Matthew 13:51-53

The Gospel of Matthew

Session 31 – 9/21/2014

Seraphim Danckaert

13:51-53

Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there”

1. This is Jesus’ “exam” after his course on the Kingdom of Heaven. He preached seven parables, each revealing a different facet of what the Kingdom is and what it means to say “Thy Kingdom come!”

2. Jesus’ concluding statement in this exam is that we must be like a steward bringing forth from the treasure entrusted to us both “new and old things.” This statement is unique to the Gospel of Matthew, and is a summary of what the Gospel of Matthew is all about.

3. This statement is the key to how we should read the Bible today. In reading the Bible, we too must be “scribes” — but a specific kind of scribe: the kind Jesus calls for here.

4. Bringing forth both “new and old.” The “new” realities of Jesus are rooted in the “old” things of Israel, and yet it is only through the “new” that we can truly understand the “old.”