A buried treasure and a pricy pearl Matthew 13:44-46 44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, the truth as it is in Jesus, the glad tidings. THE PARABLE OF THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls" (v. 45). Jesus announced Gods kingdom, and this would lead many of his hearers to expect a cataclysmic disruption of society, an immediate and absolute division between the sons of light and the sons of darknessIt was to this impatience that the parable was primarily directed. (France). But I submit to you that that is false, and obviously so. What does Matthew 13:44 mean? 44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. i. But you arent quite able to taste it. Then she asked him for the secret and Solomon took her to the temple and there he showed her the worship of Jehovah, showed her how this nation was related to the God of glory and that it was their understanding of God which produced the magnificence she had seen. If you want to see how God will act with you as an individual then look at the way he has been acting with Israel as a nation. That is why it is not enough to preach the gospel to people; you must also live it. The old Puritan commentator John Trapp here remarked that unbelief was A sin of that venomous nature, that it transfuseth, as it were, a dead palsy into the hands of omnipotency., 2018 David Guzik No distribution beyond personal use without permission. The sacred writings should be his treasure, and he should properly understand them his knowledge consists in being well instructed in the things concerning the kingdom of heaven, and the art of conducting men thither. (Clarke), v. Ministers of the gospel should not be novices, 1 Timothy 3:6, raw and ignorant men; but men mighty in the Scriptures, well acquainted with the writings of the Old and New Testament, and the sense of them; men that have a stock of spiritual knowledge, able readily to speak a word to the weary, and to speak to men and womens particular cases and questions. (Poole), Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. No one can ever give all that he has in order to purchase Jesus Christ because he has nothing to give in the first place. To the ancient peoples, as we have just seen, a pearl was the loveliest of all possessions; that means that the Kingdom of Heaven is the loveliest thing in the world. (Barclay). And sometimes a piece of sand or shell gets in. And in those words, "he gave all that he had," the mystery of the darkness of the cross of Jesus Christ is implied. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. By no means! In this parable, we learned that different people hear Gods truth and accept it in different ways. Put dark glasses on her and tie the handkerchief LOOSELY to cover her nose and mouth (bandit style). Why is it that for all our professed ideals, our hopes, and our skills, peace on earth is still a distant objective seen only dimly through the storms and turmoils of our present difficulties?". Consider the words of Jim Elliot, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. The emphasis is not on what we give up, but on the unfathomable new life that is being offered to us. And they would remember the words of Psalm 135:4: For the Lord hath chosen Jacob [another name for Israel] unto himself for his peculiar treasure. a. Subject to permissions policy, all rights reserved. Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. Matthew 13:45 "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ii. Finally, there was the parable of the woman who took leaven and introduced it into the three measures of meal, by which Jesus made clear that something would destroy the precious fellowship of the people of God and that it would be allowed into the church by the very people who were appointed to keep it out. John 6:42). (France), ii. But he hid it again. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Place your hands together like an oyster shell. The parable had its fulfilment in them when they, at the bidding of their Lord, forsook all and followed Him. Such, it need hardly be said, has been the story of thousands of the saints of God in every age of the Churchs life from that day to this. This is what we human beings need. When a man found it, he hid it again. This is like the kingdom of God because it grows in the hearts of believers, and it grows throughout the world as more and more people enter the kingdom. Of greater importance in the history of the church has been the view that this actually means that the field is the church. Julian the apostate, as he is called, once asked a certain Christian, What do you think the carpenters son is doing now? Making coffins for you and for all his enemies, was the prompt reply. (Spurgeon). We are absolute paupers in God's sight. But Jesus came to make the kingdom available to everyone (Mark 1:15). These are underwater animals that live inside of a shell. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. He merely states the way in which people do "actually" manage to obtain wealth. They bring to mind the words of Philippians2: "Though he was equal with God he did not count it a thing to be held on to But he emptied himself, disenfranchised himself, pauperized himself -- he gave all that he had -- and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross," (Philippians 2:8). [That is, Israel had obviously stumbled at that time, but have they fallen completely?] But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." Explanation and Commentary of Matthew 13:44 Such that have ability and leisure, may consult a controversy in Philostratus (l), between two persons, the buyer and seller of a field; in which, after the purchase, a treasure was found, when the seller claimed it as his; urging, that had he known of it, he would never have sold him the field: the buyer, on the other hand, insisted on its being his property; alleging that all was his which was contained in the land bought by him. What is it that inhibits us from going forward together to enjoy the fruits of human endeavor and to reap the harvest of human experience? These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. But we need to recognize that the parable of the treasure hidden in the field is the first of a series of three which our Lord gave in connection with the other four and on the same day, but, as Matthew is careful to tell us, he gave these to the disciples alone after they had gone back into the house. Though they are surrounded and ringed by enemies armed to the teeth who are vowing to wipe every Jew off the face of the earth, Nevertheless, as is obvious, they do not understand the secret of their own life and are trying to produce peace and stability by democratic methods and consensus and compromise. This powerfully shows how Jesus gave everything to redeem the whole world to preserve a treasure in it, and the treasure is His people. 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: And Congress is trying to put its finger on where you begin and how you relate peace of heart in an individual to peace among men. The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a. I. All this has happened exactly as our Lord said and all of it is visible in history. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. After you have been instructed by me, you have the knowledge, not only of the things you used to know, but of things you never knew before, and even the knowledge which you had before is illuminated by what I have told to you. (Barclay), iv. There Paul too tells us that God is not through with Israel. Whatever the reason he was there, he found an amazing treasure, maybe similar to the emeralds. That person is part of Gods kingdom. All rights reserved. The field is the world: Significantly, this parable illustrates not necessarily that there will be false believers among true believers in the church (though that is also true to some extent); otherwise Jesus would have explained that the field is thechurch. Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. In these actions, the power of that which has been found is seen to be at work. Brought to you by KidzLife, Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Readers Version, (NIrV). So he went and sold everything he had. In the parable of the soils, the seed represented the Word of God; here it represents true believers. We need 2 cookies to store this setting. It was a partial demonstration, never complete, never full. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field: The field is the world, but the man does not represent the believer, because we have nothing to buy this treasure with. We speak of the Jews as "the chosen people," and unfortunately a very grave misconception of that phrase has arisen. Woe to you, Bethsaida! God has gathered this nation together again, brought in the people from the outlying countries of the world, gathered his dispersed from the four corners of the earth, and brought them back into the land. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. So they were offended at Him: When we think of how strongly Jesus is identified with Nazareth (see at Matthew 2:23), it is even more surprising to note that the people of Nazareth did not appreciate it. They concern those aspects of the kingdom of heaven at work among men which are readily recognizable and visible in history. He understands that even though he is selling everything to buy that field he is becoming exponentially richer because of the unseen treasure that will belong to whomever owns the field. - Matthew 13:44, Props: Small plate of fruit, dark glasses, bandana; Strand of pearls (artificial is fine). We have nothing to offer him, nothing that we can give in return. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! He covered it up again, buried it again. He was full of joy over this discovery. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.. 13:49). But even that partial realization was a magnificent model of what God could do with any nation. The nation would not have it, would not have him, and they rejected him. Eventually, after several years, it ends up looking like a beautiful, shiny stone called a pearl. This stood for the people who hear Gods word and believe it fully. No! We often think that spiritual people will be much more strange than normal. He would be really endeavoring to gain property belonging to another at far less than its real value, and the principle of real integrity would require him to inform the owner of the discovery. The treasure was so important to him, that he joyfully gave up everything else in the world to gain that treasure. 'Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it . He found one that was very valuable. 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