The parable of pearl of great price is a short parable that Jesus tells about the kingdom of heaven. This parable is particularly interesting because it can be read two ways, as saying that the kingdom of heaven is worth giving up everything that you have, and as saying that God himself gives up everything to rescue and redeem us. The meaning of the parable of the pearl of great price, if we take both interpretations into account, is that we are loved and valued by God, he pursues us, and the kingdom of heaven is worth more than anything we have here on earth.
We find the parable of the pearl of great price in Matthew 13:45-46. In describing the kingdom of heaven, Jesus tells his disciples and the crowd gathered around him that, “the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
What is the “pearl of great price” in Scripture?
The pearl of great price in Scripture is typically taken to be one of two things: either the kingdom of heaven itself, or the people of God, his beloved creation whom he is seeking to rescue and redeem. Some scholars interpret the parable of the pearl to mean that the kingdom of heaven is worth giving up everything you have. Craig S. Keener, in A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, for example, writes that “one who is unwilling to sacrifice everything else for the kingdom, who did not believe its reality sufficiently to stake all one’s future on it, was unworthy of it.” Others interpret the parable to mean that God himself is like the merchant and we are the pearl of great price. Jesus Christ, on the cross, parts with all that he has in order to “purchase” our salvation, in order to rescue and redeem us.
What is the moral of the parable of the pearl?
The moral of the parable of the pearl depends on what the “pearl of great price” is in Scripture. If the pearl is the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom of God), then the moral is that the kingdom of heaven is worth giving up everything that you have in order to attain it.
If the pearl is each one of us, then the moral is that God loves us and values us so much that he is willing to diligently search for us and to give up everything in order to rescue and redeem us. Jesus is like the merchant in two ways: In Christ Jesus, God empties himself, takes on human nature and descends even to death in order to bring us close to him; on the cross, Jesus gives up his whole life (everything he has) in order to redeem us.
John Gill, in his exposition of the Gospel of Matthew, notes that Jesus Christ is like the merchant in the parable of the pearl: “he became poor, emptied himself of everything, even gave himself a ransom for them, and so made a purchase of them, with the price of his own blood.”
5 Lessons We Learn From the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
The parable of the pearl of great price (or the pearl of great value) gives us some insight into our relationship with God, into our own value and the value of the kingdom of heaven. We can draw 5 lessons from the parable of the pearl of great price.
- God sees our real value.
- God pursues us.
- God gave up everything to rescue and redeem us.
- You are a pearl of great price.
- The kingdom of heaven is worth more than earthly wealth.
God sees our real value.
The world evaluates us based on our physical appearance, our job, our reputation, our accomplishments, our possessions…. But these things don’t determine our value. God sees our real value. God sees what is priceless in us, and he pursues us knowing that we are valuable. We are so valuable, that God himself is willing to give up everything in order to rescue us and to bring us close to him again.
God pursues us.
There is good reason to read the parable of the pearl of great price as saying that God is like the merchant. Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. If God is the merchant, then this parable tells us that God pursues us. He doesn’t want to lose a single one of his beloved children (see also the parable of the lost sheep on this topic). He is willing to diligently search for us because he loves and values us.
God gave up everything to rescue and redeem us.
Jesus Christ looks very much like the merchant in this parable. In Jesus, God empties himself and takes on humanity in order to rescue and redeem us. Not only that, but in his death on the cross, Jesus gives up life itself in order to reconcile us to God.
You are a pearl of great price.
In this parable, we can say that each one of us is the pearl of great price. You are a pearl of great price. You are so loved and so valuable that God himself would search for you and would give up everything in order to draw you close to him, to rescue and redeem you.
The kingdom of heaven is worth more than earthly wealth.
While it appears that Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as the merchant and not the pearl, there is still good reason to compare the kingdom of heaven itself to a pearl of great price. Just before the parable of the pearl of great price is the parable of the hidden treasure (Matthew 13:44), where Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as a treasure hidden in a field, which a man sells everything he has in order to buy. The kingdom of heaven is worth more than earthly wealth; it is something that is so valuable that we ought to be willing to give everything up in order to attain it. Our relationship with God is more valuable than anything that we could earn or achieve or own here and now.
Matthew Henry, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, writes of this parable that, “A true Christian is a spiritual merchant, that seeks and finds this pearl of price; that does not take up with any thing short of an interest in Christ, and, as one that is resolved to be spiritually rich, trades high: He went and bought that pearl; did not only bid for it, but purchased it. What will it avail us to know Christ, if we do not know him as ours, made to us wisdom? (1 Cor 1 30)”
Read more about Jesus’ parables about the kingdom of God and what we can learn from them here.
I love how you brought out the different interpretations of this account! I love how Scripture can speak to so many different facets all at the same time!