A Most Precious Gem
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls that when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:45.
A pearl is a deposit formed in the shell of certain mollusks and is valued as a gem. Pearls can be seen adorning the neck of women, embroidered into rich apparels, inlaid in the crowns of queens and princesses, set on rings, etc. This gem is considered so precious that it is said that Julius Casesar undertook the conquest of the British Isles because of rumours that fine pearls were to be found there.
A true pearl is an abnormality which results from the intrusion of some foreign object into a shell, such as a grain of sand, or a small worm. The mollusk then starts segregating a fluid called mother of pearl, a form of calcium carbonate, which covers the foreign body with multiple layers. Most pearls are white, but some of them may be pink or purple. As they are extracted from the mollusk they do not need a special treatment (as gems that originate from rocks do), but pearls are very sensitive and may be eroded by acids, including perspiration or perfume.
Pearl oysters are found on coral reefs at depths of 10 to 20 meters and collected in bags by divers, usually working out of small boats. As it happens in the Greek Island of Kalymnos, when the men, at certain time of the year, leave the island to go to high sea to dive for sponges. Only the women, old people and children are left in the island. These divers are looking for pearls.
The kingdom of heaven is like a pearl. One has to venture in search of it, to dive deeply in order to find it. One needs courage to sail into the deep sea, away from one’s beloved on ones. It is in toil and loneliness that one may find this treasure, not among the crowd and the “security” of one’s family circle. When the oyster is found, there is the need of a sharp tool to open it. Spiritually, we may say that the oyster is a Bible verse that entails a precious teaching. But without the help of the Holy Spirit, the sharpest of tools, its mystery is not revealed to our heart.
The Spirit of Prophecy tells us that the parable of the pearl “has a double significance: it applies not only to men as seeking the kingdom of heaven, but also to Christ as seeking His lost inheritance. Christ, the heavenly merchantman seeking goodly pearls, saw in lost humanity the pearl of price. In man, defiled and ruined by sin, He saw the possibilities of redemption… God looked upon humanity, not as vile and worthless, He looked upon it in Christ, saw it as it might become through redeeming love.” (COL, p. 118) It is only through a personal revelation that we may possess this precious gem; Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit, that sharp tool, opens its unpretentious case. “He has no form of comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should see Him!” (Isaiah 53:3)
When we consider this pearl as each one of us, since a pearl originates from a grain or sand, or a worm (and both things correspond to our carnal nature) which got into the shell (Jesus Christ), we experience that He, as soon as we come into His arms, covers us with His grace. He gives us His robe of righteousness (the mother of pearl) so that our insignificance is not seen. In the process of a lifetime, we are turned into a precious gem that will one day adorn His royal crown.
In Japan there are cultivated pearls; man intervenes to make this process possible so as to produce a larger quantity to satisfy the demands of the market. In Malloraca, one of the Balearic Islands, in Spain, there are factories that make the best imitations of pearls, and only experts can distinguish between a real one and a fake or cultivated one. The precious pearl that the Lord wants to make out of us requires no participation of the human hand. It is a delicate, time consuming, mysterious process which happens, even in spite of ourselves, once we have fallen into the protective, warm and caring shell of His infinite love, from which there is no way to escape. As it happens to the caterpillar, which after some time wrapped in a cocoon, turns into a beautiful butterfly, in due time, the Lord, once His work is finished, will reveal to the world the gems that He so patiently and lovingly has been preparing in the depth.
Whichever interpretation we may give to this verse, we should plead for the help of the Spirit to open the Scriptures to us. As well, we must ask for a revelation of Jesus Christ as our Saviour. We should humbly pray to the Lord Jesus to take us and keep us under His shelter, to cover us with His righteousness and never let us go. This will be until He, the Author and Finisher of our faith, finishes His work, so that we may have the privilege one day, very soon, to go through the pearly gates and enter the Holy City.
AMEN