1. Matthew 13:44-46
2. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden [kekrymmeno] in a field [agro], which a man found and hid [ekrypsen]; then in his joy [apo tes charas autou], he goes and sells [polei], whatever things he has and buys [agorazei] that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value [polytimon], went and sold [pepraken] all that he had and bought [egorasen] it.
3. only the mystery-loving simplicity of children can recognize its hidden reality [Matthew 11:25]
1. The mystery, even when its literal details are spelled out in so many words, remains inaccessible to anyone's understanding [Luke 18:31-34]
4. agro, "field"
1. The church is not, in any proper sense, Christian — it is a sign to the world of the mystery by which the Light has already lightened the whole shooting match, by which the divine Leaven has already leavened the whole lump of creation
2. the church is precisely catholic, not Christian
5. The treasure, clearly enough, is the mystery of the kingdom — the field in which it is buried can be interpreted not only as the world but the place in which, more than in all other places, the mystery's power lies hidden — It can be read, that is, as standing for death
1. We all buy the farm: death, along with birth, is an utterly catholic experience — some get rich; some get sick; some get funny in the head; some write books; some of us behave ourselves; and some of us live in Arizona — but every last one of us dies
2. the very hell of hell lies precisely in the fact that its inhabitants will be insisting on a perpetual rejection of an equally perpetual gift
6. the discoverer of the treasure stands for the church
1. the man who found the treasure hid it so he could buy the field before anyone knew what he was really up to
2. how often have the unchurched put up a "not for sale" sign on their farm because they simply couldn't stand the arrogance of Christians
7. the world becomes the buyer, rather than the seller of the mystery
1. All the children of Adam — all human beings, at all times, and in all places — are in the kingdom business, shopping night and day for the mystery of the city of God
2. the church cannot safely afford to deal — indeed, that it dare not refuse to deal — with anything less than the whole world
3. People converted by fear-mongering are people converted from evil, not to the truth
4. If the merchant had bought the pearl only because he was afraid his friends would despise him if he hadn't, then the minute he got strong enough to tell his friends to fly a kite, he might have sold the pearl and bought something else
1. "It's good for everybody in the world," the church has said in effect, "so who cares how we get them to buy it?" — but the mystery is a mystery of love and wants nothing less than a free offering of complete simplicity
5. There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents, not a lot of handwringing and brow-furrowing, and certainly not a boring "watch your step now"…