Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 13-14.

I like writing about the parables in this passage because they contain so much for us to contemplate.  However, there are two which I rarely do more than just touch on, if that.  They both express the same thought in slightly different ways.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Until today, these two parables never really connected for me.  I am not sure that I can express the understanding of these which came to me today in a way that gets past the “Well, yeah, OK” they inspired in me previously.  The point here is that the kingdom of heaven is of such great value that anything, and everything, else is a small price to pay to acquire it.  If you are not, if I am not, willing to sacrifice everything else which gives us pleasure and joy to obtain it, we fail to understand its value.  Up until today, I am not sure that I understood this.  There can be no risk, no pain, no suffering, no loss that I am unwilling to suffer in order to obtain admittance into the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever price God asks me to pay, I sincerely hope that I am willing to pay.  I would like to say that I am willing to pay that price, but I am not sure that I can honestly say that.  If there is a limit to the price we are willing to pay in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven, than we are not worthy of entry.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.