The Rev. Jimmy Abbott
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
July 30, 2023
Matthew 13:31-33,44-52

The audio version of this sermon is available on the Trinity Episcopal Church podcast. Unfortunately, the video of this sermon is not available. The church is installing a new sound system and there was a technical issue with the video of this Sunday’s service.

The kingdom of heaven is like, it’s like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

You know the standard sermon that comes with this parable. The preacher is supposed to convince you, that you are the merchant, you’ve been searching for meaning your whole life, and that a life with Jesus is the pearl of great value. The preacher is supposed to persuade you to go, and sell everything you have, literally or figuratively, and spend all of it so that you can purchase this one great pearl. Jesus. 

Depending on how spunky the preacher is feeling, they might throw in some fear. You know, if you don’t buy that pearl, you might not get to heaven, because clearly you don’t love Jesus enough. Or depending on how sly the preacher is, it might just be that the money you give for the great pearl, somehow, makes it into the preacher’s bank account. This is what I would call pastoral and rhetorical malpractice. 

This week, I’ve been under the weather so I’ve been reading John Steinbeck’s, “The Pearl.” I know, I know, I should’ve binge watched something on Netflix. Instead I read angsty American literature. I am who I am. But “The Pearl” is a fantastic commentary on this parable. In our blind desire to grasp, to sell, to buy, even if the end goal is good, we end up losing our souls. This is human folly. Even if what we want is good and righteous altogether, if we go after it, to seek it, to buy it, to purchase it, it will not make us happy. Purchasing the pearl is foolishness. It’s a convenient way for people like me, to get you to give more.

So we need to talk about the way we read parables. Go back in your mind to high school geometry. That’s the class you went to after reading Steinbeck. In geometry, a parabola is a big arc. It goes up like this, makes a turn, and then goes down like this. Parabola. Parable. 

That’s how these stories from Jesus function. He’s telling them, and you think you can suss out the ending, but it takes a turn and ends up going the other way. A guy plants a little mustard seed. Oh it’s tiny, you think. But it turns around and becomes a huge bush. Some guys go fishing, and make a huge catch. Great! Except, some of the fish are no good. 

One other important way to read a parable, is to look for who God is in the parable. Remember, the Bible is about God, not about us. I think it’s actually supposed to be God who is the fisherman who brings in the great catch and sorts them out. God is the woman kneading dough. God is the farmer. God is the merchant. Because it’s not about us, it’s not about what we buy, it’s about God.

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The Lord God is like a merchant in search of his people; on finding them, and loving them, he went and gave even his own Son so that they would know him. 

Now, there’s some gospel. 

We can quit this human drive to go out and find the truth and search for meaning – because God is the one who finds us. God is the subject of the sentence. The action begins with God. And, it gives me goosebumps to think about it, you are the pearl of great price. You are. Jesus was willing to become human and live like us and get hungry and have friends and get angry and then to die, because you are worth it. It’s not that you have to prove you’re worth it by buying anything, no. You are the pearl of great price. You have been bought. And the Lord God has stooped to this earth and died and rose and ascended into heaven so that you would know it. This is grace. The unearned, undeserved, free love of God. 

Use your imagination with me. You know that look, that smile you have when you look at a great pearl. Or a pearl necklace or earrings. Think of the way that we treasure our pearls, we lock them up, we tell stories about them, we pass them on from generation to generation. That’s the way that God looks at us. God treasures us, keeps us, values us because we were bought with a great price. Of course, we’re not perfect, and no pearl is. Notice, it doesn’t say that the merchant found the perfect pearl. Because sometimes it’s the imperfections, the swirls and coloration and texture that gives a pearl its beauty. And there is no ideal pearl. Pearls are white or yellow or milky or black; some are round but some are not. Some are as big as marbles, some are as small as pebbles. And we’re island people, we know where pearls come from. They come from dirt. That over years and years inside an oyster that dirt is polished into something extraordinarily beautiful, even if each is pearl is vastly different. That’s you. That’s who God loves and adores as the pearl of great price. God loves you, not as you used to be, not as you hope to be, not as you would be if only you had more of this or less of that. No. You are the pearl of great price and God has found you and God has given everything for you, even his own blood.

This is the gospel. 

And this is why we come to church. To thank God for the way that God looks at us. Not to earn our way into heaven or to get into God’s good graces. I hope you see how perverse that idea is. Because that’s the opposite of grace. The point of Christianity is not to earn anything, or to gain anything. No, we believe that God has given us more than we can ask or imagine. It’s all grace. You are the pearl of great price.

Now, I want you all to know, that in the coming months, we at Trinity, your leaders, will be asking you to consider your financial gifts to the church. We’re at an important juncture in the life our parish. You can tell, the needs of our congregation are growing. I’ll tell you, the staff and volunteers at this church, we’re like he hamster in the wheel, running and running but never quite able to get to the bottom. Because there is always more to do and not enough to do it. And you can tell, our church is in need of some physical work. Maintaining and preserving this old place is not cheap. So, yes, we will be asking you to consider how much and why you give to Trinity. And I will not be shy about saying that, and asking you to give. Because we believe this is important.

But I do want to clear the theological air – you are the pearl of great price. This parable is not a church marketing campaign. Your status as God’s beloved is not contingent upon anything that you give or don’t give. That’s not how the gospel works. God has purchased us with the blood of Jesus. That is what makes the pearl so valuable. 

We give in return. A free gift of ourselves back to God, in thanks for what God has done for us. We give, we pray, we worship, we serve, we love our neighbors because God first loved us, not because that is how we buy our way into the kingdom of heaven, no. Because that is the last thing I have to say about this parable. If you could buy the pearl, if you could buy the kingdom of heaven, that would make you the owner. And we have seen far too often what happens when humans think that they are in control of God’s kingdom. It leads only to exclusion, fear, and sin. Quit your striving, quit your buying, quit thinking that you can or should purchase the love of God. The Lord God is like a merchant searching for you; on finding you, and loving you, he went and gave even his own Son so that you would know Jesus.