Living Stones – Friday, October 20, 2017
All for one
Matthew 13:45-46
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Today’s parable, on the face of it at least, is no different from yesterday’s. Someone finds something of great value and then sells all to take possession of it. In both of these parables the thing of value is representative of the Kingdom as Jesus seeks to answer the question – What is the Kingdom of Heaven like?
So, we are caused to wonder then, why tell a second almost identical parable right after the first? Maybe, because the two parables are so similar the key might be to search for any differences in order to find out why there was a second like this and what was it intended to teach that was different.
In the parable of the hidden treasure, the person who found it was not presented as looking for it. In fact, it seems that the person was going about their daily activity, probably work, and in the process stumbled upon this hidden treasure. This person, probably a farm worker digging the soil when it was found because we were told that it was hidden.
In this parable the person who finds the treasure, the pearl of great price, is a merchant. He is an entrepreneur who invests time, effort, and money in the search of the thing of beauty and the thing of value. He, by experience and training, could quickly recognise when he has encountered a pearl of great price.
The first man came upon the treasure as he went about his day’s work, the second man made it his day’s work to find the best pearls.
The two men did the same thing, having found the treasure, the pearl of great price, they sold everything they had in order to lay hold of it. They knew that they should give up all that they had for the one thing they could now get.
People come to the Kingdom of God in many different ways. Some, for example, come as a result of the families in which they grew up, some were influenced by persons they know, some through tragedy, still some have picked up Bibles in a hospital room or a prison cell. And then they are some who, by deliberately searching for meaning, have come upon the Kingdom of God.
What Jesus teaches here is that it matters not how you come to the Kingdom, once you find it there is a sacrifice that’s required to hold on to it.
Both of these parables admonish the person who has come to the Kingdom to recognise that there is personal responsibility and effort required as a member of the Kingdom. But there is also a message for the Kingdom in general, I believe. That is that we should not treat persons differently based on how they got here. There is a tendency to only celebrate those who come to the Kingdom with dramatic stories, or those who are rich and come to the Kingdom, or those who are famous or powerful that come.
Writing much later to the churches in Galatia, Paul said it this way in chapter 3 verses 26 to 28, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
What matters is that we recognise the surpassing value of the Kingdom and are prepared to give up all to lay hold of it.
Think on these things:
- Do you remember how you came to the Kingdom of God?
- What is the most dramatic or otherwise outstanding story of conversion that you know (apart for Saul on the road to Damascus)?
- Do you think that those who are well known get more attention in the church than others?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would not fail to lay hold of the Kingdom of God by failing to make it a priority in our lives.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex