There was once a young man standing on a sea-shore, waiting with rapt anticipation for the coming of a messenger from a distant country. When the messenger finally arrived, the young man got right to the point.
“I was told that you have something of great value to show me.”
The messenger opened a badly scarred red box and displayed an exquisite pearl, unlike anything the man had ever seen.
“It is indeed magnificent,” said the young man. “What is the purchase price to obtain it?”
The messenger shook his head. “You do not have the means to purchase it, for its worth is incalculable. For this reason, it is offered to you for free.”
The young man stood incredulous before the messenger. “You would give me this pearl for free?”
“Yes,” he answered. “But there is a paradox to the pearl. Though it is offered to you for free, you will never know its true value until you have given all you have to obtain it.”
“What do you mean?” he asked in bewilderment. “How can it be both free and yet cost me everything?”
“It is free. It will cost you everything. But you will count all loss to be gain.”
The man looked again upon the pearl, which shimmered in its humble box. “You say that it is free. Yet it will cost me everything. But I will count all loss to be gain. Truly I do not understand.”
“You must receive the pearl and discover for yourself the truth of what I say.”
He gazed again upon the pearl. So brightly did it shimmer in the box that he held out both his hands. With that the messenger placed the box in his hands and immediately vanished from sight. Rejoicing, he took his prized pearl home, where he showed it to his wife.
“What did you pay for that?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” he answered.
“Then it is worthless. Throw it away.”
But he could not bear the thought of throwing away the pearl. Instead, he placed it, still in its open box, on the mantle over their fireplace, where both he and his wife would see it every day.
As the days passed he looked often upon the pearl, which brought him great joy. But at the same time, it brought great grief to his wife, as it continually seemed to prick her conscience. She also objected that he had lost interest in taking advantage of others, which had been bringing them great wealth.
Finally, seeing that he would not remove the pearl, she took matter into her own hands and hid it in a secret place on the property. When her husband saw that the pearl was gone, he asked his wife what had happened to it.
“I know nothing of your precious pearl,” she lied.
Though he knew in his heart that she was lying, he dropped the matter, wanting peace with his wife.
Year passed, but the hoped for marital peace never came. They quarreled constantly until one day she left, never to return. Devastated, he wept for many days, wondering if he would ever know happiness again.
Finally, one evening in his twilight years, he remembered the pearl, and the happiness it had once brought him. He determined to restore the pearl to its rightful place on the mantel above his fireplace—if he could find it.
He turned on all the lights in his house and began to search for it. All night he searched until finally, just before dawn, he found the red box that contained the exquisite pearl at the bottom of a large chest in the garage.
When he opened again the box, the pearl shone forth in a brilliance that far exceeded what he had first seen on the seashore many years before. So great was his rejoicing that he called his friends and exclaimed, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the pearl that was lost!”
From that point on the pearl remained in its box upon the mantle over the fireplace. Soon he began to rid his home of many things to which the pearl seemed to point, giving him an increasing sense of freedom and joy as he did so. All the while the pearl became more and brilliant before his eyes.
One day, with great trepidation, he walked away from the home in which he had lived all his life, carrying with him only the clothes on his back and a small knapsack that contained his pearl of great price. Never had he felt so free. So great was his joy that a friend approached him, asking him the secret of his happiness. When he showed his friend the pearl, his friend asked the same question he had asked so many years before.
“What is the purchase price to obtain it?”
“You do not have the means to purchase it, for its worth is incalculable. For this reason, it is offered to you for free. But there is a paradox to this pearl.”
Upon his full explanation, his friend stretched out his hands. The old man hesitated only an instant before handing the precious pearl to his friend, which increased his joy all the more as he went his way.
Soon another friend approached who inquired the same. Instinctively, he looked in his knapsack. There in the knapsack he found an identical box with an identical pearl, which he again gave away. And so it was, that every time he gave away his pearl, another appeared in his knapsack, always shining brighter still.
In time he received a far better home, filled with precious things that drew many, seeking the pearl of great price. He lived to a great age until he left this world to live happily ever after in the next. Yet his legacy lived on, as other givers of pearls continued his work.
Matthew 13:45-46
Luke 15:8-10
Philippians 3:7-8
