“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant [Jesus Christ] seeking beautiful pearls [his church; you], who, on finding one pearl of great price, [he cannot place a value on us] went and sold all that he had and bought it [he bought us with the great price of himself as the living sacrifice]
Matthew 13:45-46
Jesus, then, who comes as a merchant seeking fine pearls and sold all that he had. Ephesians 5:25,27 He loves the church and gave himself for it.
For some reason the Hebrew people did not think much of them. But these disciples were Galatians, and Galilee was a region to which many Gentiles came. So they were familiar with Gentile traders who came looking for valuable pearls and who would pay fabulous prices for them in order to purchase them — not for themselves but for their kings.
The pearl פנינה is the only jewel that is the result of a living organism growing as a response to irritation and hurt. What symbol of that more perfect than a pearl could ever be given? Something hurts an oyster, but the oyster’s response is to transform and transmute the injurious object, covering it with a soft and delicate nacre which is built up layer by layer until it forms a lustrous and shining and beautiful jewel.
You are THE PEARL. That is what our Father has chosen as a symbol of you. Healing human hurt is God’s business. He came and gave all that he had so that he might take all the hurt of humanity into his own heart, might know the aching agony of all that we go through, and thus be able to touch us, to heal us, and to minister to us by beginning to clothe us with his own beauty, taking of his own life, so that we might become more and more like him. You are made to sit in His crown of glory! And that is the greatest action of His Love.
~ Lori Caplin
Restored People Community 