The Parable of the Treasure and the Pearl

Matthew 13:44-46

Malia Keene

 

Setting

 These parables appear back-to-back, which gives the reader the impression that they were told in the same setting.  Also reported near these parables is the parable of the net.  All three of these parables offer comparisons with the Kingdom of Heaven.  However, it is believed that the parables of the treasure and the pearl are "twin parables."  It is said that these parables are without interpretation and seem out of place in this context. It is also unclear whether the parables belong together; they do not occur anywhere else in the gospels (NIB 313).  

Exegetical Analysis

Jesus is describing the Kingdom of Heaven when he tells these parables. They have ideas in common, but are also different. 

  The plowman and merchant sell everything in order to have one item.  They also find themselves in crucial situations, which don't give us enough detail to examine (NIB 313). There are striking differences as well as similarities in the two brief stories. 

  The plowman is not looking for the treasure he accidently stumbles upon, whereas the merchant is purposely seeking vigorously for the premium pearl.  

  "Great joy" describes the plowman's response to his discovery, whereas the merchant's feelings are not described.  This is not to say that he had none, but to point out that Jesus (or Matthew, who preserves the story) did not see fit to express them.  

  The merchant performed a legal transaction.  The plowman, however, seems to have engaged in questionable actions -- whether unethical or illegal.  But we are not given enough details about the plowman's behavior to be certain (NIB 313). He realizes that in order to claim legal ownership to the treasure, he must possess the land.  So he went and did what was required to make the transaction legal (Hendriksen 575). 

  In the end both receive a treasure, whether they were looking for it or not.  Both took the proper action to attain that treasure.  And both sold everything they had to attain that treasure, which was obviously more precious than anything they had or could ever possess.

 Application

These parables tell us how to attain heaven. And they also show us the importance and value of heaven. Just like the plowman and merchant we can attain heaven if we are willing to give up everything. These men didn't seem to think twice about their decision, which could be indicated as stupidity.  However, these men obviously knew the value of the treasure.  They must have realized that what they had was not worth as much as the treasure.  In the same way what we posses and the ideas that we have cannot be worth as much as heaven. 

 To Future Generations

The first of the twin parables could be told to people in our generation with a slightly different comparison. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a groundskeeper who finds a lottery ticket.  He didn't buy it himself and he wasn't looking for it. But to his delight he discovers that it is the winning ticket worth $60,000,000 dollars.  But the problem is that he has found it in someone else's lawn. What should he do? Should he ask the owners of the property if the ticket is theirs? Should he offer to give it to them? Should he sell his lawn-mowing business and everything else he owns, take out a mortgage, and buy the property so that the ticket is technically his, even if after the fact? 

We might compare the pearl merchant to a wealthy businessman who buys companies and is looking to buy a computer manufacturer.  He finds the biggest company at a reasonable rate and he sells everything to buy it.  

Both of these contemporary analogies obviously need further development. Nevertheless, such updated stories might assist us in bringing Jesus' ancient stories to life in our society.