there are two people, one who somehow stumbles upon the greatest treasure in the world and another who, after years of searching, finally discovers the pearl that he had been searching for all his life.

Yet, what is interesting is what both do when discovering their respective treasure, they don’t take it or even use it, but rather sell all they have in order to buy it. In other words, this treasure is far more important than any other treasure they have, and, not just that, it seems to put in perspective for them the true worth of those things that they do have in their lives, showing, in essence, that their worth only has value in light of this great treasure.

Perhaps, that may sound a bit abstract, but think of it this way, all of us, when we were children, had something we really wanted and stopped at nothing to get, trying to make as much money as possible in order to finally buy this great thing, or even being a little sneaky by hiding it somewhere in the store, until we had enough money to buy it insuring it would still be there, like the man with the field. Yet, when and if we finally got whatever it was, it was great, exactly what we wanted that is, until something better came along.

Now, just imagine this multiplied 100X, 1,000X, a million times, stumbling upon or searching almost all of our lives for this something which is so great, so amazing that nothing in this world could possibly compare to it, something more valuable than all of those things we desire or could imagine to have in our lives combined, that is the treasure and the pearl in our Gospel today.

The difference though is that this treasure, this pearl, cannot be bought with money, it does not have monetary value, in fact, it shows that those things of true worth are not bought but given, cannot be purchased but need to be earned or, as I once saw on a bumper sticker recently, the best things in life aren’t things.

The pearl is that treasure that awaits those who want it, that pearl is where our greatest desires, our greatest loves, our greatest anything abides. That is why it cannot be found on earth, that is why we would sell everything, give everything for this pearl, because nothing here could even come close to compare to it’s ultimate value. For, while we may catch a glimpse of it’s shimmer, while we may see a piece of what it can offer, as St. Paul says elsewhere, we see dimly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.

Because the pearl is the Kingdom of God and it is not something we can always easily find, nor even easily see, especially in this day and age, which is why it is our faith that helps us to know the value of what we have and what we can have.

For, just like anything that God gives to us, the pearl is not lost nor is it actually hard to find, it was given to us when Jesus opened the shell of the cross, as it were, and, while we need to work for it, we don’t have to search for it or stumble upon it, instead we need only be ready to let go of those things that can distract us from it or lead us away, because, to use a very clichéd phrase, all that glitters is not gold, and all promises of a great pearl here and now is probably not a pearl we want.

That is why our faith will lead us in wisdom, like it did Solomon in our first reading today, because like those two men in our Gospel, we will know that our greatest treasure will never leave us wanting, that all of our longings will be fulfilled so that in great joy, we can inherit the greatest treasure of all, indeed, the Heavenly kingdom, the true pearl of great price.