The Great Pearl according to Paul

 Sermon preached on Sunday, July 30, 2023 at Church of the Redeemer, Addison, NY, the 9th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 12A):  Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52; Romans 8:26-39

          Of the four short parables we just heard, I am most interested this morning in the search for the Great Pearl.

 The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

           It must have been some pearl, to sell everything he had—to risk it all—to possess it.  It is hyperbole, of course.  What smart business owner would do such a thing?  But Jesus’ parables frequently push us beyond a reasonable response.

           The kingdom, Jesus is saying, is worth everything. So we might ask just what is this great pearl in your life, in my life, that we would give everything to possess?

           St. Paul knows what it is. At the end of chapter eight he takes us through an examination of our life, our frequent perception of the purposes of God, and then the revelation of the real prize.

           He begins the passage we just heard, laying out what relationship with God looks like—how it works.  He’s not easy to follow, but here I think is the basic outline:

 Let’s be real, he says, we are weak. We don’t know how to pray. Sometimes all we can do in the face of life is sigh or even groan, a word he used previously in this chapter.

    II.            The good news is that the Spirit of God within every one of us, prays on our behalf. The Spirit turns our ignorance, our sighs, our groans into prayer.  We hear a groan; God hears what we need.

  III.            We believe that in the purposes of God all things work together for good. It is often not easy to see when we are in the midst of trouble or grief.  The trust that is required of us is enormous.

 IV.            But the bottom line, he says, is that whatever the circumstances of our life, we are called by God, we are justified by God, we are glorified by God.

That would have been a pretty good ending for this train of thought, but Paul knows he is being idealistic and that these promises raise all kinds of questions when we are in the midst of life.  So he lays those questions out:

 What are we to say about this? In other words, how can we know these things are true?

    II.            If God is for us, he asks, who is against us? It’s a rhetorical question, because we all experience in life at times—maybe even frequently—that there is plenty that is against us. Death is just the most obvious of those things.

  III.            The next questions gives a hint at where he is going. The God who made himself known in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, will that God not give us everything he has promised?

 IV.            But doesn’t this God also judge? And is not that the great weight upon us all, the fear that we will be found short of the mark, unworthy, not good enough for God’s promises?

 Then Paul asks the real question. Who is to condemn? Who is it who will judge us? And if we’ve been paying attention reading this chapter of Romans, our ears will prickle at the word “condemn.” Where have we heard that word before.

 It was at the very beginning if the chapter, the rather outlandish declaration that “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  So who is to condemn us.  It is that same Christ Jesus, who dies for us, who was raised for us, who prays for us.  So he asks the question about who will condemn us in a different way:

 Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

           Will hardship separate us from God’s love? Will distress?—there’s plenty of that in life. Will persecution? Will nakedness, meaning will economic woes? Will poverty separate from God’s love?  Will danger? Will war?

           And to say to us, these are very real questions, it’s OK to have them, he quotes from Psalm 44, a real complaint to God. “For sake, God, we are being killed all day long, like sheep to be slaughtered.” Yes, indeed, that is what life feels like sometimes.

           But then comes the crescendo, what it all comes down to, the heart of everything that Paul believes, and, I believe, that Jesus taught.

           No, he says, when all seems lost we are “more than conquerors?” When all seems lost we actually win.

 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

           Just soak that in. Nothing, not even our own stuff. Nothing. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

           And there it is. The pearl of great price, the thing that we would give anything for, the absolute assurance of love. The love that made the universe is our, guaranteed.

           And the secret is that when we search for it, we find that it was already ours. The pearl of great price is not somewhere else for us to search heaven and earth to find it. It was in our possession all the time.

           Remember these astounding words from the baptismal rite:

 You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.

           We say those words not in wishful thinking. We say them because they are the truest things that can be said about us.

           No separation. None. The Pearl of Great Price: the steadfast love of God.