So amazing the things that stick in my head, the things that
I finally must say something about. I have been sitting on this thought for
about six months, just going back and forth with God. This then falls into the
why were we taught it that other way category of my thinking.
In Matthew 13 Jesus tells several parables. Jesus tells the
parable of the wheat and the tares (also known as the parable of the sower.),
the parable of hidden treasure, the parable of the pearl of great price and the
parable of the net. For some reason these parables are looked at separate from
each other and historically this seems to have led to an interesting way of
looking at the pearl of great price. ( and the parable of the field for that
matter). Matthew 13:45-46 says, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant in search of fine pearls, who on finding one pearl of great value,
went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
In Matthew 13:44 we have a similar parable about a man who
realizes there is a field that has hidden treasure so he sells everything he
owns to buy the field with the hidden treasure.
Historically then these two parables are taught in the
context that Jesus is the hidden treasure and the pearl and that we give up
everything to have the field or the pearl. These two parables then are taught
in the context of salvation. And while there is an argument to be made that
this is a correct way to look at these two parables it seems in context that
Jesus could not have been telling these parables to lead us to this conclusion.
In fact, for me it is very clearly the opposite conclusion
we were meant to arrive at. The truth of the two stories is that we are the
hidden treasure and we are the pearl of great price and God is the merchant in
both parables. So let me break down the thought process on this.
Jesus begins each of the stories with the phrase, “The
kingdom of heaven is like.” This is a clear indication that Jesus wants us to
know about the ways of God and how His kingdom will be revealed to us. This
phrase is set in place so that we will think about how God goes about His
business, not about how we go about ours. We can further understand Jesus’
method in the parables by looking at the parable of the sower, which Jesus
explains immediately prior to telling the two parables of the merchant. As
Jesus explains the parable of the sower He makes clear that the one who does
the sowing is the Son of Man. He is the sower. And then He makes clear that the
field is the world. Ok so if Jesus is the sower (the one of action) and the
field is the world then we should stick with this explanation as we move to the
two merchant parables. Remember that Jesus has left the crowds and is
explaining how to decipher His parables to the closest disciples. This then is
the road map for the stories that come next. He wants them to understand the
proper order of things.
From this perspective then the action is not played out by
man, but rather the action is played out by God. So when we take this as truth
we can see that God sees treasure in a field (the world) and He sells all that
He has to buy that field. (Sacrifices His Son). We can also see that God sees a
pearl of great price (us) and He sells all that He has to buy it. (sacrifices
His Son.)
The truth is that we have nothing to offer and nothing to
give up. We are already dead. We are in fact darkness. Darkness cannot give up
being darkness to become light. Darkness makes no decisions at all. We know
that darkness must be overcome by the light. The light subdues darkness. We
know that darkness ceases when light begins. What we know is that we do not
have a darkness switch in our house. We have a light switch. Darkness comes and
goes only after light is either switched on or switched off. Jesus is not the
pearl of great price. Oh He is amazing and in Him there is only good and His
kindness knows no bounds and He is slow to anger and He is deeply in love with
us. And we do not know love period without Him. He loved us first and I could go
on and on about this truth. He costs us nothing. We have nothing without Him.
In fact, we are the pearl of great price. We in truth cost Him everything. It
seems pretty obvious now.
