Notice the similarities between these two Gospel passages.
Gospel MT 13:44-46
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
Matt 19:16 Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” 17He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.* If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness;
See if you follow what I'm saying.
A rich man is walking in a field. He must be rich because he later returns and purchases the entire field. While walking in this field, he finds a treasure. That treasure, in my opinion, is love. Love is the coin of the realm, so to speak.
When he finds it, he hides it. Why? To safeguard it? To protect it?
No. If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor
Ok, that's kind of vague.
In a worldly sense, he hides in order to go and do the things he must do in order to purchase the field. Go to the bank, sell his possessions, find out how much it will cost, etc. etc.
In a spiritual sense, he hides it in order to go and do the things he must do in order to be worthy of it. To prepare himself. He wishes to be perfect. He realizes his imperfection. He realizes that he is not worthy of the treasure. In order to be perfect, he must divest himself of self. He must live according to the demands of love.
But some might say, "if he hides it, he doesn't want anyone else to find it and is therefore being selfish".
But I think that he hides it because he wants to pay for it (do penance) and then give it away.
Remember what Jesus said:
go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
This is the course he is following.
come, follow me.
Do you recognize these words?
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
Sell all you have and give to the poor = deny yourself and take up your cross
Folks, Jesus emptied Himself to become man and to save mankind. We must do the same. He is our example and model.
More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ.
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