Teaching Through Parables.
Jesus used parables to teach people what the kingdom of heaven is like. The spiritual things of God are sometimes hard to understand so Jesus used examples from the physical world. People at this time were very familiar with farming, fishing, planting seeds and making bread. Some of the parables teach the same thing, they just use different imagery in order to drive the point home. Despite these earthly examples, there are still those who didn't understand. It's important to look at these parables closely and pay attention to Jesus' explanations.
The parable of the the hidden treasure and valuable pearl are two that I believe I misunderstood for a long time. At first I thought that the man in both stories represented us and the treasure or pearl represented the kingdom of heaven. Man discovers the kingdom and sacrifices everything in his life to earn it. That sounds nice, but then where does God come into that picture? In this scenario, man is the one who earns the kingdom and God is just waiting around for someone to stumble upon Him. After listening to different teachers and looking at it closer, I believe I had it all wrong. God is the man in both parables that finds the treasure, and that treasure is us! We are the valuable treasure and the pearl of great value! God loves us so much that he gave up everything in order to be with us. God gave His son and Jesus gave His life so that He could be with us forever.
If you think that you understand what a parable is saying, I encourage you to look a little deeper. God has so many wonderful things that He wants to reveal to us. All we have to do is look and listen.
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