The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
A merchant sells everything for the one pearl worth more than all the rest.
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, who finds one pearl of great price and sells all that he has to buy it.
The parable
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
One pearl of great price — and he sold all that he had, and bought it.
What it means
Unlike the man who stumbled on hidden treasure by accident, the merchant is a seeker — a connoisseur who has spent his life searching for fine pearls. When he finds the one supreme pearl, he recognises it at once and gives everything for it.
The parable honours the honest seeker who is looking for something worth living for. Many are on such a search, whether they name it or not. When they encounter Christ, they find the one pearl that outshines every other thing they were seeking, and gladly give the rest.
The pearl of great price is a picture of Jesus himself and the salvation he brings. Nothing else in all of life is worth as much; everything else is worth selling to gain him. The seeker's search ends where every seeker's search is meant to end.