17th Sunday in Ordinary
Time: Year A
Mt 13:44-52:
Jesus values the people of God; each and every individual like a
treasure and pearl; and he buys them by His precious blood as a ransom for many
to establish the kingdom of God/Heaven on this earth.
In the parable of the dragnet shows that the world will remain divided
right up until the end, the Church will not reform the world, ushering in the
kingdom like the parables of the wheat and the darnel/tares but there is the
last judgment for everyone based on good deeds and bad actions sending some
into the furnace of fire.
Jesus asked, "Have you understood all these things?"
"Yes," they answered. Jesus said to them, "Therefore, every
teacher of the law who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who can produce from his store things both new and old."
This means a small degree of knowledge is not sufficient for a preacher
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The sacred writings should be his or her
treasure, and he/she should properly understand them concerning the kingdom of
heaven (things new and old means: New Testament & Old Testament).
"Ministers of the Gospel shouldn't be novices, 1 Timothy 3:6, raw
and ignorant men; but men mighty in the Scriptures..."
Who is my treasure or pearl today in my life?
What is the price I am ready to pay to buy that precious pearl or
treasure in my faith journey of life?
Thought: God
invites everyone to enter into his kingdom, but not everyone accepts the
invitation.
Jesus is the
perfect copy of the Father. So let us enter as God’s children into God’s
Kingdom by sharing God’s love and Jesus’ life, the life in the Spirit.
The disciple is
like the head of a household. The disciple possesses an enormous treasure: The
Old Testament and The New Testament
(Rom 15:4; 8:3; 1Cor 10:11; Jn 1:17-18; 14:6; Ps 119:142; Heb 8:6, 9:14-15; Mt
5:17)
