Matthew 13:46 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 13:46

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Here is a merchant who knows his business, who is a connoisseur of pearls. He knows what he is looking for: the right lustre, shape, size, and colour. It should have a bright surface, deep-seated glow, a regular round shape, a good size, and it should be free from surface flaws. He has seen many peals in his life, and is not easily impressed when shown something new. He has learnt perhaps not to show too keen an interest when he first views what is on offer, but to display a cool indifference – he can take it or leave it. However, this is different. This is exceptional; this pearl is enormous, wonderful, perfect in every respect. He cannot hide his excitement and his interest. He has never seen anything like it before. He knows its value, and he must obtain it for himself. But how? It is beyond his present means. He does not have enough cash in hand to purchase it. He asks the seller to hold it for him, and he goes home and looks over his stock. If he were to sell all that he has already, he may be able to get enough money to purchase that one great pearl. Is he ready to do that? As he considers his pearls, suddenly nothing comes up to the mark. Yes, he is ready to get rid of all: shop, business, stock, the lot. He will lose everything else, but he will be able to buy that one great pearl. Is it worth it? Of course it is. That one pearl is worth far more than he is going to have to pay for it. So he sells all, and he buys that one great pearl, and it is how his. In many parables, there are features which are essential, and there are other features which are part of the scaffolding needed to construct the parable. The pearl of great price represents Christ, the Saviour of the world, but we must not understand the parable to teach that we can purchase him with anything we already possess. We have no currency which has any value to God. The pearl of great price, Christ, is far, far beyond our purchasing power. He is the eternal Son of God, the righteous one, who is of infinite worth. What would God accept in order to give us his Son? What that we could do would persuade him to send his Son into the world to die on the cross? There is nothing we could give. We must receive Christ as a free gift. And yet the element of selling all in order to buy the great pearl, is not an accident, and in fact is one of the most important elements of the parable. The parable focuses on this element, but we must be careful not to understand it to teach that salvation can be purchased. Christ cannot be bought by any amount of good works, or self-reformation, or abstinence, or religious devotion, or prayers, or alms-giving. As those who are sinners, none of our good works are acceptable to God. We are disqualified before we start. We come into the world as sinners. Only one who has never sinned can present any righteousness to God, and there is only one such who has ever lived: the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet there is a parallel between a vital aspect of conversion to God and the merchant who sold all his existing pearls. Although we cannot pay for the gift of grace, we must want it so badly, and we must value Christ so much more than anything we already possess, that we are willing to part with all for him. Every parable has its limits and is an imperfect representation of the kingdom of heaven; it is at best only an analogy. The merchant here sells lesser pearls in order to gain one great pearl. But when the seeking soul is converted, he does not exchange like for like. What he must be willing to lose is something that was once valuable to him, but in fact is of no worth at all. He must lose his sin, his imagined self-righteousness, his opinions, his government of his own life. He must renounce his former ways, and make Christ his Lord. But what he gains is Christ, ‘in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Colossians 2:3).

Application

We may be searching for security, wisdom, something that has lasting value, but we do not know where to look. God in his mercy causes us to hear the gospel, and he awakens us to see the glory of Christ. We grasp our real problem: that we are alienated from God, that our sin is going to take us to hell, that sin resides within us and he are its slaves, that there is nothing we can do to cancel our debt to God, and that all attempts to reform our character must fail. We see that God is against us because we have broken his law, and his law can never be relaxed. Then we understand that Christ has satisfied the justice of God by dying in our place and taking our punishment, that he has purchased eternal life for us, that he has taken away the wrath of God against us. We realise what treasure this is. If I could find him, have a new life, know that I know him, what a wonderful thing it would be! He is indeed the pearl of great price, and is not worthy to be compared to anything in this world. He gives what the world cannot give, and we must be ready to party with the whole world in order to obtain him. Amazingly, that is the transaction which God is willing to make with sinners. They must put to death their sin and lose their lives in this world in order that they may find eternal life in Christ. They will then receive pardon from God and a new nature and the gift of eternal life. Christ is able to transform our lives. We trust our souls to him, and give up the old sinful life, and now his searching days are over.

As an illustration of this, think of academics, scientists, and the new understanding that comes and torpedoes what they already know. Take for instance a doctor in the last century. He operates with the limited knowledge that he already has, and then along comes germ theory. Will he jettison what he has been working with up till now? He has to, however painful, or he will be ridiculed. He must give up all his existing knowledge in order to realign himself with the new understanding. So with us. I wrongly imagine that if there is a God, he will have us all in heaven. But then I hear the gospel and have to let go of my wrong ideas. I have to sell them. I must become like a little child and learn all over again.

I have to give up my self-righteousness. I thought I was better than others. I have found the great pearl. This is the end of my search. The merchant had sold all he had. It was an irreversible purchase. So in coming to Christ. Once you have done this you will never be lost. You will never regret it. To have and to know him, to give up your government of yourself: that is what you need. Paul so well placed among the Jews, very proud, influential, but in coming to Christ he said, ‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ’ (Philippians 3:8).

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Matthew 13:46 Commentary and Bible Study