You probably know the saying “Be careful what you pray for.” It sounds like a bit of wisdom, but it’s actually a bit of nonsense, because it implies that prayer is like a magic spell, and if you get the words wrong all sorts of horrid things might happen to you. You can see and hear me give this Homily on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZRumPqhL4c
But even if we reduce the phrase to “Be careful what you wish for”, it still suggests that what we think we want is more important than what God wants for us, given God knows us far better than we know ourselves. True prayer is when we open ourselves up to God, so that we can become more aware of the gifts and talents that are already within us, that God has already put within us. Longing for some unknown and unrealistic future may be a pleasant dream, but it doesn’t face up to the reality of where we are, and what we are actually like.
In the last few weeks, we have been hearing snippets from the 8th Chapter of St Paul’s Letter to the Romans which is all about this subject. Two weeks ago, we heard St Paul telling us to put our trust in the glory that God will give us, even if it requires us to face suffering now. He talked about how we “Groan inwardly as we wait.” By itself, this sounds a very hard message, and that’s the problem with just getting snippets of the Bible each Sunday; for remember that last week we heard “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.” – a much more comforting message. Today we get a bit more comfort, that whatever troubles or difficulties or weaknesses we face, God can turn “Everything to good.. with all those who love him.” But the best, and perhaps the most important section of this great Chapter, is what we would have heard next week, except that next Sunday we celebrate the Transfiguration, and so will miss these vital words. So here they are, “Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried.”
And then St Paul continues to his great climax which is often read at Funerals : “Neither death, nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The first two Parables that we have in our Gospel today (Matt 13:44-52) are all about giving up anything and everything that might prevent us from taking this great journey of following Christ. We are told that we have to sell everything in order to get the pearl – the treasure in the field. But our problem is the problem faced by all Christians down through the ages. What exactly are the things we should give up, and precisely what, for each of us, is that pearl of great price - that treasure in the field? We have to remember what St Paul tells us in his 1st Letter to the Corinthians (12:4) that for each of us it will be a different thing, for God does not call us to become standardised units following one pattern. Instead, God has put within us a variety of gifts, so that his Spirit will work in us in many different ways. Parents for example are called to give up doing some things for the sake of their children. They might perhaps have to give up their ambition to go and care for people in poverty in another part of the world, whilst for a single person this might be something that God really wants them to do. Equally, we all have different abilities and talents given to us by God. It is no good me wanting to be a great athlete unless I have been given the sort of body that can be trained to be this, nor is it any good some people aiming to be University professors or Accountants, unless they have the kind of mind appropriate for this work. I would love to be a carpenter, but give me a hammer and I am more likely to hit my thumb than the nail, but put me in a garden and I seem to have a natural affinity with plants that others lack.
This means that we have to be very careful about identifying what are the real struggles and difficulties we need to face in our path to serve God, rather than the ones we might imagine. St Paul has promised that with the help of the Holy Spirit our weaknesses and struggles can be overcome, but his teaching on the variety of gifts always reminds us that for each person they will vary. We must never give up our dreams of course, for sometimes the gifts we have can have been hidden by bad upbringing or inadequate teaching. I remember well how useless I was at Maths until one day when I was 15 a teacher took me on one side and explained algebra to me. But it really is no good someone longing to be a great footballer, to train their body every day and practise with a ball until they are blue in the face, unless they have that natural ability with a ball that really great footballers possess. We have all been given particular kinds of bodies, and longing to change them into some dream we have about ourselves is a sad mistake.
That is why, as I said earlier, prayer is essentially asking God to help us work out what our talents are, and then putting other things on one side, offering ourselves wholeheartedly in God’s service, giving up everything for the pearl – the treasure in the field – whatever that might be. And prayer is also a practical adventure. Maybe God has put you in a job that brings you an income but does not fulfil what you believe are the talents he has given you ; then maybe you need to work out how to use those talents outside your employment in his service. Then the suffering to be overcome with the help of the Spirit may be coping with that less than perfect job, or it may be doing that voluntary work despite the barriers that may be put in your way.
St Paul gives us a very strange example of this in his 1st Letter to the Corinthians. In those days most meat bought in the market had been offered first in the pagan Temples. He says that Christians can eat it because the pagan gods are not real, but if it gives offence or if it leads people into thinking that you worship those pagan gods, then you ought not to eat it. And then he says this, that can apply to all of us in whatever we choose to do for God. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31)
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