January 12 - New Treasure

January 12 – New Treasure

And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew 13:52)

The entirety of Matthew 13 is made up of parables and in some cases – explanations.  Jesus began by teaching the crowd in parables and by Matthew 13:36, had moved inside a house to finish the conversation with only His disciples.

If you look at each parable, you will find that He is trying to teach the people – including His disciples – about the Kingdom of Heaven.

The parable of the sower begins the chapter and He explains it in Matthew 13:18-23.  The kingdom is the seed that is sown.  Those who hear it and don’t understand it, when the evil one comes, he snatches it away – the seed sown along a path.  The seed sown on rocky soil doesn’t grow roots and will only last until persecution comes, so the person falls away.  Seed sown among thorns is the man who hears about the kingdom of God, but deceitfulness of wealth chokes it away.  Seed sown on good soil is shown in the man who yields crops – in other words teaches others so that the word grows and grows.

Then He tells the parable stating the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seeds in a field, but the enemy came along and sowed weeds in the same field while everyone slept.  The weeds will be harvested first and burned, then the wheat gathered into the barn.

He tells two more parables to the crowd – those of the mustard seed and yeast – comparing them to the kingdom of heaven.

With the disciples, he explains the parables of the weeds then tells how a hidden treasure in a field and the pearl of great price are like the kingdom of heaven.  Finally He tells another apocalyptic parable – that of the net.  The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the lake.  It catches all sorts of fish.  The bad were thrown away and the good were gathered into baskets.

Jesus ends by asking the disciples if they understand everything He has told them.  They respond by saying ‘yes,’ but you wonder if they really do understand it all.  Some of those concepts are difficult for us to grasp and they didn’t have years of scholars interpreting the parables.

It is important for them – and for us – to understand the concepts of the kingdom of heaven.  This brings us to the climax of this passage.  There are new treasures and old for teachers of the law … those of us who have had experience in knowing Jesus Christ … to bring out of the storeroom.  If we are going to share the kingdom of heaven with those around us, we need to know what these treasures are.

For the disciples – the old treasures were the Law – life the way they were used to living it.  The new treasures were those things which changed because Jesus Christ lived among them.  He wanted them to grasp the difference and be ready to share what it was that meant in each of their lives.

He wants the same thing for us.