Fr Lino Moreira OSB
Solomon had just been made king in place of his father David. He was very young and inexperienced, and felt that the burden of kingship was far too heavy for him. But he was also aware that God had showed great lovingkindness to his father on account of his uprightness of heart (cf. 1 K 3:6). So Solomon asked the Lord: “Give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, a heart able to discern
between good and evil” (1 K 3:6).
The heart is the seat of a person’s thoughts and intentions, and literally,
according the Hebrew Bible, Solomon asked to be given a listening heart. The young king was already wise enough to realise that, unless he had a heart that listened to the word of God with sufficient understanding, his thoughts would not be attuned to God’s thoughts and his decisions would not be in accordance with God’s designs; in
short, he would not be able to lead the people of God on the path of justice and peace.
We are told that the Lord was pleased with Solomon’s request and said to him: “I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be” (cf. 1 K 3:12). And as evidence that God did bestow such an extraordinary gift on his servant, the sacred author then tells the well-known story of Solomon’s judgement. Two women claimed to be the mother of the same baby, and the king said: Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other” (1 K 3:25). Horrified at this order, one of the women begged that the child be given to her rival, and Solomon declared that she was the real mother, because she did not want the baby to be killed. When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given – says the biblical author –, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice (1 K 3:28 N).
The exceptional character of these events, however, should not mislead us into thinking that Solomon became the wisest man on earth overnight, almost by a stroke of magic. The Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible, says that Solomon asked for a cor docile, a docile heart – or, even more literally, a heart that can be taught. That
means that divine wisdom is something that has to be learned all through life, a rule of our human existence which applied even to Jesus, our Lord and Master. Indeed, Saint Luke writes that, as a child, Jesus grew in wisdom (cf. Lk 2:52), and in the Letter to the Hebrews we read: Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered (Heb 5:8).
So to follow in Jesus’ footsteps is essentially to strive to grow in wisdom. And if we want to commit our entire lives to learning the ways of the Lord, the first step we need to take is to pray most earnestly to be given a listening heart. All the time God speaks to us not only through the words of Scripture, but through all that goes on around us, wherever we may be. But if we fail to listen to the voice of the Lord – to the voice of truth speaking in our conscience –, from what other source can we learn to distinguish between right and wrong? And if our thoughts happen to be false, and our intentions in any way warped, how can we still hope to succeed in responding positively to God’s calling to work for his kingdom?
Yes, Solomon was right in thinking that a wise and discerning heart is by far the most precious gift anyone can receive from God. And that same message is imparted to us in today’s gospel, where the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great value represent the fullness of divine wisdom, which lies in Jesus of Nazareth, as God’s servant and Son. We are all invited to sell everything we possess in order to buy this wisdom that comes from God, and was made accessible to us by the power of Jesus’ death on the Cross. So we shall do well to listen to our Master’s encouraging words: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (M 11:29).