Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 13:45-46

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls: and having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it." — Matthew 13:45-46 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: The preaching of the Gospel not only offers manifold gain like a treasure, but is also precious like a pearl; which is why after the parable of the treasure, He gives the one concerning the pearl. In this preaching, two things are required: to be detached from the business of this life and to be watchful, which are signified by this merchant.

Moreover, truth is one, not manifold, and for this reason it is said that one pearl is found. Just as someone who possesses a pearl knows of his own wealth but is not known to others—often concealing it in his hand because of its small size—so it is with the preaching of the Gospel. Those who possess it know that they are rich, while the unbelievers, not knowing of this treasure, do not know of our wealth.

St. Jerome: The goodly pearls can be understood as the Law and the Prophets. Listen, then, Marcion and Manichaeus: the good pearls are the Law and the Prophets. The one pearl, the most precious of all, is the knowledge of the Savior and the sacrament of His passion and resurrection. When the merchant has found this—like the Apostle Paul—he immediately despises all the mysteries of the Law and the Prophets and the old observances in which he had lived blamelessly, counting them as dung that he may win Christ (Philippians 3:8).ⁱ This does not mean that finding the new pearl is a condemnation of the old ones, but that in comparison to it, all other pearls are worthless.

St. Gregory the Great: Or, the pearl of great price is to be understood as the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom. When someone has found it, he sells all and buys it. For whoever has perfectly known the sweetness of the heavenly life, as far as is permitted, readily leaves all things he has loved on earth. Everything that once pleased him among earthly possessions now appears to have lost its beauty, for the splendor of that precious pearl alone is seen in his mind.¹

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, a man seeking goodly pearls has found one pearl of great price. This could mean that someone seeking good people with whom to live profitably finds the one who is alone without sin: Christ Jesus. Or, it could be someone seeking precepts for life, by which he may live righteously among others, who finds the love of his neighbor, a rule in which, the Apostle says, all things are comprehended (Romans 13:9).ⁱ Or, it could be someone seeking good thoughts who finds that Word in which all things are contained—In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1)—which is lustrous with the light of truth, steadfast with the strength of eternity, and everywhere consistent with itself in the beauty of divinity. When we have penetrated the shell of the flesh, He will be confessed as God.²

But whichever of these three it may be, or whatever else might occur to us that could be signified by the one precious pearl, its value is the possession of our own selves. We are not free to possess it unless we despise all things that can be possessed in this world. For after selling our possessions, we receive no return greater than our own selves (for while we were entangled in such things, we were not our own). We do this so that we may again give ourselves for that pearl—not because we are of equal value to it, but because we cannot give anything more.

1. Hom. in Ev., xi, 2
2. Quaest. in Matt., q. 13