Wisdom in Pearls

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." -Matthew 13:44

The idea, on its most basic level, behind this passage is that Jesus is telling his followers that when they discover the secret to Heaven that everything else that they have previously valued falls by the wayside. The following verse seems to simply re-state the concept:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it." -Matthew 13:45-46

This lends to the idea that man is hunting for something beautiful and precious, and when he finds the most precious thing, all other pursuits become immaterial.

What interests me about this second passage though is the use of the pearl imagery. Pearls, as we've come to understand, are not formed as other precious gems are, but out of an act of survival. Mollusks get bits of irritant things, be they particles of sand or other parasites, stuck inside. In order to prevent the foreign substance from killing them, they surround the irritant with components that make up mother of pearl. What is more interesting though is the history of mollusks within the Jewish tradition:

"Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean. " -Deut. 14:9-10

In other words, shellfish, which do not have fins or scales, were not eaten as they were seen by the Jews as unclean. So why in the world would Jesus use an example of a pearl as something that is valuable, coming from a specific animal that the Jews were told by God that was unclean?

I think it is because WE are the ones that are unclean, sinners, unworthy to be touched, condemned before God. For the mollusk, it takes an outside impetus separate from the animal to enter into it and stir a natural reaction that produces something beautiful and precious. In a like manner, salvation for men comes from an outside impetus, an act that was done apart from ourselves, that implants a new essence inside of us that stirs a natural reaction.

Jesus entered the world born in a manger, a dirty place to begin the life of the King of Kings. But he was willing to do it. The beginning of a beautiful pearl enters into an unclean place, an innocuous place for something so precious to develop. On that same note, our hearts, sinful to the core, obstinate to the God of the Heavens, the most unworthy place for the Holy Spirit to dwell, is the very place He makes His home to transform us into the likeness of His Son.