Jesus did not just teach in parables to the crowds, but to his closest companions. Here, he connects the parable of the lost pearl to Mary Magdalene.
While Jesus was walking up and down the hall with the men, the women sat playing a kind of lottery for the benefit of their new undertaking.
On the elevated platform was a table on rollers, around which they sat. The plane of the table, which projected into five angles like the rays of a star, covered a box about two inches in depth. From the five points to the center of this partitioned box, ran deep furrows on the surface, and between them were slits connecting the interior.
Each of the women had some long strings of pearls and many other little precious stones. Each in turn placed some of them in one of the furrows on the table. Then resting a delicate little bow on the outer end of the furrow, she shot a tiny arrow at the nearest pearl or stone. The shock received by this one communicated itself to the rest, which rolled into the other furrows or dropped through the holes into the compartments in the interior of the box.
When all the pearls and stones had been shot from the surface, the table, which was upon rollers, was agitated to and fro, by which movement the contents fell into other little compartments which could be drawn out at the edge. Each of these little drawers had previously been assigned to one of the players, so that when the holy women drew them out, they saw at once what they had won for their new undertaking, or which jewel they had lost.
During the game, the holy women lost a very precious pearl that had fallen down among them. All moved back and looked for it most carefully.
When at last they found it and were expressing their joy, Jesus came over to them and related the parable of the lost drachma and the joy of the owner upon finding it again. From their pearl, lost, carefully sought, and joyfully found, He drew a new similitude to Magdalen. He called her a pearl more precious than many others that, from the lottery table of holy love, had fallen and were going to destruction.
“With what joy,” He exclaimed, “will ye find again the precious pearl!” Then the women, deeply moved, asked: “Ah, Lord! Will that pearl be found again?” and Jesus answered: “Seek ye more earnestly than the woman in the parable sought the lost drachma, or the shepherd his stray sheep.”
Profoundly touched at this answer, all promised to seek after Magdalen more diligently than after their lost pearl, and assured Him that their joy upon finding her would far exceed what they now felt.
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This article is taken from a chapter in Mary Magdalene in the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich which is available from TAN Books.
