Hidden Treasure and a Valuable Pearl (Matthew 13:44–46)

Asher Chee |

Matthew 13:44–46 ESV The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Welcome back, everyone. For those who have just arrived, let me bring you up to speed. We are right now in the middle of a series of talks on the “Kingdom Parables”. I am talking about the series of seven parables told by Jesus in chapter 13 of the Gospel of Matthew as he sat “beside the sea” (v. 1). These seven parables are:

  1. The Parable of the Sower (vv. 3–9, 18–23)
  2. The Parable of the Weeds (vv. 24–30, 36–43)
  3. The Parable of the Mustard Seed (vv. 31–32)
  4. The Parable of the Leaven (v. 33)
  5. The Parable of the Hidden Treasure (v. 44)
  6. The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price (vv. 45–46)
  7. The Parable of the Dragnet (vv. 47–50)

I want to say a big thank you to the speakers who have gone before me, who have so adequately unpacked and applied the first four of these parables. However, as you can see, unlike the other speakers who have been assigned only one parable each, I have been assigned two. Now, I am not complaining! I actually believe that these two parables go hand-in-hand together:

Let us now take a look at the first parable: The Parable of the Hidden Treasure: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.” As with many of his other parables, Jesus here explains the Kingdom of Heaven to his audience by likening it to something relatable to them—in this case, treasure. The word “treasure” implies great value. But just how valuable is this treasure? Well, it was so valuable that when a man found it, he went and sold everything he had in order to buy the field that contained the treasure.

Now, why did the man not just take the treasure and go? Well, the field in which he found the treasure belonged to someone else. Thus, that treasure legally belonged to the owner of that field. That is why the man had to buy the field before he could obtain the treasure: the treasure could only become rightfully his if he legally became the owner of the field. So we see that this was a very honest and equitable man. (I shall not address the question of why he did not just tell the owner of the field that there was treasure hidden in his property, and could he please buy that treasure from him!)

So we see that buying the field was only the means to an end. What the man really wanted was to obtain the treasure he had found in that field. That was his ultimate goal. But how did this man raise enough funds to enable him to obtain the treasure? “He goes and sells all that he has.” The original Greek text actually makes a very significant qualification: kai pōlei panta hosa echei “and he sells all things, whatever he has.” He essentially sold away all that he owned just to gain that treasure.

What do you have, and how did you come by them? You probably worked hard for your keep, and accumulated your possessions through your labours; your blood, sweat and tears. But if you were this man, would you have likewise sold everything—whatever you have—in order to obtain that treasure? And would you also have done so as this man had, apo tēs charas autou “out of his joy”? Well, that would really depend on how valuable that treasure really is, wouldn’t it? But is there really such a treasure out there which is so valuable, that you would sell everything you have joyfully in order to obtain it?

In this parable, Jesus answers that question: “Yes, there is; the Kingdom of Heaven is such a treasure!” I think that this is the point of this parable: The Kingdom of Heaven is so infinitely valuable, such that it would be nothing less than a joyful trade-off to give up everything you have in order to obtain it. That is Jesus’ estimation of the value of the Kingdom of Heaven. Friends, is that likewise our estimation of the Kingdom of Heaven? Is the Kingdom of Heaven really so precious to us that we would willingly, in our joy, give up everything we have just to obtain it?

Now, just to clarify, Jesus is not saying here that we buy our way into the Kingdom of Heaven, and that is not what I am saying either. We should not build our understanding from an isolated interpretation of one parable. The rest of the scriptures tell us that we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven solely by grace, solely through faith: “By grace you are saved through faith, and that not from yourselves, the gift is of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) Rather, I think Jesus’ point is that if we really have Jesus’ estimation of the Kingdom of Heaven, then we would be eagerly ready to give up everything else in exchange for it should the need arise. This is what I think Jesus likewise means when he says things like: “If someone wishes to come behind me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

You may have heard many testimonies of people who have actually made such a sacrifice. Some were forsaken by family and friends because they decided to become a follower of Jesus. Some others, after becoming a follower of Jesus, gave up a high-paying job because they realized that it was dishonourable to God. All that must have been very costly, but they readily gave it all up because they considered the Kingdom of Heaven a treasure far more valuable than whatever they had.

Now, if you listen to almost any sermon about this parable, this would be typically what you hear: “The Kingdom of God is so valuable that it is worth giving up everything in order to obtain”—and that is not at all wrong, as I myself have preached that in your hearing today. But that is not where Jesus stops, is it? No, he goes on to tell the next parable: the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price.

Many people, when they read these two parables, think that they both convey the same message. John MacArthur, for example, writes in his commentary:

These two parables have identical meanings. Both picture salvation as something... so valuable that people who have it revealed to them are willing to give up all they have to possess it. (The MacArthur Bible Commentary, p. 1150)

However, I disagree.

“Again,” Jesus continues, “the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls, and having found one greatly priced pearl.” Oh, isn’t that interesting! Did you catch that? In the first parable, the kingdom of heaven is the object of great value being found. Now, in this parable, the kingdom of heaven is the one doing the finding!

“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls.” Pay attention to the word “seeking.” In the previous parable, Jesus simply said that the man found the treasure; it is almost as if he simply stumbled upon it by chance; “Oh, look! Treasure!” But here in this parable, the Kingdom of Heaven was seeking. The Lord was purposeful and active in seeking us out; he knew exactly what he was looking for, and then he found it.

The parable continues: “And having found one greatly-priced pearl.” I find it interesting how the merchant was looking for “fine pearls” (plural), but he found only one greatly-priced pearl, and that was enough for him. I shall not go much into this detail right now. Suffice to say, the church is being represented here collectively as one single greatly-priced pearl.

“And having found one greatly-priced pearl,” what did he do? “He went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Now, how did that happen? How did the Kingdom of Heaven, represented in this parable by a merchant, sell all that he had? And how did the Kingdom of Heaven buy the church, represented by the greatly-priced pearl?

The Bible several times speaks of the Lord buying his people. In 1 Corinthians 6:20, the Apostle Paul tells us: “And you are not your own because you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.” A few verses later, he says: “You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men.” (7:23) As Christians, we were “bought with a price.” A “price” was paid to complete that purchase. What was this “price”?

In Revelation 5, the Apostle John sees a vision of heavenly creatures singing to the heavenly lamb (Jesus) regarding his redemption of the people of God: “And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the book and to open its seals because you were slain, and bought to God by your blood [persons] from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9) So we see that the price that the Kingdom of Heaven paid to obtain the people of God was the blood of the heavenly lamb, Jesus. The Kingdom of Heaven sold everything he had and bought the church when Jesus came down to earth and died on the cross for us.

I think that Jesus told these two parables because he wanted to show us both sides of the story of our salvation. The only reason why we found Christ to be a treasure so infinitely valuable that we would joyfully give up everything for him, is because he first sought us, found us, and sold everything he had to buy us while we did not even care the least for him: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) The Bible also says: “There is none who seeks God.” (Romans 3:11) Therefore, if we found God, it is only because he first sought us.

Peter once told Jesus: “Behold, we have left all and followed you!” What was Jesus’ response? “There is none who has left home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who shall not receive a hundredfold in this time, and in the coming age, eternal life.” (Mark 10:28–30) In other words, Jesus was saying: “Big deal, Peter. You thought you lost by leaving behind all those things? You have actually gained so much more!”

Paul also said: “What things were gains to me, these I have considered loss because of Christ... because of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord!” (Philippians 3:7–8), but not before he first said: “[Jesus], although being in the form of God, did not consider it a thing to be grasped to be equal with God, but he emptied himself, having taken the form of a slave, having become in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:6–7) Jesus “emptied” himself; he sold all that he had in order to come and buy us.

So, here in these two parables which go inseparably hand-in-hand together, we see both sides of the coin regarding our salvation: we found him because he first sought us; we give up everything to gain him because he first gave up everything to gain us. At the very core, this makes a very significant difference in our attitude towards the way we live the Christian life, does it not? This really humbles us, because even when we make big sacrifices for his sake, it is nothing to boast about; it is not as if we become big shots.

I think this ought also to make a difference in the way we share things in a Christian context. For example, this is how we usually tend to share testimonies about other Christians: When he became a Christian, he gave this up for God, he suffered that for the sake of Christ, he did this, he did that; “he sold all that he had and bought the field” is essentially what we are saying. And again, do not get me wrong, there is nothing inherently wrong with that, but that is only half of the story. Where is God’s half of the story?

So here is the challenge for us today. The next time we share something, or hear something being shared, let us ask ourselves: Does this sharing leave people thinking, “Wow, what a great man of God!” or, “Wow, what a great God of man!”?