Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old

 

 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant selling beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.  So it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."  

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."

 

- Matthew 13:44-52 

 

Presently, we are reading in chapter 13 of Matthew's Gospel, the chapter in which Jesus introduces His style of preaching in parables.  After teaching the parable of the Sower (explaining in private to His disciples), then the parables of the Wheat and the Tares, the Mustard Seed, and the Leaven, Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.  And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."  He answered and said to them:  "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.  The enemy sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age,  and the reapers are the angels.  Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.  The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant selling beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it."   These two parables illustrate the priceless nature of God's Kingdom.  My study Bible explains that the parable of the treasure hidden in a field is an illustration of those who unintentionally stumble onto Christ and His Church, but receive Him nonetheless with great eagerness.  The parable of the pearl of great price is an illustration of people who, on the other hand, have been searching in their hearts for Him, and finally find Him and His Church.  The other pearls, it says, represent all the various teachings and philosophies of the world.  These treasures are hidden in the sense that they are neither recognized nor valued by those immersed in worldliness.  In both parables, my study Bible further notes, to receive the treasure requires that everything else must be sold; that is, a person must surrender all things in order to receive Christ (see also Romans 14:11).

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.  So it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."   My study Bible describes the image of the fishing net gathering the good and wicked as similar to the parable of the wheat and the tares (in this reading).  But this parable extends the understanding that even those gathered into the Church are subject to judgment.  

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."  My study Bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom on this passage, who notes that Jesus does not exclude the Old Testament, but is praising it as a treasure.  Those who truly write or speak of the kingdom of heaven will draw from the unity of both new and old Testaments, for both are holy, with the New the fulfillment of the Old.  My study Bible further comments that this is indeed how St. Matthew composed his gospel.  In this Gospel, we will frequently read the words "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken" accompanied by Scripture from the Old Testament. 

It is amazing and illuminating to consider all these treasures that Christ describes, stretching from the period of the Old and through the New Testaments.  If we roughly generalize that time period, the revelation to Abraham is thought to have been approximately 2,000 years before the birth of Christ, and now we are 2,000 years after it.  Of course, the Old Testament does not begin with Abraham, but with the creation of all the universe, and the existence of the God without beginning.  (Let us once again ponder the beginning of John's Gospel, which echoes Genesis 1, but teaches us about the One who makes all things new; see John 1:1-5.)  The Bible as a whole teaches us about the continual intervention of God throughout our worldly history, and God's revelation to us -- which is all of a whole.  It is all a part of the treasure that Christ describes, "old and new" to us.  When we go through periods of life where we feel a great instability, either on a personal scale or a larger one, we should consider this consistent spiritual revelation throughout the history of the world as a reminder that God is always with us, no matter what our experience or what we think we see in a worldly sense.  Moreover, in the context of today's reading, it might give us pause to observe the evolution of our spirituality through the Bible Scriptures, and the history of worship indicated therein and through the Church.  Because while we may hear within our own understanding of time, so often the words and teachings we're given indicate something timeless, and outside of time.  Christ's miracles may be immediate, but this is part of the manifestation of the divine Son as Incarnate Jesus, a "sign" that the kingdom is present to us in that immediate and extraordinary form.  But we should not confuse, for example, the pearl of great price as indicating that its discovery is a kind of once-in-a-lifetime action only.  For the pearls that Christ gives us, the great pearl that is our faith, is something we need to understand as part of that timelessness of God also that runs through time and history in our world:  it continues to give as we continue to evolve in our faith.  The parable expresses the idea that we give all that we have for this pearl of great price, and we must not necessarily confuse that with a one-time choice, but with an action that continues throughout our lives.  As we are human beings in time, our capacity for repentance comes not as an all-at-once learning curve.  On the contrary, the learning curve of the disciples throughout the Gospels is there so that we learn how we grow in our faith, coming to discard what needs to be put aside, and to more deeply embrace what this pearl of great price does in us, and how Christ leads us.  So let us not be discouraged by what seems a tall order, or setbacks, or confusion, or things that seem to contradict what we find in our lives.  For this pearl of great price is the one thing that unites all contradictions, and it is and must be to that pearl, to our treasure, that we turn to find resolution and to continue "asking, seeking, and knocking" (Matthew 7:7).  Indeed, if we know where our treasure is, every obstacle, setback, or seeming contradiction must work to spur us to look "upward" to that place where all contradictions are resolved, to go to prayer, to seek guidance, to go forward in this journey of faith -- just as we see that spiritual journey of God's revelation in the Bible.  We await, as Christ has taught, the end of the age, when all things will be revealed (1 Corinthians 13:12).  But through everything we experience, we are taught to cling to this treasure, old and new, to learn it more deeply, to pray with it, to experience its truths which deliver us more of the same, and hope, and faith.  For this is the journey we are on, the priceless pearl we have been given, if we can receive it.