THE PARABLE OF THE PEARL

THE PARABLE OF THE PEARL by J.M. Vlijm

I found a good article from a book I read lately, It is written by a bulé who live in Semarang for many years. The book titled “Mulai dari musa dan segala nabi”, cetakan BPK Gunung Mulia, 2003. I cut a little in the first part and so in the end.

What is the Pearl?

After Jesus had finished a series of parables He asked his disciples: "Have you understood all these things?" Their answer is an amazing:

"Yes". (Matthew 13:51). When they heard the first parable they did not understand its meaning, and needed the explanation of their teacher. The parable of the sowing man is very difficult indeed. No Jewish peasant would conduct himself so irresponsibly. Jesaja describes the way a Jewish agriculturist handles his seed carefully (Jesaja 28:23-29). He does not throw it away. Why should the Kingdom of Heavens behave in such a rough manner? Is it impossible for the great Sower, in the short time that is given to him, to plough and harrow his fields? Jesus has explained his parable, but he has not made clear why the sower acts in such strange way. Have his disciples understood all these things? "In part we know".

The Master says: "Therefore, every scribe, who has become a pupil of the Kingdom of Heavens, is like a treasurer, who brings forth new and old things from his treasury."

In old time kings collected treasures; friends offered them gifts; friends were obliged to offer gold and silver, sometimes the sculptures which were their gods. The king appointed a trustworthy friend as treasurer. Some­times when guests from faraway visited the king, he ordered his treasurer to show some of his valuables. What did he bring out? At first the new ones, and may be at the end of the exhibition, the most precious ones, the very old treasures the king had inherited from his ancestors.

What is the meaning of Jesus' word "therefore"? May be he would in­dicate, that his disciples have understood different things, not yet all things but many kinds of things in his parables.

I will meditate about the parable of the merchant in pearls. I suppose that the ordinary explanation is not the only possible one.

This parable is one half of a "doublet", a double-parable. Two parables must complete each other. The grain of mustardseed grows, the leaven perpetrates the dough. The grain become a tree, the leaven become invisi­ble. The mustard grain assimilates light and water and many other things; the leaven seems to annihilate itself. The kingdom of heavens works in these two ways. In such a "doublet" there is not a repetition of the same thought, but a "counter-voice".

I think the term "basileia toon ouranoon", 'the kingdom of heavens' does not mean a situation, but a motion. Matthew circumscribes "God^" as "heavens". The kingdom of God does not indicate the realm of the might of the king, its borders and so on, but the working of the king, the king­ship, the way the king is exercising his function. The parable will show what happens when God comes as King.

The first of these two parables makes clear that God is an hidden king. He makes himself in this world invisible for the eyes of man. Man can walk on the soil that covers this treasures without assuming there is a treasure beneath his feet. Is the man, who discovers the treasure, a treasureseeker? Or is he a labourer, who works on the field of a rich man? Suddenly he hears a strange sound, when his shovel bounches on the box, that contains the treasure. Certainly his discovering is not-intended. He covers his find again and goes home, sells all his belongings and succeeds to persuade the owner of the land to sell him this part of his property.

The treasure is the "Kingdom", the buyer is a man.

What is the kingdom in the second half of this "doublet"?

A pearl is a very precious thing. And therefore all commentators of the parable assume that the pearl must be the kingdom of God. The difference between the two parables is to be found in the way the treasure is obtain-d. The labourer finds the precious thing unintentionally; the merchant of pearls is seeking them. The shoveler does not know of hidden treasures, he is not aiming to find them. But unexpectedly he bounces on the hidden reality of the God, who hides himself. The merchant is a philosopher, an idealistic man, who tries to find and to acquire truth. He has found many precious values, but when he sees the wonders of the King of Kings, he realizes that all the values he had collected so far, are nothing compared with this ultimate found. He abandons all his pearls to buy this absolute excellent pearl.

I agree this explanation is possible. But ...What says the text exactly?The kingdom of heavens is a treasure, hidden is the earth.The kingdom of heavens is like a merchant, who seeks precious pearls.

Is God, the heavenly king, like a merchant, who seeks precious pearls?

A pearl is a hidden thing. Nobody finds a pearl without seeking for pearls. The pearl is hidden in the shell of a kind of mollusc. Divers go into the sea and bring molluscs to the surface, to the land and then they open the shells. Sometimes they find a pearl inside the shell. Then they go to the market to sell their treasures.

Who is the merchant, who is willing and capable to pay the highest price? To pay with all he has?Is this parable about man in his search for God or is it about God, who ere to obtain his highest creature?

Is the pearl the kingdom of heavens man is searching for?

Or is the pearl the most precious element in man, the soul, the spirit, the kernel of a human being?

I refer to the image of God as abandoning other peoples to make Israel his own property, since Israel is precious in his eyes (Jesaja 43:3).

If my answer on the question "what is the pearl?" is acceptable, then we have a real "doublet". The first parable of the hidden treasure urges us to give up all we have to obtain the kingdom of heavens: the second parable encourages us. The quest of man is a shadow of the search of God. It is not do, ut des, but do, quia das. The pistis, the faith of man in God is counterpart of the pistis, the faith, of God in man.