The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Value

The vintage amp story

Anna Marie and I have a routine on Saturday mornings that involves thrifting. This is no secret to anybody who knows us. If you know us, you know we thrift a lot. And if you’re going to upset our Saturday morning routine, it’s probably best if you’re in a body cast or you’ve contracted some very rare tropical disease that requires immediate prayer. Otherwise, we’re just going to keep on thrifting. Okay, just kidding, that doesn’t sound very Jesus-like. We will come running for lesser degrees of disease and injury. But the point is, we love thrifting. We love the thrill of the hunt, and when we’ve discovered our quarry for a fraction of what it’s worth new, we just kind of waltz out of the Salvation Army thrift store with a wall-to-wall grin and a thank-you-Jesus on our lips.

A bunch of summers back, we were at a garage sale in the basement of the United Church downtown, by the railroad tracks. While I was checking out an old pair of skates hanging on the wall, I heard Anna Marie’s voice say, “Honey, I think you want to look at this thing. It has tubes in it.” My quarry has always been dusty, old, vintage musical equipment, and my precious, amazing, stunningly beautiful, eagle-eyed wife found for me (yes, dear, you were particularly stunning and beautiful and eagle-eyed that morning) an original 1957 tweed Fender Champ guitar amp. For all you nerds out there, it had the 5F1 circuit. Jackpot. I was moonwalking like Michael Jackson, doing my whole happy dance, but the piece of masking tape on top of the amplifier said this: “Works. It hums. $4.75.” Even though I had found my quarry, this didn’t reduce the Dutchness in me. I carried it over to the money-taking lady at the table and said, “Um, it hums. Can I give you $3.75?” She said, “Okay.” And I did another happy dance, this time with my amplifier, right outside the door, and then turned around and did the dumbest thing I ever did. I have a son who takes every opportunity to deeply chastise me for this: I wound up selling it for $400.

Now, you’d say, “Mike, that’s not a bad thing. You bought it for $3.75, you sold it for four hundred bucks.” But if I told you the end of the story, it’s this: had I waited, had I hung onto it for one more year, the vintage value jumped to $1,200. They’re pretty hard to find. But anyway, that’s okay. It’s about the pursuit.

Reading the parables

Let me read this to you. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field, and in his excitement he hid it again and sold everything that he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. And when he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything that he owned, and he bought it.”

We pursue anything. We take time, we turn over the stones, so to speak, and pursuit is always at the top of mind. It nags at us until we find what we’re looking for, and then we do our happy dance. We pursue hobbies, homes, cars, people, positions, and in our current culture, wealth and power are common pursuits. And all these things will eventually pass away. They serve us only in the earthly realm.

Now, these are among the shortest parables of the 37 or 38 that are listed. The assumption is often made that while many of the parables require deep thought to get at what Jesus is speaking of, these two are regarded as pretty straightforward. They don’t take hours on our knees in prayer to discover their revelation. They seem fairly straightforward. But are they?

A man walks in a field and discovers something of such incredible value that he cleans himself out financially to buy the field, not for the value of the land, but for the treasure he finds there. Almost as if it had no business being there in the first place. And the pearl merchant finds a pearl of such incredible value that he does the same thing. He liquidates all that he owns to possess that one pearl. It’s about the pursuit.

Two ways to read it

Now, there are kind of two schools of thought on these back-to-back parables, and it should come as no surprise that they’re back-to-back, seemingly saying exactly the same thing, only a verse or two long.

The first school of thought is this: that we are the man buying the field and we are the merchant buying the pearl. As humans, we found that perfect love, that perfect grace and mercy in Jesus Christ, and we’re so blown away by what Jesus offers us that we shed ourselves of every conceivable obstacle in order to establish a relationship with Jesus, our treasure, our perfect pearl. And that resonates, doesn’t it? We can get on board with that. We’ve come to the realization that all of our lives has been a pursuit of one form or another, and we’ve been left empty and ultimately unfulfilled by the pursuit of the stuff we’re resigned to simply exist with. And then, of course, Jesus.

The second school of thought is this: that God himself is the buyer of the field and the merchant who gets the pearl. Give that a think for a second. Then what (or who) is the treasure in the field, or the perfect pearl? We are. Exactly. And that should undo us. Us? A treasure?

I was kind of raised in a church culture theology that would sometimes, every once in a while, adopt this thing we call worm theology. You will never, ever hear me preach any kind of word that espouses worm theology. The whole idea is that we’re so lowly, so grubby, so awful, so sinful, so almost to the point of unredeemable that basically we crawl around on our bellies begging for the grace and mercy of God for all our lives. And then when we finally come to the end of our life, we hope and pray we haven’t screwed up too much, that God in his mercy (there’s no grace available for us, now it’s all about mercy) will say, “Well, you’ve been horrible and awful and terrible in just about every imaginable way, but you know what? I’m pretty big. Come on in.” First of all, that’s horribly unbiblical. And secondly, what a way to live your life! But the idea that God would completely empty himself to purchase us, to redeem us, should have us living our lives with far more gratitude and purpose than it probably does. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Unbelievable, but true.

A third perspective

Now, I’d kind of like to split the difference, if I could, and offer a third perspective. The two parables are referring to two different people. In the parable of the treasure in the field, we are the person making the discovery. In the parable of the pearl of great value, God our Father is the merchant who has discovered the pearl.

Notice that in the first parable, the man makes a discovery of a hidden treasure, and in his excitement (other translations say joy) he sells everything. He had no idea the treasure existed. But here in this field, he happens upon it. Now, I don’t believe God is surprised by anything. It’s not part of his nature. You cannot pull the wool over God’s eyes. You can’t. It’s an impossibility, part of his nature. And I don’t believe God questions what he values. He doesn’t question it. In this man’s discovery, he quickly finds it, covers it up, and does what needs doing until he can buy the whole thing.

My own pursuit

What have we been chasing after? I’ve been pursuing my whole life, and in my pursuit, nothing would satisfy. I gave what I could, hoping my pursuit would answer my deepest questions, hopes I dare not utter out loud. And all that I did, it just left me empty. All my pursuits merely put a smile on my face for moments. It medicated me from what hurt the most.

And then on a day I had no expectations of anything else, I was surprised by joy. The discovery was so precious that in my excitement I thought, “I can’t leave this exposed. Someone else might come and snatch it up. I can’t let that happen.” In my ignorance, I thought the treasure was only mine, God must have had a good chuckle over that one, but he didn’t disqualify me in my ignorance. But what other pursuits could I give up? The ones that promised so much and delivered absolutely nothing of lasting worth. The cheap plastic copy of joy. They’re worthless.

I remember when I was a kid at Christmas time, my parents would sometimes buy me these toys I was thrilled about, that I had asked for. And when I unwrapped them, I was thrilled to death. A week later, they’re stuck in a box in the corner of my bedroom. They get little to no attention. Give it a month, they’re completely forgotten. I did not achieve what I was looking for. The cheap plastic copy that I thought would bring me joy, in my childish mind, was ultimately complete dissatisfaction.

My selling everything is really nothing more than not allowing those things to possess me anymore. I went back to the field to claim my treasure, my freedom, my healing, my father, my family, my purpose. I bought the field. Jesus is my treasure. My pursuit is over.

God as the pearl merchant

Now, as a pearl merchant, God looks for beauty. God is the author of beauty. Everything he touches is beautiful. And he is willing to go anywhere he wishes to find it. Nothing is a surprise to him. He knows what he pursues. His kids. Particularly those who don’t know him yet.

In Psalm 23, when David writes that psalm and we read about the good shepherd, David says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” We find that in verse six. The original Hebrew for the word “follow” is radaph, which means literally to chase or to pursue. The one who is my very essence of goodness and mercy, he pursues me. He’s not looking for me. He knows my whereabouts. He knows exactly where I am. He knows the condition of my heart.

And here’s what he does: he reduces himself to the frailty of humanity. He comes to the world not as a king, but born in a barn amongst the stink and the filth. He’s taught a trade because he needs to make a living. When he enters his ministry, he does so without any fanfare at all. He’s not launched by any celebrity endorsement. He has what he needs. What does he need? Two things: his Father’s approval and blessing. And on he goes into his ministry.

And in the middle of his preaching that both baffles and causes wonder, in the middle of his miracles, he’s still misunderstood. The religious establishment doesn’t get him. His disciples don’t get him. He’s mocked. He’s tried in a kangaroo court. He’s condemned. And he submits himself to the most painful torture and eventual death recorded in all of human history, a death he would have rather avoided. Sometimes we don’t like to talk about that, that Jesus somehow went to the cross with a giant ear-to-ear grin on his face. No. Not remotely true. So why did he do it? Because he and his Father were in perfect partnership, and he knew the plan, and that it had to be carried out that way.

The joy set before him

In Hebrews 12:2, we read that because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Other translations say “for the joy set before him.” But I really love how the New Living Translation says it: the joy awaiting him. The terrible cost was worth it.

What was the joy? What was the pearl? Us. Again, I’m sorry, but for my finite brain, that simply does not compute. If you can stand there and say, “Oh, I get that, I understand that fully and completely, my human love and passion for an individual is so great I would go to those lengths for them”, I’m sorry, I think you’re talking to a mirror or something, because in our finite brains, that reality makes no sense at all. We shouldn’t be able to wrap our brains around that. As I’ve said before, if we could wrap our brains around that kind of love, God’s not so great. If I can figure out God and his motives and the way he does things, is God really all that great? No, not by that logic. So I gladly assume the reality that I cannot fully understand. I don’t even believe on the other side of heaven I’m going to fully understand it. But on the other side of heaven, I think I’m going to be okay with that. It’s not going to bother me all that much.

He shed himself of all that a king would have, all to possess the one thing that matters the most in that moment. Us. We’re the pearl. And in his eyes, we were fully, completely worth the radaph, the pursuit, and we still are.

We are the pearl

In this perspective, Jesus empties himself. I am, we are, his pearl of great value. And though I am, and we are, found, he still pursues us. He does not stop pursuing us. Our relationship with Christ is not fulfilled completely at the moment of our introduction. It is not fulfilled completely at the moment of our submission to him. It is not fulfilled in any way, shape, or form all along the path of the life we live as we strengthen our relationship with him. He never stops pursuing us.

So how do I wrap this up? If you’re a follower, a disciple of Jesus, if you know the price that was paid on your behalf to now have the right to be called son, to now have the right to be called daughter, if you know what awaits (but also the purpose you have just for today) are you living in gratitude? Are you living in joy? You should. If you’re not, maybe that’s your prayer call for today. That would be a very appropriate prayer call for yourself, if you’re not living in the joy of the reality of who you are because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

If you’re not a follower of Jesus, or if simply coming to church on a Sunday is what you know and what you’ve been taught a good moral person does, but you’ve never asked Jesus directly to take up the role of savior and friend in your heart and life, then let me ask you: why not? I can guarantee you’ve got a vacant space in your heart that only Jesus can fill. Only Jesus can fill that. If you do not acknowledge that, you are (I’m going to use a hard word here) you are damned to continue pursuing cheap copies. And I don’t think “damned” or “damnation” is too strong a word here. The most tragic life a person can live is pursuing a cheap plastic copy of fulfillment. It’s no more than a drug that some of our friends might take because they’re medicating from their hurt. Well, you don’t have to inject or snort or smoke something. You can simply pursue something a little more societally acceptable. You can pursue stuff. You can pursue power. You can pursue fame. You can pursue influence. You can do all these things that society will look at and say, “Look at him, boy, that’s a go-getter, I want to get in league with that individual.” It’s still medication. And if you’re pursuing any of that, that’s a life fraught with one disappointment after the other.

Who else has ever called you a pearl of eternal worth? Who else has ever poured out their everything to the point of death just to be in relationship with you? It’s a scary challenge to put these questions out there, except in this particular case, because this is literally life and death. Some people might say, “That’s right, you’ve got to put the fear of God into them, scare the hell out of them so they’ll come running to the cross.” It isn’t necessarily right now, today, about what happens on the final day of your walk here on earth, when I get to walk into glory and all my pain is done. It has to do with today. How do you live today? What does tomorrow bring for you? Do you have purpose for tomorrow? If you have a God-given purpose, you’re not just existing, you’re living. But if you are content to continue pursuing cheap copies that merely placate and medicate you for a short period of time, that’s a sad, I’m not even going to call it life. It’s a sad existence.

There is absolutely nobody else other than Jesus Christ who has ever placed that kind of value on you. Knowing what he pursues, he sells all. He leaves all behind to purchase you, and purchase you, and purchase you, and pursue you day after day after day into deeper and deeper and deeper relationship and intimacy with him. There is nobody else. He doesn’t care about your regrettable past. He doesn’t care about everything you have replaced him with to medicate yourself, even for a moment. He can deal with that. What he cares about is what he holds before you, what he offers you. And now he’s offering life. He’s offering life now and into eternity. He’s offering abundance without end. If you’ve never known that, if that is not your reality, then today is your day.

Invitation and prayer

This is your prayer call. I’m going to ask a prayer team to come up, and while they’re coming, I’ll say this: we often say there are a myriad of reasons you might want to come up and get prayer, and that’s still true today. But I want to put a little bit of an exclamation point on these things.

If you have never lived a life of joy in claiming Christ, you might want to get some prayer for that, because that is certainly not the Father’s intention, not remotely. Or if you’re the person who’s never really made that move to say, “I surrender all to the Lordship of Jesus Christ so I can have the life he promises, I’m sick of coming to church on a Sunday because it’s simply what a good moral person does” (you can have all the appearance of a lovely guy and your soul could be empty) then come up for that. And all the other in-between stuff, if you just need to lay something at the feet of Jesus, come up and do that. And if you just want to say, “God’s been so good to me, I want to give him glory for what he’s done for me this week,” they’d love to hear that too, and they’ll rejoice along with you.

But don’t let today go without knowing two things: that my purpose in life is not to exist. My purpose in life is to live the life I am called to live, in joy and confidence of being called to something great, wonderful, everlasting, eternal. And if you’ve never known that hope, then today is your day too. Do not let the opportunity pass you by.

Would you join me in prayer? Father, thank you. Thank you that when we pursued you, it was a shock. It was a surprise. It was amazing. That what you promised was so far beyond the cheap copies of what we’ve given our lives to in the past. And thank you, Lord, that you see us as a pearl of great value. Father, I confess I can’t deal with the reality. It simply does not compute for me. My comprehension is not extended to that. And I thank you, God, that it is no less true. It is no less true. So, Father, if there’s anybody who has not made that decision, and if the Holy Spirit is stirring on your heart even now to say, “Get on your feet, make that move”, ask for the joy, ask for the salvation that is so freely given. Don’t ignore what the Spirit is whispering to you right now. It is literally a call that divides life and death. Father, thank you that your faithfulness is so amazing, that your love goes so deep, that the joy you are offering us goes so far beyond the circumstance we find ourselves in today. Thank you, Lord. We leave this at your feet now. We pray this in Jesus’ name.