He said unto them: Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.
Image taken from: https://mymorningmeditations.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/ancient_rabbis.jpg
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Now and forever. Amen.
Before I offer the full context, I will explain a little bit about the scribes. The way I had always understood this group of people in my youth was that they were copyists, or the ones who wrote things down, transcribers. This isn't actually correct.
We get the word scribe from a translation of the Hebrew word soferim, which meant what the English word scribe means: "one who knows how to write." However, this class of people were much more than mere writers. It is understood that only the highly educated, in ancient Judaism, knew how to write. So, while this is where their name comes from, it's really a surface-level description for who they were as a class in Jewish society.
The soferim were a body of teachers, and it was their job to properly interpret the Law for the people. So, whenever you read about a Scribe in scripture, this is the kind of person who's being talked about--someone very well versed in Jewish Law, and who teaches the people what the correct interpretation of the Law was.
This is important to know, because it is this kind of person that Jesus is talking about in this parable.
So, let's recap on Jesus' teachings on the Kingdom. So, this parable I have taken from Matthew 13. In this chapter, Jesus gives a series of seven parables that describe what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. This is the final, eighth, parable in that series. However, unlike the previous seven, which described what the Kingdom is like, this final one describes what a Scribe is like, who has been instructed in the Kingdom.
In Chapter 12, Jesus goes through a series of challenges from the Scribes and Pharisees. He, more than once, upbraids them for their hypocrisy and blindness. This chapter seems to be a follow up to that. Though the scribes are blind and hypocritical, if there are any that could be properly instructed in the Kingdom, they would be like "a householder, who brings out of his treasure new things and old." So, there is hope for them.
The seven parables here are these:
The first two parables are about the individuals who will reside within the Kingdom up to the time of the harvest.
The Sower and the Seeds - Jesus explains that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a sower (Himself) who, going along, drops seeds (the Word) on different types of soil (by the wayside, on stony ground, on thorny ground, and on good ground). The essential teaching here is that, in the Kingdom, people receive the Word differently, based on the state of their hearts, and the circumstances of their lives, and it is only a portion of all who hear the Word who are properly disposed to have it bear good and lasting fruit in their lives. There are three things here that Jesus says are necessary: to hear the word (receive it into one's heart), to understand the word, and to have it bear fruit in one's life.
The Wheat and the Tares - Jesus explains that the Kingdom is like a sower who, having planted wheat in his field, had an enemy come into the field at night and sow tares among the wheat. Tares are basically weeds that look very similar to wheat. The sower tells his servants not to uproot the tares lest they also uproot the wheat, but to allow them to grow together until the time of harvest, when the wheat will be separated from the tares, and the tares will be bundled up to be burned. What this means about the Kingdom (the Church), is that within it there will be those within the Church who look and act like Christians, but are wicked in the their hearts, and agents of the enemy. Jesus says that they must be allowed to live in the Church, lest, driving them out, the His own children might be lost with them.
The next two parables are about the Kingdom as a whole body.
The Mustard Seed - The Kingdom is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, which, when fully grown, becomes a great tree which the birds of the air come to, and rest in its branches. Therefore, the Kingdom will begin small and seemingly insignificant in the face of the great world powers, which history can certainly attest to, but in the fullness of time, it will grow to become a great tree, as indeed it has.
The Leaven in the Meal - The Kingdom is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened. Elsewhere, Jesus uses the imagery of leaven to describe doctrine or teachings (i.e., beware the leaven of the Pharisees). With that in mind, it seems that what Jesus is saying here is that the fullness of true Doctrine will be hidden in the meal, that is, in the Law and Jewish Tradition, which in time will be fully expounded in the Church.
The next three parables are about Jesus' own action in establishing the Kingdom, and for whom He came.
The Treasure in the Field - The Kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man finding it, hides it, then goes and sells all he has so that he can purchase the field. The man is Jesus, who, giving up His Divinity, comes to earth (the field) and purchases it (redeems it) through His sacrifice. The treasure is the people of God, the nation of Israel.
The Pearl of Great Price - The Kingdom is like a merchant seeking good pearls, who, having found one, goes and sells all he has, to buy just the one. The Pearl of Great Price is the great Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. Again, Jesus is the merchant who gives up His Divinity to purchase (redeem) the Pearl.
The Dragnet - The Kingdom is like a net cast into the sea, which, when it was full, was taken back to shore, and the good fish separated from the bad. The sea signifies the nations, the rest of the people of the world. The net has been cast, and at the end of time, the good fish will be separated from the bad, the righteous will be separated from the wicked.
Do you understand all these things? Therefore, every scribe that is instructed in the Kingdom is like a man that is a householder, who brings forth out of his treasure new things and old. What is the treasure of the scribe? It is his expertise in the Law, and the proper interpretation of it. When a scribe is instructed in the Kingdom, being an expert in the Law, and having knowledge as to how to properly interpret it, he will bring forth old wisdom regarding the Law, as well as new.
The point here is that, despite Jesus' repeated admonitions of the scribes, He's not condemning Jewish Law, or tradition. His Kingdom does not represent a break in their history and tradition. He's not proposing something radically new to them. Rather, the reason the scribe can bring forth both old and new treasure, when properly instructed in the Kingdom, is because there is a continuity between the old and the new, and the scribe's expertise in the Law will bring the new out of the old in a continuity of tradition.
Therefore, it is good to understand the Jewish roots to our Faith, since Jesus fully expects that the "old" will be brought forward into the Kingdom, just as there will be a newness to it.
God bless, and thank you for reading!
