Acts 20: Stringing Pearls Together with Eutychus

In Matthew 13, we read:

[T]he kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Jesus is the pearl of great price; but truly only if you value him above all others. That valuation requires us to make a judgment, to determine what is valuable in its own right and what is valuable to us. When something has intrinsic value, whether or not we recognize and appreciate that intrinsic value reflects upon us, either handsomely or poorly. What we treasure says a lot about who we are. See Matthew 6:21.

Even so, we are blind to God, and His Messiah, and His worth, unless he helps us value rightly through the Holy Spirit. See John 9:40 (“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.”). But because the Holy Spirit has come, we are not blind:

But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me, and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.

In fact, through His Presence, we have light:

I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you. Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.

And so, through Him. we understand the pearl of great price to be Jesus—and we value him as such because the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to see and to value Jesus as something to sell out for.

Here is but one example, the raising up of Eutychus in Acts 20:

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread [in Troas]. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.  There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

So we have in the New Testament record a raising a young man from the dead in Troas through Paul, probably 25 years after Christ rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven. Earlier, we saw Tabitha raised from the dead in Joppa through Peter, maybe 10 years after Christ rose again. (see here and here) To these we have, some rose again when Christ did. Matthew 27:52. Jesus rose (i) Lazarus in Bethany; (ii) the widow’s son in Nain; and (iii) Jairus’ daughter in Capernaum.

Jesus testified to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” See John 11:25.

This prospect of resurrection life in Christ Jesus is a real treasure to hide within our hearts, (See e.g., Psalm 119:11 and Luke 2:19) and a graceful garland for our heads as well as a pendant about our necks. See Proverbs 1:9. And this hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. For at just the right time, while we were remained helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. God proves His great love for us in this way: While we were still sinners, Christ died for you and me. Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him, and how much more, having been reconciled through the death of His Son, shall we be saved through His life!  See Romans 5:5-9.

This is the good news of Jesus Christ—a pearl of great value.