Parable of the Pearl

The parable reads as follows: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.This parable is generally interpreted as illustrating the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Theologian E. H. Plumptre, in Anglican bishop Charles Ellicott's Commentary, notes that: "the caprices of luxury in the Roman empire had given a prominence to pearls, as an article of commerce, which they had never had before, and have probably never had since.

"[5]Theologian John Nolland likewise notes that pearls at that time had a greater value than they do today,[6] and it thus has a similar theme to its partner, the parable of the hidden treasure.

One pearl, the most precious of all, is the knowledge of the Saviour and the sacrament of His passion and resurrection, which when the merchantman has found, like Paul the Apostle, he straightway despises all the mysteries of the Law and the Prophets and the old observances in which he had lived blameless, counting them as dung that he may win Christ (Phillipians 3:8.)

"[11] Gregory the Great: "Or by the pearl of price is to be understood the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom, which, he that hath found it, selleth all and buyeth.

"[11] Augustine: "Or, A man seeking goodly pearls has found one pearl of great price; that is, he who is seeking good men with whom he may live profitably, finds one alone, Christ Jesus, without sin; or, seeking precepts of life, by aid of which he may dwell righteously among men, finds love of his neighbour, in which one rule, the Apostle says, (Romans 13:9) are comprehended all things; or, seeking good thoughts, he finds that Word in which all things are contained, In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1) which is lustrous with the light of truth, stedfast with the strength of eternity, and throughout like to itself with the beauty of divinity, and when we have penetrated the shell of the flesh, will be confessed as God.

"[11] A version of the parable appears in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas (Saying 76):[3] Jesus said, "The Father's kingdom is like a merchant who had a supply of merchandise and found a pearl.

[12] In the Gnostic Acts of Peter and the Twelve, found with the Gospel of Thomas in the Nag Hammadi library, the travelling pearl merchant Lithargoel is eventually revealed to be Jesus.

[13] There have been several depictions of the New Testament parable in art, including works by Domenico Fetti, John Everett Millais and Jan Luyken.