That One Thing - January 30, 2022
Deborah Laforet
Matthew 13:44-46 & Matthew 19:16-26
The One Thing
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by
the Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
Some of you will remember the popular movie that came out in 1991, twenty years ago,
with actor, Billy Crystal, called “City Slickers.” And for those of you who don’t, this was a movie about a man who lived in the big city, who had turned 39 years old, and was having a mid- life crisis. He decides to go on a trip with his friends, to the “wild west,” and drive cattle. He’s never been on a horse, has never been near a cow, and everything about country life scares him, including the cowboy who is leading this group of city people, who seems older than dirt and tougher than leather.
One scene came to mind while I was pondering today’s parable. The Billy Crystal character and the old cowboy, played by Jack Palance, are talking about the secret of life. I’m going to try and show a quick clip from the trailer, and hope the Facebook censors don’t shut us down.
“Do you know what the secret of life is?” “No. What?”
”This.” “Your Finger?” “Just one Thing.”
”What’s the one thing?”
”That’s what you’ve got to figure out.”
“That’s what you’ve got to figure out,” he says. Do you know your, ‘one thing’?
Our parable today about the great pearl is interpreted in many different ways. Today, I thought I’d look at it in this way.
The merchant went looking for the great pearl. Being a buyer and seller of fine pearls, he believed he would know it when he saw it, and when he found it, he gave everything he had for that great pearl, leaving him with nothing. At the end of this story, we see him without his money, without any of his belongings, and even without his house. Is the merchant happy? Did giving away all he had for that one pearl, make his life better? Was it worth giving away all he possessed?
As we ponder these questions, I want you to remember that this is what Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like. We may not want to get into the practicalities of not having a home or not having money to buy food. Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who goes in search of the great pearl and, when he finds it, gives up everything he has. What does this mean about the kingdom of heaven?
Judy read two passages for us today. Let’s look at the second one. This one is not a parable. It’s about a rich man who comes to Jesus and asks him what he must do to achieve eternal life. Now, I don’t know what this person meant by ‘eternal life,’ but Jesus seems to know. He tells the man that he needs to keep the commandments, and the then lists those commandments.
The rich man, very confidently, says, I’ve done that, but then he says, “What do I lack?” This rich man seems to know he’s in need of something more; he just doesn’t know what it is. He must feels like he is missing something. So like the men in the movie, people from the big city who go to the country to herd cattle, this rich man feels so desperate to find out what’s missing, that he leaves his place of comfort, to talk to this person who is known for his wisdom, who is probably way outside of his social circle. He is hoping that Jesus will tell him what he’s missing.
Unfortunately, the answer Jesus gives him is not what he expects, nor what he wants. Jesus tells him he must give up all his possessions, give all his money to those in need, and then he will find his treasure, he will find his ‘one thing.’ Once he’s done that, Jesus says, “come, follow me.” I imagine the rich man looks around him, looks at the people who are following Jesus, and just can't imagine himself there. He just can’t do it. He walks away, grieving.
Friends, we are the rich man in this story. We have so much; we are some of the wealthiest people in the world. We may not want to think of ourselves as rich, but I think most of us have much more than we need. We live very comfortably, with large homes, we have money in the account for more than necessities, money set aside for retirement, we have time for leisure activities and time and money to vacation elsewhere, and we have lots of possessions.
The merchant with the pearl gave away all of his possessions for just one pearl. Was he happy? Do our possessions make us happy? Was the merchant now able to focus more on what was important once he had given all his possessions away?
This is a difficult topic, and it could be why I struggle with this parable of the great pearl. It’s telling me something I don't want to hear. Like the rich man, I want to walk away from this message.
The fact is the more we have, the more we have to worry about, the more it distracts us from that ‘one thing.' The ‘city slickers’ from the movie were constantly worried. They were so stressed, with work, with family, with the pressure of keeping up with it all, and they weren’t happy. They had an amazing vacation out west; they grew in their self-awareness. At the end of the movie they return home, seemingly happy, possibly having found that ‘one thing,’ but do they change their lives? Do they learn to live differently, with that ‘one thing’ as their focus, shedding what they don’t need. If they didn’t change, will they not revert back to their unhappy selves, maybe in a year or two seeking a brand new adventure, searching again for happiness?
Talking about possessions, talking about this story, is not easy because we have grown up in this culture of materialism and consumerism. We have been convinced that it’s good for our economy and therefore, good for us. We learn early that ‘stuff’ makes us happy. We convince ourselves that everything we own is for our well-being, making our lives easier, smarter, quicker, more beautiful, more connected. And of course, the more we accumulate, the more we worry that we aren’t yet smarter, quicker, more beautiful, and haven’t yet earned our worth, our value, and the love that we we all seek. We work so hard to make our lives better, that we fill our lives with anxiety, stress, and pressure to get it right.
Was the merchant happy after giving away all he had for that one great pearl? Many respond immediately with no, how could he be? But I wonder. This parable is about what the kingdom of heaven is like. Can you imagine possessing the one thing that you need, making all else you possessed irrelevant? Imagine if the rich man had decided that upon hearing Jesus, he had found what was missing, sold all his possessions, given all the money to those in need, and then came back and followed Jesus. How would his life have changed? How might he have changed the lives of others?
I am not telling you today to give away all you possess. I am not telling you that you need to do this to be happy. I do think we need to question our society though, question the need to consume, the need to keep up, the need to hold and and grasp tightly to what we own. We need to question what holds value in our lives and what distracts us from what’s really important. This is not easy work. It’s like the proverbial fish who tries to imagine life outside of the water in which it breathes.
I wonder what the kingdom of heaven is like. Jesus tried to help us with this image through his parables. Until we can imagine this kingdom of God in our midst, it will be difficult for us to create it.
May God give us the wisdom we need to create the kingdom of heaven on earth. May the parables of Jesus help us to imagine this kingdom. May the Spirit help clear our eyes, unplug our ears, and open our hearts and minds to the ‘one thing’ that matters most, whatever that might be for you, as we work together, creating this kingdom of heaven. May it be so. Amen.