In this week's reading from St. Matthew's Gospel, we hear two parables about the Kingdom of Heaven [cf. Mt 13:44-52]. Unfortunately, we are not hearing what led up to Jesus sharing these two parables. To understand the point Jesus was making, we need to consider the context in which Jesus was speaking.

This episode began in the town of Magdala. It was late afternoon and Jesus asked any who would follow Him to sail across the Sea of Galilee to the eastern shore [cf. Mt 8:18, Mk 4:35, Lk 8:22].

This was clearly a discipleship challenge. To sail due east on the Sea of Galilee meant they had to sail at night because the prevailing winds there came from the west at night. But Jews didn't normally travel at night; and it was the rainy season when violent storms on the Sea of Galilee were common at night. Yet, there were several boatloads who followed Jesus on that journey [cf. Mk 4:36].

On the eastern shore of the Sea was the pagan city of Gergesa, on a high cliff overlooking the Sea in the very fertile area known today as the Golan Heights. So, it took great courage for many of them to trust in Jesus on that journey. That's precisely what Jesus was after. On the way that night, Jesus confirmed their trust by calming a violent storm on the Sea that threatened them [cf. Mt 8:24, Mk 4:37, Lk 8:23] for they were in for a shock when they reached Gergesa.

Upon arriving there, Jesus was confronted by demoniacs, and He freed the possessed men by driving the demons into a herd of swine. But, on seeing what happened, instead of rejoicing, the locals begged "Jesus to leave their neighborhood" [Mt 8:34, Mk 5:17, Lk 8:37]. So, Jesus and His followers withdrew to the shoreline where they would have to wait out the night until the prevailing winds shifted back toward the west at sunrise.

So far in this episode, we see a sharp contrast between those who joined Jesus and those who rejected Him. Many of those who were with Jesus likely felt good about themselves and a bit entitled because they had joined in the journey, in contrast to those locals who had rejected Jesus. At this point, Jesus shared the two parables that challenged the stereotypical thinking that had emerged there in a most unexpected way.

The first parable speaks of a person who found a treasure buried in a field. In ancient times, if something was on the land it was considered part of the land and belonged to the owner of that land. Consequently, in order to have this treasure, the person had to "take rightful possession" of the treasure. Thus, he sold everything he had to buy the land. So, one must take rightful possession of the Kingdom of Heaven, akin to taking rightful possession of the treasure, in the parable?"

The second parable is even more puzzling. It speaks of fishermen throwing a net into the sea, hauling it ashore and then having to separate what is good from what is bad. Jesus concluded with "Thus it will be at the end of the age" [Mt 13:49a]. So, the Kingdom of Heaven is in the "here and now," and those possessing the treasure must co-exist with the bad until the end of the age.

The two parables confronted them with a profound lesson. Yes, the locals' rejection of Jesus was wrong but for those, who had "joined in the journey," possessing the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven is not about what one does in the spur of the moment. While it was laudable that they followed Jesus across the Sea of Galilee, they must take rightful possession of the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven by committing themselves fully and completely, in a sense, selling all they had. Further, one's possessing the treasure does not come by a single moment or event, rather it is a progression, an unfolding that goes on, with the good and bad coexisting. But the end will come and the good and the bad will then be separated, for all eternity.

Why was this lesson so important? In Jesus' day, a sense of entitlement was deeply engrained in Jewish thinking. It was all about what you did; your level of commitment meant little. They felt "entitled" to God's love and non-believers were "the lost." The Kingdom of Heaven would be exclusively for Jews. That way of thinking was boldly challenged that day.

It's likely that sailing back to Magdala the next morning was a quiet journey as many pondered the lesson in the two parables. There is no entitlement in the Kingdom of Heaven. To really follow Jesus was not a matter of "joining-in"with everyone else but of wholehearted commitment to Him in an environment where the good and the bad must co-exist to the end.

Many in our times find it so appealing to think that just turning to Jesus in the moment can bring salvation, but it doesn't work that way. You have to be all in. For as Pope Francis told the crowd at the Sixth National Youth day: "living the Christian life is not about accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior in the moment, rather it is in lifelong commitment to Him through prayer and action."1 The same lesson Jesus taught on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that day still applies.

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