Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving through the short set of parables in the second part of Matthew chapter 13, we come to a parable about as long as our previous one about the Kingdom of heaven being represented by treasure hidden in a field. However, while this parable sounds very similar on the surface, when we look a little closer at the details that are described, we discover this parable has a slightly different focus and a slightly different perspective.

With this in mind, let’s read the second parable in this set. Our parable and passage for this episode are found in Matthew, chapter 13, and we will again read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 45, Jesus continued sharing, saying:

⁴⁵ “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for fine pearls, ⁴⁶ and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl.

On the surface, this parable sounds almost identical to the previous parable. The similarities are powerful, because in both parables the man sells everything in order to gain what he sees as valuable.

However, whenever I read this pearl parable, I am left wondering about what happened next. Many translations describe the man seeking the fine pearls as a merchant. As a merchant, this man would be more able to recognize pearls that were valuable verses ones that were not. In this parable, the man sells everything he has in order to buy this very valuable pearl.

At the end of this parable, the merchant is left with nothing except for the one thing he desired the most. The merchant doesn’t have many options at this point. The man who found the treasure in a field could use some of that treasure to rebuild his life and repurchase some of the things he sold. In that case, he still would have most of the treasure, but also a life too.

But in the merchant’s case, the only equivalent option would be to sell the pearl, perhaps for a greater price than he purchased it, except that this option doesn’t result in the merchant keeping the pearl. A pearl cannot be divided like the treasure chest full of coins that I imagine was what the man in the previous parable stumbled upon.

The merchant gives up everything he has in order to purchase this pearl.

On one hand, we are called to give up everything for Jesus. However, when we read this parable a little more closely, there is an interesting shift in how this parable is framed that the Good News Translation misses.

If we read this parable from the New American Standard Bible, which is my first “go to” translation for study and cross-checking between translations, we discover exactly what in this parable is framed as the Kingdom of heaven. The New American Standard Bible translates verses 45 and 46 as:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

While the two translations are very similar with describing the details of this parable, the New American Standard Bible prompts us to view the kingdom of heaven like the merchant and not like the treasure.

This is a subtle distinction with huge results. One might see the kingdom of heaven being a place or a location we could choose to be. We might be tempted to see it as something both passive and valuable, similar to a bar of gold or a diamond. But this is the treasure way of looking at the kingdom, which was the focus of the “Treasure in a Field” parable.

The “Kingdom as a Merchant” parable gives God’s kingdom an active role, and this description causes us to begin to see God’s kingdom as being more like a movement that is seeking valuables of its own.

While we are tempted to think that we should be the merchant in this parable, the way this parable is shared places us more likely as pearls that are being searched for. We are more like the pearl of great price than the merchant who sold everything!

With these two parables, we have two angles on the same thing. God’s kingdom is an incredibly valuable treasure that we should desire, but God’s kingdom is also looking for treasures that it sees as valuable. One might think of God’s kingdom being like an exclusive club that only admits certain people, and a club like this is seen by many as desirable.

While God’s kingdom is not exclusive in the typical sense of the word, it is instead inclusive for all who want to be a part of it. God’s kingdom welcomes those who accept the invitation into it, and God’s kingdom knows that not everyone has to choose to be a part of it. God is not going to force someone into His kingdom who does not want to be there.

This thought makes me ask myself if I am living in a way that God would see me as a treasure. While I know that nothing I do will make God love me any less, at the same time I know that God views different actions/choices differently. In my own life, am I choosing to live in a way that reveals how I am valued and valuable in God’s eyes? This is a tricky question, but it comes down to self-worth.

God loved you and I so much that Jesus came into the world to take the punishment we deserved onto Himself. This simple truth displays how much we are valued in God’s eyes. The big challenge I see is how to best respond to this amazing display of value. If God values you and I that He would be willing to give His own life for us, who are we to think we are worthless or cheap? Jesus came to show us how much God loves us, and to invite us to be sons and daughters of the King of the Universe!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to remember and recognize that God sees each of us, you and I included, as so valuable that Jesus came to take the punishment we deserved for our sin. Because God valued us this much, let’s choose to live in a way that says we value ourselves because we are God’s pearl of great price!

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through regular prayer and Bible study, we open our hearts to God’s Holy Spirit and we let Him take us and transform us into the people He created us to be!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through John’s gospel, our last episode ended with Jesus secretly going up to the feast, alone, without either His disciples or His brothers. Part of the reason for this was because the Jews were openly looking for Jesus in order to arrest Him. However, as we will discover in our passage for this episode, Jesus had a hard time staying out of the spotlight.

Our passage for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read it from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 14, John tells us that:

¹⁴ When the feast was about half over, Jesus went to the Temple and began to teach. ¹⁵ The people were amazed and said, “This man has never studied in school. How did he learn so much?”

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “The things I teach are not my own, but they come from him who sent me. ¹⁷ If people choose to do what God wants, they will know that my teaching comes from God and not from me. ¹⁸ Those who teach their own ideas are trying to get honor for themselves. But those who try to bring honor to the one who sent them speak the truth, and there is nothing false in them. ¹⁹ Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys that law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

Pausing briefly, the way Jesus opens His response to the question of where His knowledge came from is powerful. First, Jesus acknowledges that what He is teaching is not His own ideas. Instead, Jesus is teaching ideas from God. However, Jesus then makes an amazing statement. In verse 17, Jesus tells this crowd: “If people choose to do what God wants, they will know that my teaching comes from God and not from me.”

This statement is powerful, and it is a promise we can apply in our own lives and our own world today. If we choose to do what God wants, we will know whether Jesus’ teaching is from God or not. The reverse is also true. If we choose to ignore or reject doing what God wants, we will ultimately discount Jesus, His teaching, and everything about Him.

With that said, how do we know whether we are doing what God really wants?

If this is an open question in your mind, we don’t need to look any farther than a few weeks ago in our podcast episodes, and into the previous chapter in John. Earlier in Jesus’ ministry, while challenging the crowd He fed, Jesus shares the answer to the question about what God really wants. In John, chapter 6, verse 29, Jesus tells the crowd plainly: “The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent.”

According to Jesus, believing in Him is the clearest way to discover whether His teaching is from God or not. In other words, Jesus invites us to try life His way and when we accept Jesus’ challenge, we will discover personally whether Jesus’ way is best.

This is the best strategy to take, because it is a personal strategy, and it opens the door for God to show up in our lives. The worst thing someone could do is ignore Jesus on the recommendation of someone else who has chosen to ignore Jesus and ultimately miss out on the rewards because they didn’t try Jesus’ way out for themselves!

However, the people, or at least some of those in the crowd, are a little confused at Jesus calling out the plot to kill Him. In verse 20, John tells us that:

²⁰ The people answered, “A demon has come into you. We are not trying to kill you.”

²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. ²² Moses gave you the law about circumcision. (But really Moses did not give you circumcision; it came from our ancestors.) And yet you circumcise a baby boy on a Sabbath day. ²³ If a baby boy can be circumcised on a Sabbath day to obey the law of Moses, why are you angry at me for healing a person’s whole body on the Sabbath day? ²⁴ Stop judging by the way things look, but judge by what is really right.”

²⁵ Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. ²⁶ But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him, and no one is trying to stop him. Maybe the leaders have decided he really is the Christ. ²⁷ But we know where this man is from. Yet when the real Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”

²⁸ Jesus, teaching in the Temple, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. But I have not come by my own authority. I was sent by the One who is true, whom you don’t know. ²⁹ But I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

³⁰ When Jesus said this, they tried to seize him. But no one was able to touch him, because it was not yet the right time. ³¹ But many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple guards to arrest him. ³³ Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the One who sent me. ³⁴ You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.”

³⁵ Some people said to each other, “Where will this man go so we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live and teach the Greek people there? ³⁶ What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘You cannot come where I am’?”

In this extended time teaching in the temple, I am amazed because Jesus takes one of the groups of people and turns their hesitation into belief. While Jesus shares some challenging things, this group rightly concludes that it would be unlikely for anyone to come afterwards who will do more miracles or be a more positive influence in the world than Jesus was.

While I could share more, the big challenge I see in Jesus’ message is that we should trust Jesus even though there will likely always be unanswered questions. Some of our questions are simply unanswerable, and when we face a question that does not have a good answer, the easy temptation is to doubt because we don’t understand. However, we are called to have faith that every question we have will be answered at the right moment, and it is possible that the right moment for some questions will be when we stand face to face with Jesus after He has returned and brought us home to heaven.

The big thing for us to remember and focus on is doing what God wants us to do, and that is believing the One He sent, and testing Jesus’ teachings out in our own lives to know personally whether what Jesus shared is from God or not. When we have personally walked the path God created us to walk, we’ll discover who Jesus truly is and we’ll get a glimpse of the amazing future God has prepared for us when Jesus returns to bring us home!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to believe in Jesus and trust that His sacrifice on the cross is enough to pay the penalty for your sins. Choose to take Jesus at His word and trust that He will give you the answers to your questions when the time is right.

Also, pray and study the Bible for yourself and try God’s way in your own life. Choose to pray and study the Bible for yourself and test God’s truth by applying it into your life in order to know whether Jesus’ way is really the best way to live. I’ve done this in my own life and determined that Jesus’ way is both better today, even with the challenges it brings, and the rewards for following Jesus are better than we could even imagine. This is what I have discovered in my own journey, and I challenge you to take the journey for yourself instead of taking anyone’s word for it.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!