THE CASKET AND THE PEARL

There is a Chinese idiom warning against superficiality. It reads "Buying the casket and returning the pearl買櫝還珠", a summary statement of a parable found in Han Feizi《韓非子·外儲說左上》. Briefly, a merchant wanted to sell his pearl. In order to improve the chance of sale, he made a beautifully decorated casket. Later, the person who had bought the casket returned the pearl inside!
Of course we can draw many lessons from this parable. Immediately, we may tease the customer for his choice. The pearl should be more valuable than the casket. He had chosen foolishly. However, we do not know why he valued the casket more than the pearl. On the other hand, we may tease the merchant for putting his effort in the wrong place. He should not have made a casket which overshadowed the pearl. At the end of the day, he had failed to sell his pearl, the very purpose of making the casket!

Forget about the taste/value system of the customer who returned the pearl. Let us agree on some basic tenets. Firstly, eternal life is the most valuable for all of us. Secondly, eternal life has many facets one of which is glory. Thirdly, there is no glory without suffering which is a "price" to pay.
Now, the mother of the Zebedee brothers asked Jesus to leave the seats of glory for the brothers (Matthew 20:21). She did not choose wisely. She should have asked for a guarantee of eternal life instead.
Alas! Why do human beings always choose stupidly? I do not blame the psychologists who advise corporate leaders to design incentive schemes to motivate their employees ahead to make money for the companies. This is human nature. But naturally, which is more valuable, life or food, body or clothes? We eat to live. We wear clothes to keep our body warm. We earn money to make a living etc. However, our focus has shifted and our values changed after living in a highly commercialized society for too long. We enjoy eating more than caring for our health. We chase after fashion at the detriment of our body. We hoard money and forget our eternal life ... In short, we buy the casket and return the pearl to God.

Dear Lord, we pray that we will never lose sight of what the most important thing for us is. Amen.

Acknowledgement: The cartoon came from cartoonstock.com