"They sold her jar for $5000.00. She never really knew its real value," quoted this article in the Washington Post. It told how she filled it with soup at the shelter. Even that she slept with it on the grates at night. Later, when she died from the cold, her friends found it wrapped in her shopping bag. It looked like an ordinary jar, but this beautiful, colonial jar had the potential of bringing her so much needed relief and joy. She overlooked her precious treasure because it looked so ordinary.
Easter reminds us not to overlook our precious treasure. We sometimes get caught up in the alleluia, the lilies and the jelly beans. How often do we forget what all the hoopla is about! The precious treasure of Easter is that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and now we are accepted from our ordinariness to be members of God's family. Now we have to accept others and God's family too.
Christ's resurrection announces that even the poorest belong to God's family. As members of his family, we are asked to share this treasure with others. Jesus wants to see his words and life satisfying us. He wants this New Life he brings to change our feelings about one another. From the tulips and the hyacinths Easter shouts: "Don't overlook this precious treasure! Our ordinariness has eternal significance."
St. Francis de Sales says: "We should live in this world as if our spirit were already in heaven." Easter is the great moment in time which plants this phrase in our hearts. We are redeemed to live in God's family. This is indeed more precious that any colonial pottery.
A Reading from the Gospel of Luke 12:34:
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be;