The Treasure, The Pearl And The Dragnet
THE TREASURE, THE PEARL AND THE DRAGNET
MATTHEW 13:44-52
God’s reign is a treasure worth handing over everything for.
The parables of the hidden treasure (13:44) and the costly pearl (13:45f.) are companion-pieces, each stressing the paramount value of the kingdom of heaven. The fact that the first man hit upon the treasure by chance, while the merchant was engaged in the search for “fine pearls,” is probably irrelevant to the main lesson. It is better that a man should let everything else go than that he should miss this, for to enter the kingdom of heaven is to possess eternal life.
The disciples, who had left everything to follow Jesus (cf. 19:27), had learned the lesson of these parables; here and now they were initiated into “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (13:11) and in the new world they would inherit eternal life (cf. 19:28f.). What seemed to outsiders to be folly was in fact the highest wisdom.
The parable of the dragnet (13:47-50) is a companion-piece to the parable of the weeds (13:24-30); in both the separation of the good from the bad is interpreted of the judgment at “the close (consummation) of the age” (13:39,49). In much rabbinical thought of that time the present age would give place to the age to come: the transition from the one to the other would be marked by resurrection and judgment. In some phases of thought the period of the Messiah’s reign would intervene before the dawn of the new age. Christian thought modified this scheme in view of the belief that Jesus was the Messiah; his reign began with his triumph over death and exaltation by God and would continue until his advent, which would accordingly mark the “close of the age” (cf. 28:18-20). But even in his earthly ministry, and still more from his passion onwards (cf. 26:64), the powers of the new age were already at work (cf. 11:5; 14:2; 15:30f.).
Whether in fact the disciples understood “all this” as fully as they supposed (13:51) may be doubted. But the evangelist, whose own self-portrait has been recognized in 13:52, sets forth the ideal for all who would be scholars and teachers in the school of Christ; to them, unlike the unbelievers, the parables would convey the instruction they required concerning the kingdom of heaven.
The source of the instruction was “old” (it went back to the visions and oracles of prophets in earlier days) but the mode of its impartation was “new” (it was interpreted in the light of the coming of the kingdom and fulfillment of the prophecies in the ministry of Jesus). Matthew has much to say in criticism of the Pharisaic “scribes” (exponents of the law), but he holds up the picture of the true scribe for the emulation of his readers.