THE TREASURE AND THE PEARL
To live: what for? Here is the big question… so much
pain and so many tragedies. Why? For wind only, would say Qohelet.
The Homo sapiens has been asking himself that same question
for more than three hundred thousand years without having yet found the answer.
The man called Jesus has looked for, he also.
Something was pushing him to want to know at all cost the meaning of that life apparently
so off-putting and at times so absurd. I am sure that he has searched like
nobody else and that he may have doubted like nobody else did.
Nothing fell into his lap. Nothing was dictated to him
by the angels. Moreover, the answers that the venerable religion of his people
was offering him left him unsatisfied.
During his youth which he spent working wood and
living like everyone else, his head was a jumble of strange thoughts which were
making his heart bleed. He wanted to see, he wanted to know, he wanted to
snatch from darkness the meaning, the reason, the path, the logic of this life,
the light which illuminates everything. He wanted to see the truth.
He searched until it would hurt, until he would want
to die instead of believing only in what his eyes could see: a life where we
are born crying and where we grow by begging like slaves for pleasures that do
not last, a life that ends in rottenness under a heap of earth. He went through the silences and battles of
unending deserts. And maybe he cried like nobody else ever did. He let out long
screams which may still have the stars shiver.
Many times during endless nights, he fought
hand-to-hand with God like his ancestor Jacob, wanting to know and to knock
down the wall of the unknown, of destiny and of death, wanting to see what was
present beyond that gray and dreary life, at times happy for some, but very
often a hell for the greater number.
Many times like Job, he called on God with all his
strength without ever getting any answer. As much as he could, he has knocked
at the door of the almighty god of his ancestors, that god whose heroic deeds
were sung by all, that god about which we were saying that he had thrown down
Pharaoh from his throne and had precipitated his armies at the bottom of the
sea, that god that destroyed his enemies and made short work of all those who
dared hinder the plans of the people he had chosen, that god which required accounts for everything and
that down to the smallest detail, that god that knew how to reward the just but
did not leave unpunished any mischief, that god which promised paradises that were
never reached, that god which remained deaf to his cries.
« In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and
supplications with loud cries and
tears to the one who was able to save him » (Hebrews 5:7).
Disappointed and downcast like Elijah, but
mysteriously reassured in his combat, he found the strength to pursue the
climbing of his Horeb to see God there and die. And so came the storm; he did
not see God. Came fire, but he did not see God. And then a light breeze got up…
It was in the light breeze that finally
his breathing rejoined the breathing of God where it collected the perfect gift,
that treasure so sought-after and called «Wisdom» by the saints.
He savored Wisdom more than good health, than the
beauty or the light itself of the sun. It became in him the inexhaustible
source of all knowledge, of all justice and of all good. Wisdom
planted in his heart the germs of immortality. He made her his bride. Compared to Wisdom, « all the gold in the world » became
for him only «a little sand and silver, only mire » (Wisdom
7:9-30).
And so, from the mouth and the heart of Jesus the
great rivers of the Gospel began to flow abundantly to give to drink the human
beings who are still asking themselves why live, work, suffer and die. From his
mouth, Wisdom says:
« Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for my heart is meek and enjoys
being with humble people. You will be able to rest, since my yoke is light and
agreeable ». « Whoever comes to me will never hunger; whoever believes in me
will never thirst ».
(Matthew 11: 28-30; John 6: 35; Sirach
24:19-22; Proverbs 9: 1-5).
For Christians, Jesus is the man who, by
exploring the depths of our being and by scanning the horizons of our future,
was able to reach beyond himself the answer. He found the Wisdom of God, the pearl of pearls, and
he espoused her. He discovered the treasure and, standing in our midst, he
shares it with us in a banquet to which all the nations are invited.
To those who are searching and who are not contented
with ready-made answers or in believing because others have believed, he brings
them to the source.
« Whoever is wise will
take note of these things
And understand the love of the Lord! »
(Psalm 107: 43)
Eloy Roy
Translated from the
French by Jacques Bourdages
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