Matthew 13:45

The Pearl

Goodly pearls. Matthew 13:45.

The stone usually given to October is the opal; but unfortunately the opal is not mentioned in the Bible, so we shall have to find a gem to take its place. What do you say to the precious stone of the sea the pearl?

Pearls have always been treasured by man, and a pearl is the very first jewel mentioned in the oldest writings we know. A Chinese dictionary which is over three thousand years old has a word which means “pearl.” When you come to think of it this is quite natural, for a pearl is a ready-made gem. It does not require the cutting that other gems do before they look brilliant. It is lovely without any help of man. In olden days they had not the instruments we have for cutting and polishing precious stones, so they prized the pearl as the queen of gems, and put it at the top of the list.

History tells us that it was because of the pearls which abounded in its rivers, that the Romans came to Britain. The Latin name for the pearl was margarita. From that we take the name Margaret. So you see there are quite a number of pearls here today.

Long ago people thought that pearls were drops of dew made solid. They said that these drops of dew fell from heaven, but how the dewdrops got into the oyster shell they could not quite explain.

Nowadays we know better. We know that when an oyster or mussel shell is open a little grain of sand floats in. The oyster feels it horribly gritty and uncomfortable, just as we do if we get a particle of something in our eye. And it does what we do in the same circumstances, it sheds a tear. But the oyster's tears are not like ours a mixture of salt and water they are liquid carbonate of lime, and this carbonate of lime hardens into a layer of what is known as nacre or mother of pearl, the same material as that with which the oyster has already lined its shell. The creature is not content with one covering on the top of the grit. It deposits covering after covering till there is a glistening knob fastened to the shell, and you have what is known as a blister pearl.

The perfectly round pearls are made in a slightly different way. It is not a grain of sand but a tiny worm that is the cause of them. This impertinent little worm is floating around in the water looking out for a comfortable home, and when it spies an open shell, in it pops, and immediately begins to bore its way into the poor oyster's body. The oyster's only way to protect itself is to enclose it with pearl, so it sets to work, and later you have a perfect round, the most valuable sort of pearl.

The Chinese have taken advantage of this habit of the oyster. They make little flat tin images of Buddha, open a shell, and thrust one in. After a time they open the shell again, and the little tin image is now a shining pearly idol.

The finest pearls are found off the north-west coast of Ceylon, but some lovely specimens come from our own Scottish rivers. These last are mussel pearls, and you can recognize them easily, for they have a pinkish-bluish hue very much like the color of a soft evening sky. You see pearls are not all creamy. There is even a black pearl; but it is very rare. Pearls are of all sizes, from those like a tiny pin head, known as “seed” pearls, to the great pearl in the South Kensington Museum in London which measures two inches in length and four and a half round about. But it is not size only that counts. Shape and sheen count too. And the shiniest pearl is the loveliest. That is why the most beautiful pearl in the world is said to be one in the Moscow Museum. It is so exquisitely sheeny that one to rival it has not been found.

One particularly lovely pearl lies, they say, buried beneath the waters of the canal at Venice, and its story makes us think of Christ's parable of the merchantman and the pearl of great price. This pearl was found in the sixteenth century by a certain Venetian Jew who was a merchant of pearls. He went to the East to look for them, and after wandering many years and undergoing many dangers he returned to Venice with a number of fine gems. He sold them all except one pearl of immense size and extraordinary beauty on which he set so high a value that nobody was willing to buy it. Finally he invited all the gem dealers in Venice to meet him on the Rialto. There he offered them for the last time his glorious jewel. The dealers, thinking no doubt that he would lower the price, once more refused to buy. What was their horror and amazement when the Jew turned round and threw the pearl into the canal? He preferred to lose it rather than cheapen it.

The pearl's message seems to me to be as beautiful as the pearl itself. I think it says to us, “Be a pearl-maker.” That is just another way of saying, “Be a peacemaker.” A peacemaker goes about trying to smooth away all the roughness and the disagreeableness that he meets. You don't need to wait for a quarrel to be a peacemaker. You can be a peacemaker or pearl-maker in so many different ways.

1. Be a pearl-maker to yourself. There are lots of disagreeable tasks and duties that come to us day by day. The more often we meet them the less we like them. Well, it is no use kicking against them; you have to do them, and the easiest way is to throw over them a pearly covering of imagination. Say to yourself, “I'm going to pretend this is the very nicest job in the world.” You'll be astonished to find how bearable the hateful duty is in its pearl dress. Try the same plan with your worries. It is as good for them as it is for the disagreeable duties.

2. Then be a pearl-maker for others . Smooth away their difficulties. Cover them with a coating of your pearl solution. That is to say, do what you can to help them out of their troubles.

Be a pearl-maker when you come across a quarrel. Smooth industriously at that quarrel till you have turned it into a pearl of peace and love.

Be a pearl-maker when you hear a nasty story or an unkind word about another boy or girl. Bury that story deep as the oyster does the worm, under layer after layer. Never let it see the light again. Be like the little girl I read of the other day. As her mother was tucking her into bed at night the comfy way mothers do, the little maid said shyly, “Mommy, I was a peacemaker today.” “Were you, dear?” said mother. “Did you settle somebody's quarrel?” “Oh no,” said the little girl, “I wasn't that kind of peacemaker. I just knew something and didn't tell.”

Boys and girls, there's nothing finer. Start making pearls this very day. (The texts of the other sermons in this series are Genesis 2:12; Job 28:19; Proverbs 3:15; Jeremiah 17:1; Ezekiel 1:26; Ezekiel 27:16 (2), Ezekiel 28:13; Revelation 21:19-20 (2).)