In a world before safes, people also hid their most precious things, their valuables. We still hide our valuables.
In yesterday’s gospel we hear reference to the treasure hidden in the field, because that’s what you did. If you had something of great value that you did not want stolen you took it out and buried it in a place known only to you. In the early Church, the Liturgy of the Eucharist was not open to the public. Only those who were baptized were allowed in. It was truly “the mystery of faith.”
Yes, it caused horrible speculation among the pagans about what the Christians were doing, eating flesh and drinking blood. But it also underscore the precious quality of the sacrament.
Today’s gospel ends with Jesus proclaiming “ I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.” And yet, there remains a hidden quality. He speaks not in straightforward declarations but in parables.
He can do no other because God remains mystery. The fullness of God remains hidden. We can only know of God what God has chosen to reveal and chooses to reveal. We know only the tiniest fraction of who God is.
And yet, as people of faith, we are called to entrust our lives completely to, and to love with all our being, this mysterious God.
Perhaps we need to rethink how we feel about words like “hidden” and “mysterious”. As St. John tells us, “Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 Jn 4:18). When we embrace the mystery, embrace the hidden; our souls are opened to the reality that no human words can express, the God who has always been present.
