Matthew 13:52

“Again” (pálin) opens this parable, as it opens the pearl and the net after it, and it ties them to the parables Jesus has already told in this chapter. The “kingdom of heaven” (basileía tōn ouranōn) is Matthew’s usual name for God’s reign. It is present now among those who submit to Christ as Lord, and it will be complete when God’s will is fully done at the end. It stands at the centre of Jesus’ preaching from his first day (Matthew 4:17), and here he shows us what it is worth.

The word for treasure, thēsaurós, means a deposit or a store of wealth. In that day people commonly buried their savings and valuables in the ground, often in a field, to keep them safe from thieves, invaders and unrest. If the owner died suddenly, was exiled or fled in a war, the treasure could lie there for generations, and to come upon one was a rare piece of good fortune. The verb behind “hid”, krýptō, means to hide, conceal or keep secret, and in some uses to keep something safe by hiding it. That is what the first owner did, and it is what the finder does when “he hideth” it again.

The field is ordinary ground, the everyday world where the kingdom is found, often when the finder is looking for something else. Its worth lies out of sight and stays hidden from many until God makes it known, as Jesus explained when his disciples asked why he spoke in parables (Matthew 13:10–17). Proverbs speaks of searching for wisdom the way a man searches for hidden treasure (Proverbs 2:4–5).

The second parable makes the same point through a different man. The “merchant man” is an émporos, a wholesale trader who travelled, sometimes far by land or sea, to buy and sell fine goods. His trade took capital, a trained eye and a readiness to take risks. He is “seeking” (zētéō), the ordinary verb for seeking, and here it describes a deliberate search. What he wants is “goodly pearls”, and the adjective is kalós, good, describing pearls of fine quality and beauty.

In that day pearls were among the most prized goods there were, often valued above gold and silver and sought by kings and the wealthy. Natural pearls were rare and were brought up by hard and dangerous diving, so a large and perfect one was a marvel. Jesus’ hearers would grasp at once what it meant to find one.

“Who, when he had found one pearl of great price” turns the long search into a find. “Found” is heurískō, to find or discover, and what the merchant finds was precious before he ever saw it. “Pearl” is margarítēs, and “of great price” is polýtimos, very costly. The plural “goodly pearls” of verse 45 narrows to “one pearl”, and that single pearl outweighs everything he owns. He “went and sold all that he had”, and “sold” is pipráskō, to sell or dispose of as merchandise. Then he “bought it”. Proverbs prizes wisdom the same way, above every precious thing a man could want (Proverbs 3:13–15).

Set side by side, the two parables show two ways the kingdom’s worth breaks in on people. One man stumbles on his treasure by unexpected grace, and the other finds his pearl at the end of a careful, informed search. Both answer in the same way, selling all they have to gain the one thing.

The third parable turns from the kingdom’s worth to its end. The “net” is a sagēnē, a large dragnet or seine. It was let down from two boats or from the shore and swept a wide stretch of water, bringing in everything in its path, worth keeping or worthless. Many of Jesus’ hearers lived around the Sea of Galilee, a busy centre of fishing, and some of his disciples were fishermen. He called Peter and Andrew by that sea (Matthew 4:18), and Peter, James and John from their boats (Luke 5:1–11). The word for sea, thálassa, is used for the open sea and also for an inland lake such as the Sea of Galilee.

The net “was cast into the sea”, a picture of the gospel going out into the world of men, and it “gathered of every kind”. The word for kind is génos, kin or kind, and the phrase (ek pantos genous) means fish of every sort, good and bad, clean and unclean. So the gospel call goes out broadly, to people of every background and condition, and the first gathering takes them all in together.

This means the visible church in this age holds true believers alongside some who only profess faith. Jesus taught the same thing in the parable of the wheat and the tares, which grow together until the harvest (Matthew 13:24–30), and Paul pictures a great house holding vessels to honour and vessels to dishonour (2 Timothy 2:20–21). The net gives the church patience with its own imperfection, since God bears with the mixture for now, and it gives every member a sober warning, since a final judgment is coming.

“Which, when it was full” marks the end of the gathering. The verb is plēróō, to fill, used literally of cramming a net. The net is full when the whole time of the gospel’s going out is complete, and then “they drew to shore”, moving from open water to the place where the catch is judged at the end of the age.

“And sat down” shows a settled, unhurried task, like a judge taking his seat. “Gathered the good into vessels” uses kalós again, the same word as “goodly” in verse 45, here for fish that are sound and fit to eat. The vessels keep them safe, a picture of the redeemed kept for ever in God’s kingdom. In “but cast the bad away”, “bad” is saprós, rotten or worthless, and “away” is éxō, outside. Fishermen threw out fish that were diseased or too small, along with those the law counted unclean, since only water creatures with fins and scales could be eaten (Leviticus 11:9–12).

The sorting is God’s work, done at his time by his angels, as the next verse says. Revelation says that nothing unclean shall enter the holy city (Revelation 21:27), and the shore is where that purity is secured.

With “So shall it be at the end of the world”, Jesus explains the parable himself. The word for end, syntéleia, means entire completion, the winding up of a whole period, and the Greek phrase behind “the end of the world” (syntéleia tou aiōnos) speaks of the close of the age. It points to the completion of this present age of history, when God’s purposes for it are fulfilled and his eternal kingdom is established. The disciples later ask Jesus about the sign of the end of the world (Matthew 24:3), he promises to be with them to the end of it (Matthew 28:20), and Hebrews speaks of Christ appearing at the consummation of the ages (Hebrews 9:26).

“The angels shall come forth”: they carry out the separation as God’s servants, at the appointed time, and the judgment itself is God’s. In his explanation of the wheat and the tares Jesus says that the reapers are the angels, that they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and that the righteous will then shine forth as the sun (Matthew 13:36–43).

In “and sever the wicked from among the just”, to sever, aphorízō, is to set off by a boundary, to separate. The wicked, ponērós, are those whose evil is hurtful in its effects. The just, díkaios, are the righteous, those in right standing with God. That standing is God’s gift through faith in Christ (Romans 3:21–26), who was made sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our hope of being gathered into the vessels rests on being found in him and clothed in his righteousness.

Christ himself is the Judge. The Son of Man will come in his glory, gather all nations before him and separate them as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31–46), because the Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22). Daniel foresaw the dead rising, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2). John saw the dead judged out of the opened books before the great white throne (Revelation 20:11–15), and Jesus promises that he comes quickly with his reward (Revelation 22:12).

In “And shall cast them into the furnace of fire”, “cast” is bállō, to throw, and “furnace” is káminos, a kiln or oven of the kind used to bake pottery, smelt metal and burn refuse. A place of fierce, consuming heat pictures the severity of God’s judgment. In the same teaching about the sheep and the goats, Jesus speaks of everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and Revelation speaks of the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8).

In “there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth”, “wailing” is klauthmós, loud weeping or lamentation, and “gnashing” is brygmós, the grinding of the teeth that expresses anger, pain or suffering. Together they show bitter sorrow and anguish. Jesus speaks of weeping and gnashing of teeth in other warnings too (Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 24:51, Luke 13:28), and in Luke it is the cry of those who see the kingdom from outside.

By this point Jesus has told seven parables of the kingdom: the sower (Matthew 13:3), the wheat and the tares (13:24–30), the mustard seed (13:31), the leaven (13:33), the hidden treasure, the pearl and the net. He explained the sower to the disciples in private (Matthew 13:18–23), and the tares as well (13:36–43). The crowds heard without understanding, while to the disciples it was given to know “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:10–17). Now he asks whether they have understood “all these things”, the whole of this teaching with its explanations.

“Jesus saith unto them” uses légō, the ordinary verb for speaking. “Understood” is syníēmi, literally to put together, and so to grasp a meaning by putting its parts together. Jesus asks his disciples for exactly what the crowds lacked, an understanding of what they had heard.

“They say unto him, Yea, Lord.” The word naí is the usual word for yes, used in answers and to give assent. They call him Lord (kýrios), owning him as their Master and Teacher. Their understanding came from being with him and hearing him explain, and it would keep growing. After his resurrection he opened their understanding of the Scriptures (Luke 24:45), and the Spirit of truth would guide them into all truth (John 16:13). The things of God are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14), so their grasp of these parables was itself a gift.

Parables, mashal in Hebrew, were a familiar way of teaching among the rabbis, and a disciple was expected to take his master’s teaching to heart before he taught others. Christ himself makes the mysteries of God plain, for he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

“Therefore” follows from their answer. Because they have understood, Jesus tells them what they are to become. A scribe, grammateús, was a writer or secretary, and in the Gospels a scholar of the law who copied, preserved and explained the Scriptures. Jesus often rebuked the scribes of his day for their hypocrisy (Matthew 23). Here he speaks of a scribe “instructed unto the kingdom of heaven”, and “instructed” is mathēteúō, to become a pupil, to be discipled. This scribe has become a disciple of Jesus and is taught by him in the ways of God’s reign.

He is “like unto a man that is an householder”, an oikodespótēs, the master of a house who manages its stores and provides for its people. Out of “his treasure”, thēsaurós, the same word as in verse 44, here his storehouse, he “bringeth forth” what is needed. That verb is ekbállō, to throw, drive or send out, and here it simply means bringing things out of a store. What he brings out is “things new and old”. “New” is kainós, new or fresh, and “old” is palaiós.

The old things are the truths of the Old Testament, its Law, Prophets and Psalms. The new things are what Jesus brings, his teaching on the kingdom and his fulfilment of all that came before. The taught disciple can show how the new fulfils the old and how the old looked ahead to the new, because both come from the one plan of God. Jesus came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17), and the Scriptures testify of him (John 5:39). He showed his disciples that what was written of him must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). “The law and the prophets were until John”, and since then the kingdom has been preached (Luke 16:16). God has now spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1–2), and all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

A householder brings things out for his household, and the taught disciple shares what he has been given, with discernment about what each need calls for. Paul calls himself and his fellow workers “stewards of the mysteries of God”, who must be found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:1–2). The saying reaches every believer who is instructed in the kingdom. Christ himself is the true householder, in whom “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), and the newest thing of all is the new creation that is ours in him (2 Corinthians 5:17).

These verses show us a God whose kingdom is worth all that we have, and who gives it as a find. The man in the field gave up everything and counted it gladness, and in Christ, who sought us at the cost of his own life, that treasure is ours by grace.

They also show us a God who is patient and just. For now the net holds every kind, and the church on earth is a mixed company. The sorting belongs to him, and on the day he has set, his angels will sever the wicked from the just. That day is as sure as the shore at the end of a net’s sweep, and the warning of the furnace is given while the gospel still goes out to the whole world.

And they show us a Teacher who wants to be understood. Jesus asked his disciples whether they had grasped his words, and he made those who understood into householders with a store to share, old and new together. Every disciple he teaches has that treasure to draw from, the whole of Scripture opened by Christ.