Matthew 13:44–52
“the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
The dish is just a little larger than 18 inches in diameter, made of sterling silver. Around the rim appears the goddess Minerva, with symbols for the liberal arts: arithmetic, astrology, dialectic, geometry, grammar, music and rhetoric. There’s nothing on the dish about tennis.
You would expect that sport to be featured, since the dish is the trophy awarded to the women’s singles champion at the tennis tournament they call Wimbledon. The trophy’s name is “The Venus Rosewater Dish,” and the “Venus” part was there long before Venus Williams won it so many times.
According to The Washington Post, the dish was made in 1864 and has been awarded to the singles champ since 1886. The winners get to hold the dish, but they don’t get to keep it. The original stays in the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, and the winner gets an 8-inch replica and prize money.
Now if you were to run across this dish in an art gallery, you might not be impressed. But if you are a tennis player, the dish is a precious treasure, a “holy grail,” a “pearl of great value.” Players from around the world push themselves to their physical and mental limits; training, practicing, focusing, competing, hoping to be able to play at Wimbledon, the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. Along the way, they dream of the Venus Rosewater Dish. I’ll bet most of you I was going talk about the Claret Jug. Which is more prestigious, of course.
In Matthew 13, Jesus speaks of a set of prizes that people pursue with passion and single-minded purpose, using every ounce of their heart, soul, mind and strength. Instead of the Venus Rosewater Dish, or the Claret Jug, they seek a treasure hidden in a field, a pearl of great value, or a net filled with fish. What unites these treasures is that they are illustrations of the kingdom of heaven, a spiritual reality that we’re invited to find in everyday life. The pursuit of the kingdom requires effort, one scholar translated “the kingdom of heaven” as “The God Movement.” The kingdom seems to involve more perspiration than inspiration.
Jesus was a master of short and concise messages. In fact, He might have been the most effective practitioner of the tweet. The challenge of a tweet is to say something funny or provocative or profound, in about 33 characters. Funny, when says to follow your dreams, and you go back to bed. Provocative: every saint has a past and every sinner has a future! Profound: the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Three times, Jesus illustrated “the kingdom of heaven” in short, concise parables. He said the kingdom is like “treasure hidden in a field,” a “pearl of great value,” and “a net.” He could have easily tweeted these parables, had Twitter been invented. He asked His disciples if they understood and they said “yes.” Then He said that “every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of His treasure what is new and what is old.”
Jesus wanted His followers to make an effort and be actively involved in The God Movement. He challenged them to dig into their treasure and bring out “what is new and what is old”, both the new parables of Jesus and the old teachings of the Hebrew lawgivers and prophets. Of all the Gospel-writers, Matthew was the one most concerned about what was new and what was old. He connected the ministry of Jesus to the history of Israel, presenting Jesus as a second Moses who offered new laws and teachings to Israel and to the world.
Choosing the right prize is important because there will be a final reckoning. The parable of the net speaks of a separation of good fish and bad fish. “So, it will be at the end of the age,” says Jesus. “The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous.” Whether or not a person looks for the treasure of the kingdom has eternal consequences, according to Jesus. The kingdom is not simply a Venus Rosewater Dish, but it’s a prize that changes a person’s life for all time. You have to pick your prize and pursue it with sacrifice, passion and purpose. Make sure it’s a heavenly prize, if you want to move in a heavenly direction.
The world is full of odd prizes that people pursue with passion and single-minded purpose. Consider The Borg-Warner Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Indianapolis 500, containing the sculpted faces of each winner; The Green Jacket, given to the winner of the Masters golf tournament; The Olive Wreath, placed on the heads of Boston Marathon winners. They get a wreath because the original marathoner, a Greek man named Pheidippides, ran from Marathon to announce an Athenian victory in 490 B.C. Then he dropped dead. Which is the precise reason I don’t run.
All of these prizes demand effort, more perspiration than inspiration. The kingdom of heaven is the same. Jesus says that it is “like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” The kingdom of heaven is like The America’s Cup, a racing trophy that was the proud possession of the New York Yacht Club for 132 years. Then, in 1983, a group of Australians built a yacht with an innovative winged keel, which made the boat very fast and maneuverable. They put everything they had into it, and as a result they won the series and acquired their treasure.
Jesus goes on to say, “Again, 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.” In the spring of 2019, no one expected the Washington Nationals to have a stellar season. In the month of May, their record was 19 wins and 31 losses. But they slipped into the playoffs with a wildcard spot and made it into the World Series. Then stunned the baseball world by beating the mighty Houston Astros. Their pearl of great price was the World Series Ring. They won their rings because they put everything into the quest: Attitude, determination and desire.
The kingdom of heaven is like the Venus Rosewater Dish, a treasure hidden in a field, the America’s Cup, a pearl of great value, the World Series ring. The pursuit of the kingdom requires the passion of Wimbledon tennis players, America’s Cup sailors and World Series sluggers. It takes focus and effort as Jesus says a willingness to sell all you have in order to buy a field or a pearl. That’s focus. That’s sacrifice, passion and purpose. The kingdom of heaven is not so much a place as it is a movement.
So, where can we find this kind of focus, sacrifice, passion and purpose? Earthly prizes are easy to identify, whether they be winning championships or achieving sales goals, losing weight or gaining an advanced degree. But heavenly prizes? These are a bit more difficult to visualize. Still, they can be found when we make an effort to live by the Ten Commandments or by the Sermon on the Mount. We uncover God’s treasures when we dig into the parables of Jesus or the letters of Paul.
We join The God Movement when we start each day with prayer, treat our neighbors as we would like to be treated and serve Jesus Christ by serving the hungry or the homeless. These are all part of kingdom living, and they all require determination, desire and a sense of mission. The pursuit of these goals will challenge us, reward us, and ultimately change us for the better.