Matthew 13:45

“Again, the kingly rule of heaven is like to a man who is a merchant seeking goodly pearls, and having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”

In contrast the wealthier merchant does not come across his treasure by accident. He has been looking diligently for pearls. But then he finds a pearl that exceeds all his expectations, and he is so gripped by its quality that he too sells all that he has in order to obtain it. He is like the person whose lifelong search for truth is finally rewarded by coming across the Kingly Rule of Heaven and instantly recognising that it is what he has been looking for. He recognises it for what it is and gives up everything else that it might be his. His heart too is totally given over to the Kingly Rule of Heaven, and to his present enjoyment of it. For him nothing else now matters. He is like the godly in Israel who have been waiting in hope for the Kingly Rule of Heaven.

The point is not that he pays a fair price for the pearl, but that he sees it as so valuable that any sacrifice in order to obtain it is worthwhile. As far as he is concerned it is priceless, and in comparison with it everything else has lost its value. Like the disciples he ‘leaves all and follows Him'. Or in terms of the rich young man later, he sells all that he has, gives it to the poor and follows Him. His heart has been fully possessed.

It is possibly significant that the pearl is indivisible and beyond price. He had to have all or nothing, and he had to give all that he had for it. The Kingly Rule of Heaven brooks no rivals. He could not obtain just part of it, and have a share in it, and meanwhile cling on to the past. The requirement was total. But that pearl had come to mean everything to him and he wanted it above everything else. To be a part of the Kingly Rule of Heaven had become his life. He could then say along with the poor woman in her attic, ‘I have Christ, what want I more?'

So whether a person is poor or wealthy, whether he is an agriculturalist or a business man, whether he comes across it by accident or has been searching for it for all his life, whether he is an outcast or deeply religious, when he finds the Kingly Rule of Heaven it must supersede everything else in his thinking. If he wants to be a part of it he must, and does, devote everything that he has to it.