Parable of the Pearl of Great Price

Matthew 13:45,46
"Again,the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Jesus had been speaking to his followers in parables now as we read for ALL of chapter 13 of Matthew. I always asked myself, as did the disciples,"why parables?"
Parables are stories that Jesus told; and using common everyday elements, conveyed hidden truths about the kingdom of God.
It is an amazing teaching tool for many reasons:
Let's hear why He said he taught in parables when asked by His disciples:
"Matthew 13:10-17:

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:


‘ Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should[a]heal them.’[b]

16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Footnotes:

When I trained teachers, I would say that He taught in parables, I think, because the mystery of Truth is still left for the heart to hear and discover.

What heart isn't thrilled when uncovering a mystery. Like a child who discovers something for the very first time. You know how they squeal with joy when something that is hidden is uncovered. Jesus knows that we are all delighted in that sort of discovery. A hard heart cannot feel the same elation.

I also know that the God of the universe could have just as easily given the message of the kingdom much more directly....like E=MC2....or in more exact terms. But He chose to use elements in stories familiar to them/us so that could could "enter in"; walk through a door; discover Him, and be filled with the joy of discovery.

So in the "pearl of great price":
Jesus starts (in my red letter version) by saying,"again"
let's count, He has been speaking in parables now for 43 verses and continues into 52.
So again and again and again He says, "the Kingdom of heaven is like...."
again He invited us to discover...

He says the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls.
Weird He would use this word picture to metaphorically compare the kingdom to a merchant like that! We must understand that in the Jewish culture of the day; pearls came from a shellfish or clam....unclean in the day...Unclean...and He is saying to them that the kingdom of heaven is like this???
Realizing that Jesus was continually breaking the traditions of men (He said that the traditions of man make the Word of God of none effect), I believe he is referring to the opening of the kingdom to the Gentile; who before this teaching were, by the Sanhedrin and Pharisees considered unclean...as were the lepers, the sick, the women,the lame and the blind.
I believe Jesus is inferring that the Kingdom of Heaven is accessible to all merchants in search of the one true pearl of great price....He being that pearl...
So as we see the merchant, we see ourselves. Did we like that merchant lay down our lives to follow Him. I believe He is asking that of us.

On the other side of the parable...another Truth:
Jesus, the merchant....who when searching for that pearl...upon finding the hidden pearl...sells everything in order to buy it.
We are His pearl of great price...it cost Him everything...but His love for His beautiful but imperfect pearls has cost Him everything.
Jesus likens Himself to the "Good Shepherd"
Enter in:
Thinking of how great a pearl you are to Him!

John 10:14-18

14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Broken

Today, I have heard stories of "broken hearts and brokenness."
.... of hurting relationships and broken communication.
.... of the weight of cancer and broken courage under weighty decisions.
.... of broken trust in Christian leadership.
.... of broken words that are not fixing anything.

I know that in some churches today a "different gospel" has been presented (probably always has been as we remember that Paul warns us of a "different gospel being preached; one that leaves out the cross). This is one that ignores the "fellowship of suffering" or that indicts a believers' faith if he suffers in "brokenness". This is one that says that the amount of my faith or the methods employed in my faith somehow bears the weight of whether I receive healing or blessing. Ultimately leaving it up to me and putting me in the place of God. (RIGHT WHERE WE STARTED FROM IN THE GARDEN)

BUT, contrarily I know we are promised a "fellowship in suffering" AND we are promised that "faith IN JESUS CHRIST, and Jesus Christ alone, redeems and saves us for eternal life beyond what we know here. Simple faith in Him and not in any results of faith, brings a peace that God is in control, and that life here is but a foreshadow of shared glory to come. We can be sure that whatever suffering we share here, we share with Him who redeemed us, and we share with one another. We can also rest in the fact that "all things work together for good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purposes." (WE GET GLIMPSES OF THAT GLORY)

WHERE TO TURN IN OUR SUFFERING:

Romans 8:18-26; 38-39
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. (WOW!...THERE SEEMS TO BE A TIPPED SCALE: GLORY HAS THE WEIGHT...not even worthy to be compared!)
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God. (THAT'S US!)
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope (LEST WE THINK MORE HIGHLY OF OURSELVES THAN WE SHOULD.....OUR GOD IS IN CONTROL)

because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (WHAT IS TO COME!!!)
For we know that the whole of creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now (I SEE IT ALL AROUND)
Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit (THAT'S JESUS! AS IF FOR SOME OF US, NOT ENOUGH.... THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING)

Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. (OH HOW OUR HEARTS ACHE)
For we were saved in this hope (OF ADOPTION AND REDEMPTION),
but HOPE THAT IS SEEN IS NOT HOPE...???
For why does one hope for what he still sees? (IF WE COULD SEE IT WE WOULD NOT NEED TO HOPE ANY LONGER)
BUT if we hope for what we do not see, we EAGERLY wait for it with perseverance.
(LORD, MAY I BE FOUND EAGERLY WAITING FOR YOU!)

LIKEWISE, THE SPIRIT HELPS US IN OUR WEAKNESSES........For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit makes intercession for us in groanings which cannot be uttered....." (SOMETIMES THERE ARE NO WORDS TO SAY...)

V 38
"FOR I AM PERSUADED THAT NEITHER DEATH NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS NOR PRINCIPALITIES, NOR POWERS, NOR THINGS PRESENT NOR THINGS TO COME;
NOR HEIGHT NOR DEPTH NOR ANY OTHER CREATED THING SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD." (ALLELUIA!)

"THOSE THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH...THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS THE EAGLE....THEY SHALL WALK AND NOT GROW WEARY THEY SHALL RUN AND NOT FAINT....TEACH ME LORD, TEACH ME LORD TO WAIT!"

MAY YOUR DAYS BE FILLED WITH WONDERMENT AT THE PERFECT ECONOMY OF OUR GOD WHO KNOWS THE BEGINNING FROM THE END; ALL OF OUR WANDERINGS FROM THE TRUTH OF HIS WORD; AND ALL OF OUR DOUBTS AND FEARS THAT COME BEFORE GLORY REVEALED.

Luke

Same person, Doctor Luke, wrote Acts and Luke. Luke's empirical purpose is clearly stated ,"to present an orderly account...of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach." He includes the case for Jesus as not only the Jewish Messiah but also the Savior of the Whole World....
We are studying this book at church...so as I have been given unto...I hope that I can give...I will add to the teaching and keep some for another time.
Luke 1:1-4
Luke is trying to give an account for what has been fulfilled in Jesus. Many had given an account of orderly events and many had united the oral with the written traditions. Luke wants the readers to "Know" for certain all the things in which they had been instructed as to be certain: "that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed."
Luke says that "things" had been fulfilled among them.
"Things":
Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."
Micah 5:2 ""But you Bethlehem, Ephrathah; Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you will come forth to Me; the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting."
Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born; Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder; and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor,Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

I think of the things I wait for in my life: broken relationships to heal;my children's lives to keep steady; physical and emotional healing for me and people I love; directions from God; plans to unfold;
and then I remember that the people of Israel w a i t e d so long for "things to be fulfilled"....for the Messiah to come and save them from their enemies...some are still waiting....
It had been 700+ years that people had waited for God to send His Son.
I have to think that my short life, in the scheme of eternity, is just that...a significant but short blink in the scheme of the unfolding of God's plan. I therefore think it best for me to keep my life "kneeled" in the humble perspective of eternity. I am admonished by God to do so:
"while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."2 Cor.4:18
I find great peace when I can keep my eyes fixed on the eternal....keeping my focus on all that God is unfolding in His plan for my life and for the lives of all for eternity. When worry is superimposed by Trust in a God Who has a plan...whether I can see it or not. It can be only fleeting moments when I remember that control in my life and the lives of those I worry about is no more than an illusion.....I have no control....but God has a plan....for now and for eternity...
"and the things of this world will grow strangely dim; in the light of His glory and Grace."
All that I worry with; all that I struggle against...grows strangely dim; in the Light of His glory and grace.'

One thing I know

8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?"
9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."

10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.

11 He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

12 "Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath.
15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."

16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.


24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God,[b]" they said. "We know this man is a sinner."(Jesus..the One who broke the law of Sabbath)

25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"


"The ONE thing I do know. I was blind and now I see!"

In a blind darkness, where for me, lost free in my own black perceptions,......the healing of the spit and mud came personally.....walked in....gently laid Hands on scaly eyes; Breathed a fresh wind (Hebrew: Ruchach) of life......
My life's motto had been:"Do what feels good"; "be independent";....and life on into disappointment in alcoholic parents; and a need to raise a different generation....Caught up in my own way to be free.....in charge....in fear...in search....like the man by the pool...I waited to tip my toe in healing waters...
Jumping in....was that even an option?
Then, He came....at the sound of my crying voice; HE came....at the slightest dip of my foot. His Hands touched my unopened and dark eyes and shut my arguments....shut my Pharisee accusations. Closed my heart to doubt and lifted my hands straight overhead. Where my words once argued,"there cannot be One way to know God".....my spirit now recognized the lie. I washed.....off the old.... and on the new.
The Pharisees, in Jesus' time, were born of rules and a religious knowledge of God. Although God had penned the laws they so vigorously wanted to keep;Jesus washed His hands in mud and spit; manger and straw;blood and water...all the while saying:"come to Me and let Me live with you" so that the laws make sense...so that the order of the universe can be summarized in one Man.....the One Man who can introduce you to the Maker of all things......even the laws of order.....One to die; Once for all.
The religious leaders in this passage were trying to preach a doctrine to the once blind man and to the believers.... they taught that Jesus could not be anything but a sinner since He healed on the religious-rest-day....the Sabbath. I think of how Jesus later says:
Mark 2:27
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."
And how HE stated that "He is our Sabbath-Rest"
And "Come unto ME, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."
The once blind man did not try to intellectually argue of Jesus...whether Jesus was sinner or not....
he only knew One thing:
I once was blind, and now I see.
The hand in the mud reached down, touched, made whole, and breathed not a doubt into that man's vision.
The world says, "How can this be...this Man doesn't fit the mold....He cannot be anything but a sinner.....He doesn't follow the rules...and yet
The One Thing I know
I once was blind, and now I see.
How I so desperately need to see like this...through the mud in my eyes; humbled by spit and clay; with new eyes; through the religious preconceptions of who I think God is... or isn't. Through my pain and deception......
Return me ,Oh Lord, to the clay that I am; in death I live; buried in You, I can see. Washed in You, I now have eyes. My hands straight up in the air.
Now what will it take for me to, having received my sight fully; see with those eyes,promised to have clarity from the dirt.
Clear my vision every minute of every day.....
wash my eyes with clay and water.... my Jesus was humbled for me....
He touched me,
He healed me,
He came to me.
I once was blind; but now I see.
Amazing Grace.....How sweet the Sound!
It is the One thing I know!

solace

"I look to the hills ; from where do I find my help? My help comes from the Lord. The Lord mighty to save."
There's a cool breeze that fluttered across my face as I sit still and quiet before my Maker on this what would be expected to be a Hot, Hot summer day. It is not; and the breeze is a sweet reminder of the refreshment that comes with wind of the Holy Spirit. I want to bathe in its quiet as I hear the birds in the background sing their sweet melody to the Lord. The pain in my heart from yesterday's set back eases as the tears are still right behind my eyes. My heart is heavy although my spirit is lifted. Sitting with God "in the cool of the evening" must have been His prescription for us when our hearts are tired and weary. "Come, come be with ME and I will give you rest." I could sleep all day and not have rest like that. Whisper soft in my ear sweet Holy God. I am listening. For once in this day, I am listening...not too busy with cleaning, conversation, and cooking.... distractions that lead me far from the cool waters of your presence. But still; seeing you in all the sounds, breezes,in all the symphony of sound right out my back door. Thank you Lord for the reminder that you are ever so close. I only must be still enough to see. Still enough to hear. Still enough.....
"Be still and know that I AM God." "I AM that I AM."

Resurrection

Branches...cherry blossom...tiny buds...right outside my window beckoning for me to invite inside. "Bring me in and soak my split and broken feet and I will resurrect from dry wood.... to green life.... to full bloom". A cut first... a cut by my hand; sap runs down a scarred tree to bleed for me who caused this cut...this separation from the root.....for me to witness this rebirth of limb to life....of life trapped inside what appears to be death; only to blossom again into life. He is the branch; He is the tree and the root; He is the sap..sweet drippings of the taste that is deep and good; He is the cut; He is the death; He is the new Life; and He is the bloom.

Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Up in the Air

My heart quiets with this entry . The stillness lifts my eyes and the flutter of tenderness touches my weary heart with the joy that through it there is a possible encounter with Him.
"Be still and know that I am God."
I am so afraid to fly....and yet sometimes I must. I did most recently to attend a service for my first cousin who graduated to be with Heavenly Father. I had to be there for her sisters; for me; for the years that I have not been there. I had to be there and fast. No time to drive and yet leaving my nest and my hearth for the coldness of an airplane frightened me once again. I did fly to find hugs and tears; yet I have realized, for me, the slower pace of a drive is more my speed. The invasive noise of the airport and the droning and unnatural roar of a plane lifts me up to a sky that I fear was not made for me to be in. Just because I can be in it, doesn't mean it is best for me to be there. I much prefer the ground..solid beneath my feet. It is a lowly place for me to remember that I can always look up to see the heavens and the sky that were flung with stars and sun and moon... set there by Him for me to gaze into His wonder."Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord...and He will lift you up."
Matthew 11:29
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.