A Pearl of Great Price

To get ready for Sukkoth a few months ago, I decided to read through all four of the Besorot (Gospels) from the Aramaic Peshitta, which I believe is the original of these documents.  At the time I started reading, I was struggling with a personal sin, something that I have a very difficult time with, and something that frankly I've struggled with for decades.  I was very down about this, and was allowing myself to consider that I might never overcome this sin to the degree necessary.  Coming to a conclusion like that can either call you to arms and strengthen your resolve, or it can actually make you consider that maybe the journey just isn't worth the struggle.  Unfortunately, my exhausted and depressed state of mind had me considering the latter more than the former.

So it was fortunate for me that I was in the process of reading the account of the Besorah (Gospel) of Matityahu (Matthew) just at the time these thoughts were becoming more prominent, and came across these verses in particular at just the right moment:

"Again, the Kingdom of HaShamayim (Heaven) is likened to a treasure that is hidden in a field, which when a man finds he hides, and from his joy, he goes and sells everything that he owns and buys that field.  Again, the Kingdom of HaShamayim is likened to a man who is a merchant who was seeking good pearls.  And when he found a certain precious looking pearl, he went and sold everything that he owned and bought it." (Mattityahu / Matthew 13:44-46)

Those verses really sparked a refocusing in me.  What Yeshua is saying here by analogy in these parables is twofold.  First, he is saying that nothing is off the table in terms of the price we have to pay for the Kingdom of Elohim.  And second, he is saying that whatever the price ends up being, it is well worth it.  What could be worth everything we have, you might wonder?  YHWH intends to restore the Kingdom to Yisrael and the Seed of David through His Mashiach, and he intends us to be the inheritors with Yeshua.  This restoration is primarily about the restoration of the scattered and lost people of Yisrael to the Land, but it's so much more.  Rav Shaul (Paul) shows just how much more that is when he wrote the following to his fellow future inheritors in Rome:

"And if we are banim (sons), then we are heirs: heirs of Elohim and joint-heirs of the inheritance of Yeshua HaMashiach; so that if we suffer with him, we will also be esteemed with him.  For I consider well that the sufferings of the present age are not comparable with the esteem which is to be perfected in us.  For the entirety of creation is hoping and waiting for the development of Bnei Elohim (the sons of Elohim).  The creation was subjected to vanity (or futility), not by its own choice, but because of him who subjected it, in the hope that also the creation itself would be emancipated from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the esteem of Bnei Elohim." (Romiyim / Romans 8:17-21)

So we are to be inheritors with Yeshua of all authority and all things, and we are to be instrumental in the restoration and deliverance of not just Yisrael, not just this earth, but of all of creation -- everything that exists.  Yeshua was given that authority, and we will receive that authority with him for the same basic purpose, as he said to his talmidim (disciples) after he was raised from the dead:

"And Yeshua drew near and spoke with them and said to them, 'All authority is given to me in HaShamayim and on Earth.  And as my Father has sent me, I send you.'" (Matityahu / Matthew 28:18)

Our inheritance is not just within Yisrael.  It is not even merely upon this earth.  It is a dominion and ownership over the whole of creation -- the entire Universe and beyond.  As Rav Shaul previously emphasized, given exactly what we have in store for us when YHWH finally restores the Kingdom to Yisrael, restores His scattered people back to His Land, establishes that restored Kingdom over all the earth and ultimately the entire Universe, and gives his faithful a permanent inheritance within it, what in the world would be too high of a price to pay?  What is so difficult or so terrible that it wouldn't be a travail worth experiencing among many others just to have a position at the Right Hand of the Sovereign of that Kingdom?  What property or pleasure wouldn't be worth giving up for a future ownership in everything that exists?

"Selling all you have" seems straightforwardly to indicate that our possessions are on the table if necessary to meet this goal, and it largely does mean this, but it is certainly a call to give up a lot more than mere possessions.  It often means giving up the self, particularly those parts of the self which are in the way of this ultimate goal.  Nonetheless, selling all you have is a lot easier when you realize that "all things", that is, everything that exists, is ultimately the reward and inheritance for this persistence and dedication to YHWH Elohim:

"He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his Elohim, and he will be My ben (son)."  (Hit Galut / Revelation 21:7)

Whatever it is that any of us have a hard time giving up to make ourselves Kodesh to Elohim, and to make our hearts and minds suitable for His future Kingdom, will be worth giving up in the end.  This is something we should repeatedly remind ourselves of as we run into the kind of roadblocks in our journey and the downbeat attitudes we are often faced with during those travels.  The "Pearl of Great Price" really is worth the great price.