Today’s post was written by my son, Brother Jonah Lowrance.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Matthew 13:45-46

You will be hard-pressed to find Jesus being repetitive in his teaching. No good teacher makes the same point over and over without teaching something new. Jesus being the greatest of all teachers never wastes a single word, as we can see in comparing this parable to the one directly before it. In that one, we read of a man who stumbles upon a great treasure hidden in a field. He sells all he has and with great joy buys the land the treasure is hidden in. In this second parable, however, we see a man who is an expert in his field of business. He is a merchant of pearls, and as such he is constantly on the lookout for the best pearls he can find. When he finds a pearl of great price, that he knows is worth having, he sells off all of his other assets and buys this prize pearl. The difference is simply that one was not looking and the other was. 

The lesson we learn from this is that all kinds of people can enjoy the kingdom of heaven. Those who don’t even know they need it can one day stumble onto the greatest gift of their life. But there are others that studiously search for something they know they need in their lives. We may find the kingdom on different paths but we all need to give up everything we had before just for this precious treasure.