Mt 13:44-46
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 44“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. 46When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
THE JOY OF DISCOVERY: Because of the constant threat of robbers and marauders, burying valuable objects was a common practice in antiquity. Retrieving them was also common. But a person might forget about the treasure or die without informing the heirs, and so the treasure would remain hidden until someone accidentally found it.
In the parable, the finder probably does not own the field. He has to “sell all he has” to buy the field. Now he has nothing to fall back on. Worse, he dare not dig up because it will raise questions about ownership of the treasure. So, the discovery of the treasure has a potential for disaster for him.
In the same way, the finder of the pearl of great price “sells all that he has” to acquire it. What will he now live on? Ultimately he may have to sell the pearl in order to live.
The parables, however, are not about practicality or even morality. Similar in structure, they have the same message: the great joy of the Kingdom of heaven. The exaggerated features of the stories point to the overwhelming discovery of the Kingdom for which a person will simply give up everything.
The real “actors” which initiate and determine the actions are the treasure and the pearl which represent the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the source of power.
And just as the treasure and the pearl give rise to the action of men, so the call of Jesus induces the disciples to leave boats, homes, and jobs (Mt 4:18-22; 9:9) for the “sake of the kingdom of heaven.”