Pearls, treasures, wants, dreams
Foolish, risky, courageous, daring
Detachment, redefining, recognition, living
All these words and ideas came out during a discussion of a very short story. A story of only 32 words by Jesus. Yes, one of the parables. I’m participating in a series of discussions focused on the book, Short Stories by Jesus. The author is Amy-Jill Levine and she breaks down the parables…the misinterpretations, the stereotypes, and how they more accurately would have been heard and understood 2,000 years ago.
The parable that was the focus of this particular discussion was the Pearl of Great Price:
The kingdom of heaven is like a man, a merchant, seeking fine pearls; on finding one pearl of extremely great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:45-46)
Among the more common interpretations, the pearl represents salvation, the Gospel, Jesus; and the merchant is the disciple that gives up everything for these things. For me, this parable with these interpretations always left me scratching my head and not getting it. There has always been something off for me with this story. In reading Levine’s commentary and analysis, along with our lively discussion, I realized that the first reason this parable has always bothered me is the last two words…”bought it.” If the pearl were salvation, the Gospel, and Jesus, one wouldn’t be able to buy any of them, these are gifts and not commodities.
But, taking this common interpretation at face value, there’s another reason this parable has bothered me. Aside from “buying” this amazing pearl (salvation maybe), I think this story is easy to in less than Christian ways and can be used as a way to guilt people. I’m thinking of the televangelists and the prosperity gospel preachers here, as well as anyone else who would play on people’s emotions. The messages that say give to the church and you will be rewarded in heaven or with salvation, or you will be blessed with even more, are playing on people’s search for assurances. Give up everything and you can have this incredible ______.
What came out in the reading and discussion is that this story isn’t so much about the pearl, but about the process. It’s about our ability and willingness to live life to the fullest. Yet, that doesn’t mean having the biggest house, the fastest sportscar, or having a vacation home in some tropical place. This isn’t a story about having the best or most stuff.
Towards the end of this chapter, a story is recounted of a student of the author’s. The student had delayed earning a PhD, something she had wanted to do for a long time. When her life was turned upside down, she decided to go for it. This was her pearl. As we talked about this, I remembered two other stories I had heard other people tell which spoke to this idea of giving up things, or of finding life by grabbing hold of something bigger.
The first is the personal story Savanna Sullivan shared at the ELCA Youth Gathering in Houston, TX in 2018. She told the story of getting ready to leave home for a year abroad as a volunteer in Rwanda. Her father asks her one evening if she’s ready to die for this opportunity…she has an immune disorder and her doctor recommended that she stay home. She responded to her father…”I’m not ready to die for this, but I’m ready to live for this.”
The other story that came to mind was told by Rob Bell towards the end of his Shells video. One day on the beach, they spot a starfish and one of his young sons starts heading out into the water to get it. He makes several attempts, going out a bit further each time, but each time turning around and coming back up onto the sand. His father asks him why he’s not grabbing the starfish. The young son explains that he can’t pick up the starfish because his hands are full of shells…bits and pieces of shells he had been picking up along the beach.
Suddenly this parable was not about the pearl being salvation or the Gospel, but a story asking “What are you willing to live for?” The fine pearls, the delays, the risk of being sick a long distance from home, the bits of shells…all these things were hurdles to grabbing hold of something life-giving and joy-giving. The merchant, the students, the young boy had all recognized an opportunity, a gift…something of “extremely great value.”
While the parable has the merchant giving up his “fine pearls” and everything he has for the one pearl of “extremely great value”, what “things” are we holding onto that keep us from pursuing that which is life-giving? Maybe it’s not physical things that we are holding onto. Maybe there are “things” that give us security, like a well-paying career, yet they are sucking the life out of us. Or maybe we’ve needed to focus on other priorities, like children or aging parents, so we settled into a routine and put our dreams aside. And then there are all those little things that fill our days, and thus our lives, that keep us busy, too busy sometimes, that we don’t stop to look around us and prevent us from recognizing opportunities. Finally, we hold onto fears, doubts, worries, and judgements, unable to make a decision sometimes or unwilling to take the risk, to take that leap of faith.
Back to the parable, the kingdom of heaven is not the pearl, it is “like.” It is like dropping the bits of shells to pick up the starfish. It is like grabbing an opportunity that is worth living for, not sacrificing life for it but that will give life. Levine mentions the concept of detachment in this particular chapter. Detachment is not about giving everything away, it’s about not being owned or controlled by our things, our busyness. It’s about being able to let go so we can grab onto life.
So what is your pearl? What have you been delaying out of busyness, fear, or doubts? What life-giving dreams do you need to grab a hold of? To go back to Savanna’s question…”What are you willing to live for?”