Another parable opens up kingdom discussion: 45 ?Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. What do we learn about the kingdom?
1. The point of this parable seems to be the inestimable worth of the kingdom, and therefore
2. The rightness of giving up everything for it.
3. If one begins with “sold everything,” one could then suggest the kingdom is the community or society wherein one finds a total reversal of socio-economic conditions.
4. If one begins with “great value,” then one would be led to see the kingdom as something like the presence of God’s salvation and the need to abandon everything in order to enter it.
5. The kingdom here is neither clearly present nor future, but instead is something available for those who turn toward it.