Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. Matthew 10:8 NIV

Jesus loved to teach with stories. When asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered with the story of the Good Samaritan. When teaching about God’s kingdom, He often recounted stories of fishermen and shepherds, merchants and farmers. One of my favorites is one about a merchant looking for pearls. He must have gotten up early each day and made his way to the docks in order to meet the fishermen as they came in with their catches. Among those who cast their nets for nice kosher fish, were others who dove to harvest shellfish to sell to the Gentiles. Every day there would be some would discover pearls of various sizes among their harvest and this astute businessman wanted to be the first to swoop up the best of the day. One day as he made his way among the unruly and smelly crowd of tired fishermen, he came across some men who had just begun unloading their catch and there in a small basket containing a few common looking pearls he spotted one whose size and luster took his breath away. “This must not be real,” he thought. So, he called out to those fellows and asked to have a closer look. On closer examination he could hardly believe his eyes. ” Trying not to show his excitement he asked as calmly as he could, “And how much for this one?”

The captain of the boat, with years of experience haggling with the merchants, smiled, knowingly. The rest of these you could purchase for a few denarii, but that beauty…he paused here for both effect and a quick calculation for how much he might get, that one will cost you one talent of silver!”

In shock the merchant drew a breath, and replied, “You must be joking. An entire talent! That is worth several years wages!” Who has that kind of money on these docks?” The captain smiled. and replied.

“Along these docks I have no doubt that you are right. But in Jerusalem, there are kings, generals and governors who could easily pay twice what I am asking today.”

The merchant paused, carefully calculated that he would have enough if he sold his entire inventory. He also realized that he could also make a handy profit in Jerusalem if he was willing to take the risk, and then quickly answered. “Done! I’ll be back in the morning!”

Though the price seems ridiculous, when we sellout for Jesus, it’s always a good deal!