Parable of the Pearl of Great Price—What Jesus Is Calling Us To

Peyton Garland Contributing Writer

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Parable of the Pearl of Great Price—What Jesus Is Calling Us To

In Matthew 13:45-46, Jesus says, “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!” (NLT). 

Here, Jesus is preaching to a massive crowd at the Sea of Galilee by telling parables, earthly stories that convey a heavenly truth. At this time in history, people understood not only the value of a pearl but also the lengths to which a merchant would go to obtain one. Thus, the meaning of Christ’s message can be twofold: 

On one hand, we are challenged as believers to trade everything, no matter its worldly price, and pursue Christ, the only true treasure our hearts will ever find for fulfillment. On the other hand, we can view this as Christ leaving behind heaven, where treasures are innumerable, to pursue and redeem us, calling us His prize (though we are vastly unworthy). 

The Call to Pursue Christ

When we study the verse “Many are called, few are chosen,” found in Matthew 22:14 (NIV), we understand that the message of salvation is extended to everyone. John 3:16, Christianity’s most well-known evangelizing passage, makes this clear: “For God so loved the world…” (KJV, emphasis added). 

The world has been invited to be part of God’s kingdom, but those who are chosen are the ones who choose to receive this gift. They surrender their pride, repent of their sins, and place their lives in the hands of Christ. In this, everyday sinners, people who can’t save themselves, are allowed to pursue the heart of God with complete freedom: “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17, NLT).

What’s interesting about freedom is that it’s found within boundaries, within rules created by the Creator to safeguard the best interests of the human heart. Consider a toddler whose prefrontal cortex isn’t fully formed, making it impossible for them to make rational decisions. Uncontrolled freedom with limited understanding such as theirs is dangerous. It can even be fatal. Thus, they need freedom that operates within safe boundaries to play, explore, learn, and grow. 

To believe that we are any different, or any more rational, than a toddler in the eyes of God is truly foolishness. We can’t see the future, are easily controlled by our emotions, and naturally operate out of selfishness. We need God’s boundaries, His rules, to keep us operating in a state of mercy and grace where we can grow more like Christ and treat others with God-ordained dignity and respect. 

Are we perfect at this? No. Will we ever reach a place where we use this God-given freedom without flaw? Of course not. But this is what makes the gift of salvation so beautiful—it can never be given or taken away based on our merit. It’s always given and forever sustained by the goodness of God: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV).

This is our true treasure, our true pearl worth seeking, no matter how hard the road. As famous psychologist Jordan Peterson has said, “It’s better to have an adventure than to be safe.” We find who we are when we hold ourselves up against the treasure we uncover. Then, and only then, can we humbly, humbly see the immeasurable value of Christ and the goodness of this all-but-safe adventure He has called us into. 

The Call to Recognize Our Value in Christ

My grandmother gifted me with a string of pearls when I graduated high school. They have traveled with me across the country as I’ve moved from Georgia to Colorado, Colorado back to Georgia, and Georgia to Tennessee. They stay in a blue velvet box most days and only come out when I’m celebrating a special event. 

These pearls are important to me, not because they are genuine pearls that cost a hefty sum (though that’s certainly nice), but because they were gifted to me by my grandmother, a woman whom I greatly admire. 

Compared to Jesus’ perfection, we as humans certainly aren’t pearls. You can’t polish and shine us and convince the world that we are without flaws. We are too volatile, fickle, and selfish to uphold any such facade. However—and this however makes all the difference—because of who Christ is, the God who came to earth, died for our sins, and rose again all in the name of rescuing us, we have immeasurable value. 

The value of a gift is rarely found in the worth of the physical present, but in the heart of the person who gives it to us. 

We are God’s children, and He considers us so valuable that He knows the number of hairs on our head: “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:7, NIV). Even better, He finds us so valuable that He forgives us of our sins not because of any great deeds we offer but because He is the very love that hand-fashioned our souls:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:7-10 (ESV)

The Call to Live as God’s Treasure

We are God’s treasure, and He is ours. And what better love story could ever be written? Christ is the true treasure, the true pearl, whom we are called to honor, yet through His loving nature, He calls us His treasure. When we live in this truth, seeing God as the treasure worth surrendering everything else for, we can embark on the greatest adventure of becoming all He made us to be. This adventure is never safe or easy, but it keeps our eyes heavenward. It grants us the true freedom our souls long for. 

At the end of this adventure, when we have fought the good fight, we get to spend eternity with the God of everything, the One who always has been and always will be worth it all. 

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NIV)

Photo credit: ©GettyImages/triocean

Peyton GarlandPeyton Garland is an author, editor, and boy mama who lives in the beautiful foothills of East Tennessee. Subscribe to her blog Uncured+Okay for more encouragement.

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Matthew 13:45-58

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.
48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.
49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous
50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied.
52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there.
54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked.
55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?
56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Ephesians 2:8-17

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

1 John 4:7-16

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

2 Timothy 4:6-13

6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
9 Do your best to come to me quickly,
10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.
12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.
13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.

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