The Treasure & the Pearl

I went shopping on Boxing Day this past week. And you know what Boxing Day means, right? Sales. Sales that tempt you and allure you with their low, low prices.

I was allured in particular by a pair of speakers. 50% off. They were really nice speakers. I’d used similar speakers in the past. They sounded good, they looked good, and they were even available with in-store financing. At half off!

The problem is that I don’t need new speakers. And if I don’t actually need those speakers, then getting them on sale isn’t actually saving any money, because whatever I spend is money that I should be using for something else. So, after talking it through with a couple of people, I was able to walk away. Not without some internal struggle.

Sometimes, though, we do find something that we are really looking for. I also had that experience on Boxing Day with a different product. Something that was a genuine need and had been for quite some time was found for a very good price and I scooped it up.

But even then, I was budgeting, comparing the cost to the value and making sure it fit within the other expenses and priorities.

Once in a while I’ve had the experience where I’ve found something for sale that was important and valuable enough that I’ve actually sold something I already had to free up some money to buy the more important or more valuable item.

But I’ve never had the experience that’s described in these two parables today, where I’ve found something for sale that is so valuable that I would go home and pack up my house and all my belongings and sell everything I have just to have enough money to get one thing because that one thing is so incredibly valuable to me.

I’ve never found something valuable enough to give up everything for. Or maybe I have. Maybe you have. Or maybe you haven’t—yet. Let’s listen in on these parables and consider their meaning and see if we might be surprised at the treasures we have already found.

1. The Treasure & The Pearl

The first parable Jesus gives us is contained in a single verse: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44).

The second, in verses 45-46, is very similar in its basic structure: “‘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’” (Matthew 13:45–46).

Let’s begin by considering the story part of these two parables themselves, before we consider the meaning of these stories.

The first parable concerns treasure hidden in a field. If the idea of buried treasure feels a little fairy-tale-ish to you, remember that at this time in history they didn’t have banks the way we did. The best savings account was often the dirt beneath your feet, where nobody would guess to look for it.

That treasure would be hidden in a field somewhere in ancient Israel is not a great surprise. But just because it was out there doesn’t mean it was everywhere. To find hidden treasure like this would have been like winning the lottery—or, as one author put it, something that might only happen one in a thousand lifetimes.

And this man finds it. He finds it on a field that he doesn’t own—suggesting that he’s a labourer, a hired hand, who might have been tilling or ploughing a field for someone else. Maybe it was just an ordinary day, and he was working away like every other day, when the edge of his plough hit something hard. He stopped the team of oxen to get down to clear away what he thought was a stone, except that as he cleared away more dirt it became clear that this wasn’t just a rock. He had found real treasure.

How many people had walked over this spot? How many plantings and harvests had taken place over this spot? And everybody missed it. But this man isn’t missing it. Where everyone else sees dirt, this man sees riches. Because he knows what’s hidden beneath that dirt.

So what’s this man going to do? According to rabbinic law, it’s not a matter of finders, keepers. The treasure belongs to whomever owns the field. Once again, we can piece together that this man is probably not very rich from the fact that he’s finding treasure on someone else’s land. So he probably doesn’t have a lot of excess wealth just waiting to be invested.

But he wants that treasure. So what does he do? “He goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Some people get tripped up here. They wonder if this is ethical. Shouldn’t the man have properly reported this treasure to the person who owned the field?

Maybe. It’s an interesting ethical question. But it’s not the point of the parable. It’s like when Jesus says that He’s going to come like a thief in the night (Matthew 24:43), He’s not saying that being a thief is okay. It’s just a descriptive word picture.

So it is here. The point is not whether or not this man should have done what he did. The point is that he perceived the value hidden in that field, and in his joy goes and sells everything else to get it.

He rightly understands that everything else he owns is worthless compared to that field. He sells his possessions, his home, maybe his tools, maybe even even his extra clothes. People probably thought he was crazy. Why would you lose everything for a little chunk of land? Are you nuts?

But he knows he’s not crazy. He knows that he’s not sacrificing anything. What’s he motivated by here? Joy. “In his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” He knows that what he gains is far greater than anything he loses, and he’s so happy about that.

Looking to the second parable, as we’ve seen, there’s a very similar structure. The greatest difference here is that the man in this parable does not find his treasure by accident. He is “a merchant in search of fine pearls.”

He’s not just going about his job, when he stumbles upon the pearl of great price; his job is to hunt for this pearl.

It’s like the Canadian mining company who, late last summer, unearthed a 2,492 carat diamond in Botswana, weighing in at about half a kilogram. And they didn’t just stumble upon it. They used a lot of technology to scan the ground and locate and recover the diamond without damaging it. They were on the hunt.

Maybe you’ve known people like this, except instead of pearls or diamonds it was some other kind of item or collectable. Whether it was their job or a hobby, they have trained eyes and a passionate heart and there is little they wouldn’t give up to get that one thing they seek.

And one day, this merchant finds it. The pearl, the pearl that merchants all over the world would have talked about, would have sought for, would have given everything for.

And that’s what this merchant does. Literally, he gives everything for this pearl of great value. Like the man in the first parable, he sells all that he has to buy this pearl. Because he sees its value, and he knows it’s worth it. Having that pearl with nothing else is better than having everything else without that pearl.

2. The Kingdom Is Like…

So, what do these parables mean? It’s an important question because, like last week, these parables are not given any authoritative explanation by Jesus. But because Jesus has so thoroughly unpacked two of the major parables for us already, we have a sense of what to go on. We can find our way along based on what He’s already told us.

We know, for example, that when Jesus says, “the kingdom of heaven is like,” he doesn’t mean that the kingdom of heaven is like one specific thing in the parable, but rather the whole situation in the parable describes the way that the kingdom works.

We know that from the parable of the weeds, which says, in verse 24, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field’” (Matthew 13:24). At first, you might think that the kingdom is like that man, because that’s what he says. But later on, when Jesus explains the parable, He explains that the man is Himself—the son of man.

So the kingdom of heaven isn’t one thing in the parable. Rather, the whole situation described in the parable tells us about the way that the kingdom of heaven is and works and operates.

That’s why we shouldn’t be tripped up by the way verse 44 says, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure,” and verse 45 says, “the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant.” The kingdom isn’t the treasure, and the kingdom isn’t the merchant. Rather, the kingdom is like when a treasure in a field is found by a man who sells all he has to buy the field to get the treasure. And the kingdom is like when a merchant finds a most valuable pearl, and sells all that he has to have it.

In other words, this is how the kingdom works. This is how the kingdom operates.

So let’s ask what the various elements in these parables represent. What does the treasure hidden in a field and the pearl of great value represent here? Based on the other parables we’ve seen, we can see the theme of hiddenness represented here. Like seed planted in the ground, or yeast hidden in flour, what God is doing in Christ is not immediately obvious to the eyes.

With the treasure in the field, the value of Jesus and His kingdom is largely hidden from sight. You might miss is easily. You might walk over that spot in the field over and over again and miss what’s right beneath your feet—like the many people who saw Jesus and heard His words and just went about with their lives.

Similarly, a pearl of great value might be on display in a marketplace and be missed by all kinds of people. Even a big pearl isn’t very big compared to many other objects. It’s not noisy, it’s not something you necessarily go looking for. It takes a trained merchant on the hunt to seek it out and find it.

The hiddenness theme here points to the way in which most people did not understand and perceive the value of Jesus, His person, His words, and His kingdom. So many people heard without hearing. They walked right on by. They did not understand that Jesus, and the message He heralded, represented literally the most important and most valuable reality in all of the world for all time. You could not travel in any direction in space or time and find something more worth paying attention to and receiving.

And most people just walked on by. Except for a few. Like the man finding the treasure, like the merchant finding the pearl, there were some who heard the words of Jesus and understood them.

And these people didn’t just walk on by. They were arrested. Their jaws dropped and they understood that they had found something of surpassing worth.

Some discovered the kingdom by accident. Some, like Matthew sitting at his booth, weren’t even looking for it until it came looking for them. Others, like Simeon and Anna, had spent their whole lives searching for it, and burst out in joy when their eyes finally landed on what they had been aching for.

But whether they stumbled on it or had been seeking it out, they discovered the kingdom with the joy of a man discovering treasure in a field or a merchant finding the one pearl he’s spent his life in search of. They perceived the surpassing worth value of what so many other people just walk on by.

And they gladly gave up everything in order to gain the treasure, because they realize that what they are gaining is surpassingly great compared to anything they might give up to have it.

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:18–22).

Do you see what those disciples left behind? Their careers, their tools, their means of income, even their very father.

“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him” (Matthew 9:9). Same thing. Matthew leaves all behind—his money, his means of income—for the sake of Jesus.

And this call to leave everything behind for Jesus is not just for a select few. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37–39).

It’s not as if we grudgingly say “Ok, I guess I’ll love Jesus a little bit more than my family or my life. Ok, I guess I’ll take up my cross if I have to.” We do these things gladly and joyfully because we see Jesus for the treasure that He is.

Later on in Matthew we’re confronted with a man who was given this same command but did not comply. “And behold, a man came up to him, saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’” (Matthew 19:16). And after some dialogue, “Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:21–22).

This man did not understand or perceive the treasure that is found in Jesus and His kingdom. His earthy treasures were worth more to him than anything else. Instead of going away with joy to sell all that he had, he went away sorrowful because he loved his stuff more than Jesus.

He maybe got a glimpse of the treasure poking out of the dirt, but he didn’t see it’s full value. Everything he had back at home was more important to him.

Compare that to the Apostle Paul who wrote in Philippians 3, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:6–11).

Knowing Jesus, being saved by Jesus, being raised from the dead to enjoy Jesus forever—all of this didn’t just come in at slightly more valuable than everything Paul had before. It wasn’t like his old life was worth a million dollars, and eternity with Jesus was worth a million and a quarter, and so after careful calculation he realized that with Jesus he’d come out a little bit ahead so it was worth the exchange.

Paul wasn’t bargaining at the counter of heaven’s pawn shop here. No, Jesus was so surpassingly valuable that it made his old life look like garbage—the kind of thing you’d throw to dogs and never look back upon. And his ongoing suffering was not worth mentioning compared to the glory of the resurrection promised in Jesus.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). That future glory is a big part of the value and worth of the kingdom. Remember? We might only see a mustard seed today, but a far, far greater glory is coming. Which makes it worth it all. Giving up everything for Jesus isn’t actually giving up anything at all.

As Jesus said, “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).

Pioneer missionary David Livingstone summed this perspective up well when he wrote, “For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . . . Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.” (https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/i-never-made-a-sacrifice)

3. And you?

And these parables by Jesus tell us that this kind of statement is not reserved for super-spiritual heroes like Paul or David Livingstone. This is how the kingdom works. This is how kingdom citizens think.

Because, if you don’t know that knowing Jesus is worth more than anything in the world, than you don’t actually know Jesus. If you don’t understand that having Jesus and nothing else is better than having everything else without Jesus, than you don’t understand Him.

And if we see things this way, we can see how these two parables are expanding on the basic message of the parable of the sower, the first parable we considered. That parable was all about what it means to really understand the words and message of Jesus.

We saw there, in the various kinds of seed, that the only kind of “understanding” that really counts is an embrace of Jesus that perseveres through hardship and suffering, and which follows through in a life of obedience. Truly understanding Jesus means long-term obedient perseverance.

And these parables add to that description. Those who truly understand Jesus and His message persevere in long-term obedience precisely because they have perceived the value of Jesus and His kingdom. They do not die off during tribulation or get choked out by the cares of this world because they know that Jesus is a priceless treasure worth more than anything else this world could offer them.

And once again, this is not describing some second-level super-spiritual experience. Citizens of the kingdom of heaven are those who understand the value of the king and His kingdom. They recognize that being able to know and follow of Jesus is a treasure worth far more than anything else they could every lay eyes or hands on. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44).

And so the question that these parables most naturally ask us is, “is this our view of Jesus and His kingdom? Would we gladly sacrifice everything to have it?”

• Being a part of Jesus’ kingdom is not about making a logical decision that Jesus is the most reasonable religion to follow. It’s about seeing Him as the most valuable treasure we could ever have.

• Being a part of Jesus’ kingdom isn’t about hedging our bets that Jesus is the best way of avoiding hell. It’s about wanting to be with Him for all of eternity, such that we would sacrifice anything here below to have that.

• Being a part of Jesus’ kingdom is not about deciding that Jesus is a good way of getting what we want out of life, whether that’s being healthy or having a meaningful, fulfilled life. It’s not about using Jesus as a ticket to get what we want. It’s about Jesus and His kingdom being the thing that we want more than anything else.

• Being a part of Jesus’ kingdom is not about rounding out our comfortable small-town lifestyle with a friendly church community. It’s about being willing to give up our comfortable small-town lifestyle, being willing to lose the respect of our friends and family, following our king no matter what the cost, because He is worth it.

And we can hear statements like that, and say “Yes, I agree,” but isn’t it interesting what comes out when we are faced with some of the harder statements in the Bible?

We hear, “Sell all you have and give to the poor.” And we so quickly say, “Yes, but not everybody has to actually do that.” “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” “Yes, but not everybody is called to be a missionary.”

What if we were? What if to be a Christian you had to literally sell everything you have and go be a missionary somewhere else? Would you still be following Jesus? Would it still be worth it?

Of course it would. Of course it would be worth it to have Jesus in this life and have the promise and hope of eternity with Him in the life to come. Nothing we could every give up could hold a candle to everything we gain in Christ. So literally selling off every possession and moving to the jungle, or to some tiny town in our province that needs a biblical church, would still be a bargain. We’d still be able to say, “What amazing grace! Jesus has given me Himself for all eternity and all I had to do was let go of everything I was holding on to. I can’t believe what a treasure I’ve found.”

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is worth it. No matter how old you are, no matter what stage of life you’re in, Jesus is better than anything else.

• If you’re 6, Jesus is better than the new toys you got for Christmas.
• If you’re 12, Jesus is better than having all of the other people your age like you.
• If you’re 17, Jesus is better than being able to do what you want, when you want.
• If you’re 22, Jesus is better than having your instagram full of pictures of a perfect wedding or marriage or babies.
• If you’re 35, Jesus is better than the new home or the stress-free life everybody else seems to be having.
• If you’re 48, Jesus is better than the new toys and exotic vacations your neighbours are enjoying.
• If you’re 57, Jesus is better than early retirement or having all of your grandbabies close to home.
• If you’re 65, Jesus is better than endless hobbies and spending all of your retirement time on yourself.
• If you’re 74, Jesus is better than being respected on coffee row or having the money to do whatever you want.
• If you’re 86, Jesus is better than a pain-free existence or a perfect family or life itself.

Name your treasure, name your pearl, up to life itself, and Jesus is better. And kingdom citizens are those who recognize this. Kingdom citizens are people to whom Peter can write, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8–9).

Now this doesn’t mean that this is a steady-state emotional experience for us. When we look across all of Scripture, from the Psalms to 2 Corinthians, we see that discouragement and anxiety and struggles with faith are normal experiences for God’s people. But it does mean that deep down, the most fundamental priorities and passions that fill and shape our hearts have to do with the worth and value of Jesus and His kingdom.

And it means that when our hearts fail us and our joy in Jesus droops, we fight for that joy which is and will be our strength. We fight to believe that Jesus is better by fixing our eyes and hearts on Him.

We remember how good He is, how strong and powerful and yet gentle He is. How kind and forgiving and gentle and lowly He is to the burdened and cast down, and how fierce and fearsome He is with the proud and powerful. We remember His eternal glory with the Father, and how all that we see came to be through Him. We remember His deep, deep love as He became a man and washed dirt off His disciple’s feet and took the whips and the nails for us and even today pleads on behalf of those He loves.

We remember that “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs” (Hebrews 1:1–4).

We remember that “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:15–20).

And we remember that one day, with John the Revelator, we shall see “heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11–16).

And we remember that being a part of His kingdom is better than anything this world can throw at us.

So eat and drink this morning, remembering the way this Jesus gave His body and shed His blood to redeem a people for Himself. Eat and drink, remembering His promise to eat with us when His kingdom comes in its fullness. Eat and drink with a prayer that 2025 will be marked with an growing sense of the value and worth of this king and His kingdom, and that nothing else may ever compete in our hearts for the place that only He must hold.