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| Parable of the Pearl: Selling All for the Kingdom |
Think about it. What would we ask of God?
Making right choices is the stuff of life. Should I go to this school or that, take this job or the other. Many of us think hard about our choices, trying to make the best ones for ourselves and our families. Often enough, we have to choose between right and wrong, greed and generosity, honesty and lies, people and things. Occasionally, we may have to choose between life and death: whether to continue a loved one on medical life supports.
In all these decisions, small and great, that affect work, career, family and social life, even leisure time, we pray to God for the wisdom to do the right thing.
In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus continues the theme of choices. In the first parable, a farmer plowing someone else's field hits a clump that turns out to be a buried treasure. He sells everything he has to buy the field so that he can claim the treasure. In the second parable, a merchant is like the treasure hunters in our own time. They spend their entire lives searching for more riches.
Jesus says to us in these parables, “carpe diem,” seize the moment to make the right decision. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Right decisions presuppose men and women with character or integrity. It defines who we are at the inmost core of our inmost self. It's an ethical reality. The Hebrew psalmist spoke of King David as a great (though not perfect) leader who guided his people with integrity of heart and skillful hands. (Ps 78: 72)
King Solomon, despite his mighty accomplishments, had character flaws. He countenance non-Israelite religious practices, launched expensive projects and imposed high taxes to pay for them and conscripted work gangs to build them . His policies created such widespread discontent that the kingdom split into two after his death.
Leadership requires not only character or integrity but courage. The most common phrase in the New Testament is “Do not be afraid.” The most common phrase in the Old Testament is “Be not afraid.” As the phrase appears more than a thousand times in both testaments, God may be trying to get a message across to us.
Finally, leaders have a "can do" attitude. They know what they want, why they want it, and how to communicate what they want to others so that they can galvanize them into action. At different times, all of us are called to be leaders: as professionals, as business people, as parents, as citizens and as volunteers.
What is the most important ingredient of leadership? Here's how one American hero put it to the cadets at West Point:
“Your character, that’s what's important in leadership…look at the leadership failures...in this country in the last 100 years. (They) were not failures in competence; they were failures in character…You see, leadership involves things like ethics…duty…a value system…morality...integrity. And that is why character is what counts in leadership. Integrity is the linchpin.”
Yes, seek always the right thing to do.
