Over the last few weeks in Matthew’s gospel we’ve been hearing the Kingdom of God unfold in a series of parables.

The images presented are striking. A mustard seed. Yeast. A treasure. A pearl. These were all things that the people of Jesus’ time would know and recognize. They’re familiar.

But to help understand what Jesus is telling us about the kingdom, it helps to look, too, at some recurring ideas.

For one thing, most of the items he mentions are small. You can hold them in your hand. They are tangible, real, able to be grasped.

What this tells me is that the Kingdom we seek is closer than we may realize. It is not necessarily a vast and overwhelming place. It is near. It is achievable. Like Jesus, who entered human history as a helpless child, God’s kingdom is beautifully simple.

In the early 1970s, Leonard Bernstein wrote a contemporary mass for the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington. It begins with the celebrant preparing for the liturgy, and as he’s getting ready, he prays, above all, for simplicity.

He sings:

“Sing God a simple song… God loves all simple things. For God is the simplest of all.”

I’ve always loved that idea. It’s a beautiful and surprising thought. But judging from the parables we’ve been hearing, it has the ring of truth. God’s kingdom isn’t what we might expect. It is as vast and as intimidating as a mustard seed, as powerful and as overwhelming…as a pearl.

It may be the simplest thing of all.

Something else that comes out from the parables is that Jesus uses things that are obvious, but hidden. You need to seek them out, or dig them up. You have to put some effort into it.

This suggests that the Kingdom is available to anyone – or at least anyone who takes the time to look for it.

Which brings us to today’s gospel. It tells us, not once, but twice, that anyone who finds the Kingdom will make tremendous sacrifices in order to keep it. He or she will sell everything. Because nothing is more valuable. All the possessions in the world can’t compare with the kingdom. It is the greatest treasure.

But do we even realize it?

Last weekend, my wife and I went to see “Wall E.” There’s a funny moment at the beginning of the movie, when we watch Wall E going through his day. He’s clearing out endless mounds of trash. And he sees a tiny jewelry box. And he opens it. There’s a dazzling diamond inside. He looks at it, takes it out of the box…then tosses the diamond aside. He’d rather keep the box.

Later, of course, he finds something truly priceless, the love of his life…another robot, named Eve. And he goes to extraordinary lengths to protect her. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that she resembles an egg. This robot named Eve carries the promise of life. And Wall E can’t help but care for her.

How far are WE willing to go…to care for the Kingdom of God? To hold onto it? To protect the promise of eternal life? Are we willing to sacrifice everything – to sell all we have, as the gospel parable describes – to keep the kingdom?

I don’t know about you, but I sort of like the things I have and I’m not too eager to sell them. My wife might have a few things to say if I turned up on the street one day selling our Cuisineart.

But the things we have are MORE than what we OWN. In the parable, I think Jesus is also calling on us to give up other things. All the things that clutter our lives, that crowd out the Kingdom.

Our pride. Our vanity. Our egos. Prepare to give up self-interest. Sell your envy. Auction off pettiness, or jealousy, or greed, or material ambition.

Get back to basics.

A seed of love.

The yeast of compassion.

A pearl of humility and hope.

For God is the simplest of all.

Solomon realized that. In the first reading, he asked only for an understanding heart. And God was so moved by his request, He gave Solomon wisdom beyond any ever known to man. THAT is Solomon’s buried treasure, his pearl of great price. It is his tiny key that unlocks the Kingdom.

This Sunday, we’re beginning our annual novena to St. John Vianney, to pray, in a special way, for vocations to the priesthood. Not unlike Solomon, John Vianney had an understanding heart – and as a result, people flocked to him from all over, to have him hear their confessions. He was assigned to one of the smallest, poorest parishes in France –but he transformed it into a place of remarkable faith. And his journey began, like so many do, with prayer and with sacrifice. He gave up a comfortable life for the pearl of great price.

God doesn’t call all of us to live as he did. But maybe there are some here who are beginning to sense that maybe, just maybe, you have a vocation. I know the feeling. You can spend months or even years saying, “No, no way, not me, no, never, impossible, forget it.” And then suddenly, for no good reason, you find yourself one day forming the word on your lips that will change your life:

“Yes.”

Over the next nine days, I ask all of us to pray together for that “Yes.” Let’s keep it in our hearts. Pray for those who are listening for it, pray for those who waiting to find the courage to speak it.

Pray for “Yes.”

Such a small word. Easy to overlook. Like a seed. Or a pearl. Such a simple thing.

But, God loves all simple things. For God is the simplest of all.