A Pearl Of Great Value
October 30, 2011 //
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I do not think that it is a great coincidence that the Church of England (St. Paul’s Cathedral) finds itself caught in the middle of the Occupy London Stock Exchange movement. This event has given the Church and christians a great opportunity to take a good look in the mirror. The issues addressed by the OLSX movement are issues at the very heart of Christianity itself.

The OLSX movement is demonstrating against the activities of Bankers that have brought ruin upon this nation and many nations of the world. And, in fact, this pursuit of money is something that christian writers have consistently warned us about.

9But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
11But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

1Timothy Chapter 6

Craving for money is directly contrasted here with righteousness. And it says that it has caused some to wander away from the Faith. What exactly is the Faith, the belief, that is at the heart of Christianity?
Jesus preached and taught about the Kingdom of Heaven which he called a pearl of great value.

45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew Chapter 13

This matter of Value is at the very heart of the problems that we have with the financial sector today. All human activity is in fact a pursuit for higher value. Whatever we do we do because we believe the end result is of higher value than initial state. Even the simple act of tidying up one’s bedroom is done because of the belief that a tidier bedroom has more value than an untidy one.

The Kingdom of Heaven, christianity’s number one commodity, is considered a pearl of such great value that it is worth selling everything else that we have in order to possess it. In other words the most fulfilling and value creating activity that a man can pursue is the Kingdom of Heaven. But what exactly is this Kingdom of Heaven?

Jesus tells a parable known as the Parable of the Sower,

1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9He who has ears,a let him hear.”
Matthew Chapter 13
Jesus then goes on to explain the parable in the same chapter.

18“Hear then the parable of the sower: 19When anyone hears the logon of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the logon and immediately receives it with joy, 21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the logon, immediately he falls away.b 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the logon, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the logon, and it proves unfruitful. 23As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the logon and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Logon, or Logos, is a greek word that is rich in meaning and hard to translate into just one word in english. It is often just translated as ‘Word’ yet it can also means an account, a story, an utterance, a format/plan/blueprint.
According to Jesus there is a logon, a plan, sown in our hearts that can be brought to fruition or for a variety of reasons we can fail to bring into fruition. This is the crux of Jesus’ message. Amongst those things that will choke the Logos and make it unfruitful are ‘the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches’.

What is the deceitfulness inherent in riches? Money is used to represent value, but there is always a danger, as with all representations, that in so doing it actually starts to distort value too. There comes a point when we are so focused on maximising monetary profits that we lose sight of our objective of creating real tangible value. Instead economic activity becomes a series of slight of hand techniques. This has become more and more evident lately.

Entire corporations are driven not by a desire to create real value but rather by the desire to maximise monetary profits, and this often leads to the result of a reduction in real value. The case that most readily springs to mind that epitomises this pursuit of phantom values is that of Enron where the corporation sought to increase profits not by providing a valuable service but rather by not doing so as in when it cut power supply to California intermittently.

This is a terrible effect of money, that a society will even attack itself and any real value within it if the process can yield the phantom value of monetary profits. We as individuals, and collectively as a society, need to articulate to ourselves in real tangible terms what our goals and ideals are. And when we have a clear idea what that seed planted in our hearts is we need to nurture it and protect it because that is our Pearl of Great Value, and it is definitely worth selling everything that we have in order to possess it.

Enigma:

^ Well, a claim that maybe the "biological father" of Jesus Christ is a Roman soldier who "quaffed Mary" is supported by mentioned in Wikipedia ---- so that proves it then.  https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-802388.0.html#msg9546224

What is the deceitfulness inherent in riches?  Money is used to represent value, but there is always a danger, as with all representations,  that in so doing it actually starts to distort value too. There comes a point when we are so focused on maximising monetary profits that we lose sight of our objective of creating real tangible value.  Instead economic activity becomes a series of slight of hand techniques.   This has become more and more evident lately.

Money is used to represent value, but there is always a danger, as with all representations, that in so doing it actually starts to distort value too.