"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. (Matthew 13:44-46)
The sermon at church today was based on the above 2 parables. This is an incredibly challenging teaching of Jesus! It's hard to even understand the huge implications of it. The men sold EVERYthing they had to by the treasure they had found. Think of the man with the pearls. He had probably been a merchant for a long time, collecting many many valuable pearls in his travels. Then he finds this ONE pearl that is so valuable that he gives up ALL of the other pearls he had found just so he could buy it. This goes so completely against our society - why would he want only one pearl when he could have many others?
Garth really challenged us to search our hearts on this issue. Do we truly value Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven above everything else? That means above our posessions, above our relationships, above our reputations... Imagine what the world would look like every Christian truly believed this teaching and practiced it!
Sigh. Speaking of values, the escalation of violence in Israel and the reports in the news of so many Canadian soldiers and civilians killed in the middle east makes me so sad. I really don't get it - will we never learn from the past?. I'll leave you with this:
and this: http://www.mbconf.ca/believe/confession/love.en.html. I am still struggling with the implications of pure Christian pacifism, but I love that my church stands up as an almost lone voice on this issue when so many others are silent.
--Sharon
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