Matthew 13:44-46 44The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which when a man found it, covered it up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant man searching for fine pearls. 46And when he found a pearl of great value, after going, he sold all that he had and bought it.
These short parables shift the imagery from planting and harvesting to treasures and commerce. The first parable focuses on the value of an unnamed treasure. The dream of many people is to discover something valuable, such as precious stones, buried coins, or some archeological artifact. In the ancient world, there were no banks with safe deposit boxes. If people had something valuable and perhaps went on a journey, they would often hide their treasures by burying them in a secret place. If something happened to them and they were gone for a while or even did not return, the treasure could remain hidden for someone to discover. In many cases, if a person found the treasure, it would be “finders, keepers.” But if the field was owned by someone else, the treasure would belong to whoever owned the field. The legal and ethical thing to do would be to buy the field. The treasure must have been great for this man to sell everything he owned to buy the field so he could legally have the treasure.
The second parable has a similar theme (introduced with again). The primary difference between the parables is that the merchant in the second parable intentionally went searching for treasure, whereas the man in the first parable seems to have accidentally found the treasure. The merchant knew what he was looking for. He was an expert in his field and knew when something special about the pearl he found. This special pearl was more valuable to him than everything he owned. As a merchant, he likely had many valuable possessions for trading. Why would he give us so much for one pearl? It had great value in his eyes.
In both parables, the men sell everything to possess the treasure. The treasure in these parables represent the kingdom. The key idea is that there is nothing more valuable than to be part of God’s kingdom. Sadly, the world has it backwards and deceives people into thinking that compromise is acceptable. Nothing is more valuable than the kingdom and the eternal life it offers. It is worth sacrificing everything.
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