By Todd Paetznick, March 14, 2024

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold everything that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46 NASB20).

Jesus used parables, stories people could understand, to explain complex concepts.  In this case, He explained the value of heaven and eternal life to people who could not see them.  This was, and is, a significant challenge in sharing faith and explaining to people why we, as Christians, have hope for the future.  How can we communicate the value and importance of something that cannot be seen, measured, or quantified?  Where is the proof of heaven or an afterlife?  How can a person choose to do something different with their life when they have no concept of what we are talking about?  Use something familiar as a way to fill the gap in their understanding.

 The parable Jesus told about a valuable pearl was used to explain the value of the kingdom of God using concepts people in Jesus’ day could understand. He wanted to impress on people the value of heaven using a story every person in his audience could understand.  People who are already Christ-followers can also learn from Jesus’ example by updating His parables into a modern context.  Here’s what I mean.

A few months ago, I invested in a company called Nvidea.  Nvidea makes computer processor chips used for high-performance gaming and video.  Their processors are also ideal for the compute-heavy Artificial Intelligence (AI) requirements.  When I bought the stock, Nvidea was trading at $111. I guessed the company’s value would increase because there was so much demand for the fast Nvidea processors for AI initiatives.  Within the last few weeks, the stock price hit a high of $974.  But what if I knew for certain that the stock’s value would increase by 877 percent?  Would that knowledge have changed my behavior?  (Yes, is the correct answer.)

Let’s translate Jesus’ parable into modern terms: The kingdom of heaven is like knowing that Nvidea stock will hit $974 while currently trading at $111. When he discovered this, the man sold everything, took all the equity out of his house, and bought as much Nvidea stock as possible.  

The lesson in Jesus’s parable is that there is so much value in heaven and eternal life that we willingly change our attitudes and behavior to obtain it.  We tell everyone we can about our discovery so they can also participate in the return.  Our attitude toward what we own changes, too; everything becomes a tool to maximize our return.  We are excited to invest and are excited to help others take advantage of the discovery as well.