“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:45-46
The pearl was truly magnificent! This merchant had never seen one like this. It gleamed in his hands, and he knew he must have it. It wasn’t an option, he had to buy it. His response–sell everything to the highest bidder (of course), and buy it.
O.K. I’m going to take a different approach with this parable. Perhaps it’s not us seeking the precious pearl, (the kingdom of Heaven), rather, just maybe it’s about Jesus seeking us. This different interpretation isn’t as weird as it seems. Please read on.
We know that Jesus loves the Church. He gave up Himself for Her.
He loves everyone, but he’s crazy about his people. I have a shirt, and I’ll wear it sometimes when I feel like it could touch someone, it says “Jesus Loves You, but I’m His Favorite.” I know it’s funny, but maybe it’s true? I’m beginning to understand that he loves me, intensely, and He has given Himself to have me.
Perhaps we are the pearl?
Jesus sees, and he must have it. So He comes, and pays the price, he sells it all just to possess us. Now we know that there isn’t anything remarkable about us, and actually, we know our sinfulness, we’re spiritually evil all of the time. The theologians call it “the depravity of man.” (Ecclesiastes 9:3; Job 15:14-16; Matthew 15:19).
We become the “elect”(2 Timothy 2:10) when we really put our faith in what Jesus did for us. Believe me, that’s not what I feel or sense about myself. It’s not what the world sees. But it’s what He perceives, and He desperately wants me to understand, to truly be his own–and I don’t know why he would do such a thing.
It makes no sense to me at all.
“Love has reasons which reason cannot understand.”
hp
“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world,
that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16, Amplified
Alaska Bible Teacher 