I like thinking about how Jesus would have been understood by his Jewish audience. For today’s example, let’s look at two parables: the treasure hidden in the field, and the pearl of great price. (Matthew 13:44-46)

Rabbis like Jesus would often assume that their audience was deeply familiar with the Hebrew scriptures, and they would make references to stories that were always on everyone’s mind. Let me suggest that Jesus is doing exactly that in both these parables. Let me also suggest that each of these parables has two characters: the buyer and the seller. We are meant to be comparing them.

Let’s focus on the pearl for a moment. The man buying the pearl is a merchant. When do merchants buy things? When they can get a good deal, when what they’re buying is worth more than the price tag on it. The seller in this story has this pearl and is willing to part with it. They don’t see the value, but the buyer does.

The same is true for the treasure in the field. Western readers often ask, is it right for the buyer to buy the field without telling the seller what he found there? But just like the pearl, it’s the seller’s job to know the value of what he has. If I find a rare book in a used bookstore for $2, I’m not going to go to the seller and say, “Don’t you know how much this is worth!?” I’m going to buy the book!

So if Jesus is referencing someone from the Old Testament, who is it?

Esau. Esau, firstborn to Isaac. Esau, inheritor of all God’s promises to Abraham. Esau through whom all nations of the world would be blessed. Esau, whose progeny brought salvation to all mankind.

Except not, because he _really _wanted those lentils. (Side-note: when Hebrews talks about Esau being an “immoral person” it uses the word porne. He’s literally a whore for stew.) Esau stood to inherit the most valuable birthright in the history of mankind, but he didn’t see its value. Jacob did.

The Kingdom of God belongs, not to those who are born into it, but to those who do whatever it takes to get it, and will not let it go.