A Merchant

The Kingdom is Like…

A Merchant

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.—Matthew 13:45-46

Merchants were suspect

The Greek word used for merchant is emperos[1], which is where we get our English word “emporium.” In the 21st-century Western world, we generally have positive views of merchants. When we think of merchants, we think of successful business people; those who contribute to the economy, small business owners who work hard, or local family businesses.

All these positive associations disappear when the term is heard in the Biblical context. An emporos was a wholesaler of items consumers did not need at prices they could not afford.

The only other place emporos appears in the New Testament is in the book of Revelation, and its description is not nice. Depicting the Roman Empire as a whore, John connects the “kings of the earth” who have “committed adultery with her” to the “merchants of the earth” who have become rich off of her also (Rev 18:3). These same merchants “weep and mourn” because nobody buys from them anymore (Rev 8:11).

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, merchants are similarly depicted. Other than a few neutral references, it is emperoi who sell Joseph into slavery (Gen 37:28).[2]Intertestamental Jewish literature consistently portrays them as greedy, morally suspect, and even complicit in the enslavement of fellow Israelites.

Moreover, it was practically impossible for a Jew to be a merchant because they were foreign traders who encountered all sorts of things and people. They could have no concern for ritual purity. Merchants were boundary crossers and therefore socially suspect. [3]

I could keep going, but I think the point is clear. In the Jewish imagination, merchants were generally not viewed in a positive light. That makes Jesus' choice of imagery all the more surprising.

Notice that he does not say, "The kingdom of heaven is like a pearl." We often jump to allegory, assuming the pearl is Jesus or the kingdom, or that the merchant represents Jesus and we are the pearl. But that is not what Jesus says.

Instead, he compares the kingdom of heaven to a merchant—a figure his audience would have found morally suspect. That unexpected comparison should make us pause.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant…” Jesus has my attention.

“…looking for fine pearls.”

Pearls were Rare

Pearls were not just any kind of Jewelry; they were the most rare and expensive. To regard pearls as just a fine type of jewelry is to sell the parable short. They held the topmost rank of all things (not just jewelry but all things).

Most people in the Roman Empire would go their entire lives without ever seeing a pearl. They were simply too rare and too expensive.  Pearls belonged to the world of the privileged, the powerful, and the extraordinarily wealthy. That's part of what makes John's vision in Revelation 21 of the New Jerusalem so striking—each of its gates is made from a single pearl (Rev. 21:21).

Our suspect merchant was in a specific business of extravagant pearls.

Liquidates His inventory

But our merchant does something strange…

“When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

Matthew's language is striking. The phrase "everything he had" means exactly that: everything. He liquidates his entire life to acquire a single pearl.[4]

This makes the merchant's actions even more surprising than in the previous parable. The man who discovered the hidden treasure sold everything to buy the field, but he could immediately benefit from both the treasure and the land.

The merchant, however, exchanges all of his possessions for a single pearl. It is an object of extraordinary value, but not one that feeds him, houses him, or sustains him. Unless he sells the pearl again, he has traded his entire livelihood for something he can only admire.

Usually when we read this parable, we automatically believe that the man has done the intelligent and wise thing. But the parable never actually says his decision was wise.

Whether what he did was smart or foolish, in obtaining the pearl, something important has happened that we cannot miss:

In buying the pearl he has changed his identity.

He was a pearl salesman, but he liquidated his entire inventory. What kind of merchant has only one pearl and it is not for sale? The moment he invested everything in the pearl, he stopped being a merchant. His purchase did more than change what he owned; it changed who he was.

Before my father immigrated to the United States, his father was killed in El Salvador. During the civil war, the rebels traveled from town to town, seeking support. During that time, many people disappeared, and many were killed. The rebels had been extorting from my grandfather until he refused. One evening, they broke into the house and murdered him. My father witnessed the whole thing.  

This event changed my father. He was filled with rage, anger, hate, and fear. Eventually, he moved to the United States, but the trauma[5]led him to become an alcoholic. The addiction took control of his entire life; he couldn’t even stay sober in the daytime. At the time, my grandma had been receiving Bible studies from Adventists, and my father, who had grown up a Catholic, was upset at the fact.

Down the street from where he lived in Washington, DC, there was an Adventist church that had already kicked him out several times for coming in drunk on Sabbath mornings. One Sabbath, while in a drunken stupor, he bypassed the deacons and sat in the back row.

As he sat and listened to the message, hope dawned in his heart. He staggered home that afternoon and, in defeat, fell to the floor and said to God, “If you can help me overcome this addiction, then I will serve you.” He then emptied out all the alcohol in the house down the toilet, and from that day on he never drank a drop of alcohol again.

In that moment, he redefined himself. Every one of us has a story like that, perhaps not as dramatic, but just as real. There is an old identity we carry, and a new identity Christ invites us to walk into.

Just as the merchant was no longer a merchant after selling all that he had, so my father was no longer a victim of the rebels or an alcoholic.

Remember, Jesus compared the kingdom to a merchant, not a pearl. Because just as the United States is not just the land but the people, so the kingdom is not just an eschatological reality but it is also the people who make it up. The kingdom of God is made up of people whose identities have been redefined.

The parableof the man who found buried treasure challenges us to ask ourselves if our encounter with the kingdom has changed our priorities.

And the parable of the merchant who sold all that he had for a single pearl challenges us to ask ourselves if our identities have been redefined.

Application

We all, like this merchant, have an enterprise. By that I mean a pursuit around which we've organized our lives.

So perhaps the better question is not, "What is your pearl?" but "What is your enterprise?" What is the thing around which you've built your life?

Is it your career? Your accomplishments? Your failures? Your political tribe? Your addiction? Your past? Your family name? Your trauma?

Whatever your answer is, if someone took that away, would you still know who you are?

If you don't have an answer right now, that's okay. But this week, pay attention to what occupies your thoughts. What are you always talking about? What are you constantly worrying about? What are you afraid to lose? Where are you easily triggered? Those things often reveal the enterprise around which you've organized your life.

It’s worth noting that, the opposite of this parable is not walking away from the pearl. It is buying the pearl while remaining a merchant.

One contemporary example of this is what has become popular on the religious right: Christian nationalism. I use it only because it is a prominent conversation in our culture right now. There is nothing wrong with loving our country or being grateful to be Americans. But even love of country can become an enterprise around which we organize our lives.

The temptation of Christian nationalism is to buy the pearl but keep the business open. We welcome Jesus into our lives, but he serves the old identity. He becomes useful for our politics, our national identity, our ideology, or our desire for cultural influence. The pearl is still for sale because we are still merchants.

But Christian nationalism is only one example. We can do the same thing with our careers, our families, our denomination, our ministries, our ambitions, our fears, or our wounds. Any time we ask Jesus to serve the enterprise we've already built instead of allowing him to redefine it, we are still merchants.

Citizens of the kingdom havve reorganized their life around their kingdom citizenship. What would change if, above all else, the pearl of great price changed how you understood yourself? If you had no citizenship, except your kingdom citizenship, how would it change the way you speak about the poor, the immigrant, the stranger, the sinner, your political opponents, your coworkers, your spouse, your children, and even those who have hurt you?

The merchant did not add one more pearl to his collection.

He stopped being a merchant.

May your encounter with King Jesus do the same.

[1] ἔμπορος

[2] In the inter-testimental literature it is emperoi who sell other Israelites into slavery (1Macc 3:42; 2 Macc 8:34). Ben Sira states, “A merchant can hardly keep from wrongdoing, nor is a tradesman innocent of sin.” (Sir 26:29) and he also states, “Do not consult with… a merchant about business or with a buyer about selling… pay no attention to any advice they give.” (Sir 37:11). They are not to be trusted!

[3] Not only were merchants viewed with suspicion, but so was the entire enterprise. The Greek word for “market” is ἐμπόριον. In John 2:16, Jesus casts out all the merchants of the Jerusalem Temple, saying, ““Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

[4] In Matthew 18 Jesus tells a parable of a servant who is not able to pay his debts and in verse 25 it reads “Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.”

[5] In the story of the Good Samaritan in states that the Samaritan bound up the travelers “wounds”. The Greek word Luke uses for wounds is τραῦμα (trauma). I imagine Jesus healing my fathers childhood wounds when I tell this story.