1 Kings 3:5,7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52

King David, despite being chosen by God, didn’t always please God. He knew that God would punish him in his private life for sins he had committed. However, he still became the most important King of Israel and reigned for 40 years. When David’s life was coming to an end, he called on his son Solomon, one of the sons he had with Bathsheba and urged him to always fulfil God’s will, and it is said that Solomon loved God.
Solomon seemed to try to be a good king, and he followed God’s order when it comes to sacrifices and burning incense. He used to frequently burn incense at ‘the high places’ which is identified as being Gibeon, North of Jerusalem, where also parts of the Tabernacle were kept.
At one of these occasions, God speaks to Solomon in a dream. God gives Solomon a wish.
This is extraordinary. Did anybody else in the Bible ever get asked by God to express a wish? Certainly, many wishes are brought to God in prayers every minute, every second. However, these are wishes and petitions that are brought to God without invitation.
Even when the prophet Elisha followed the famous Elijah, he is not asked what he wants but rather asks himself to receive double of Elijah’s spirit.

Solomon is special. He is chosen by David to be his successor on the throne despite not being the first-born. God invites him to say a wish. Solomon doesn’t disappoint God. He starts his answer with humility, calling himself God’s servant. The young man who has just become king and has married an Egyptian princess could have wished for a nice palace or other riches for himself or others, but Solomon doesn’t ask for material wealth.
He is aware that leadership is more than being the king – especially when it comes to ruling God’s people. So, Solomon asks for wisdom. He asks to be able to discern between good and evil. God is so pleased of this wish that Solomon is granted a wise heart immediately.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul describes his own weaknesses but reiterates that the Spirit helps us – even when we can’t find the right words when talking with God. The Spirit intercedes in a positive way if we search ‘the hearts of men’.
Solomon loved God, and God offered to work with him. Paul comforts us with the thoughts that God will work with us if we love God. The perfect example of someone who worked together with God is Jesus, and so, if we follow in his footsteps, we are his siblings.
The reward for those who please God will be that they are justified and therefore will be sharing Jesus’ glory.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples more parables on the Kingdom of Heaven.
What is this Kingdom? The people would have asked many questions about this promised place. Solomon was King of Israel with God’s blessing. However, despite being granted the permission to ask for a wish, his kingdom is not the Kingdom of Heaven. Paul mentions reward, justification and sharing Jesus’ glory – is this leading to the Kingdom of Heaven?

When Jesus tells his disciples parables on the Kingdom of Heaven it seems like this kingdom is so precious that the people who find it don’t even like to proclaim it but rather oppress their joy. Why? Is there a danger that the treasure is taken away?
In Jesus’ first parable, the person who discovers the treasure is not shouting out for joy and risking that someone else claims the treasure as their property. Only after the treasure is secured through purchasing the land, the person can celebrate the finding. The person who has found the precious pearl doesn’t care about anything else and just wants to own this treasure. The third example shows that even if you make it to heaven, there will be a selection. Only those who have been good, who have done the Will of God will survive and can remain.

After telling these parables, Jesus is not asked to explain them. So, he simply asks if they had understood, but he adds what the lesson of the parables is. The treasure that had been hidden in the past and the pearls that developed in the dark and waited to be found existed but needed to be found again by someone who truly appreciated them. The desired fish were caught in a net, together with many other fish. They first had to be separated from the ones that were ‘useless’. Again, it is about discovery or even re-discovery.
Also, wise discernment is an important part of these parables. The decision to sell property to purchase something else needs discernment – and so does the decision of which fish is to be kept and which one is to be thrown back into the water.

Matthew’s Gospel was written for the Jewish people who were familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus Christ refers to the Scriptures frequently and surprises the scribes in the synagogues with his knowledge and wisdom. In order to understand Jesus, it is necessary to discover the true treasure developing out of the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The old and the new belong together.
The young King Solomon wants to be a good leader of his father’s kingdom and rule wisely over the people chosen by God. The treasure he is searching for is the treasure of wisdom. The wisdom of good discernment – done in a way that pleases God.

Good discernment is founded in love. The love of God in the Old Testament will lead us to the love of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and the love of Jesus Christ will lead us to the love of our neighbour. We might only see the flowers of the Good News but always need to remember where they are rooted.

BM