Seeds for 09/20/2023 - Matthew 13:51-52

Scripture: “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Observation: “Have you understood all these things?”

Chapter 13 goes back and forth a bit, so who is the audience—crowds? disciples?

Jesus seems to be speaking with His disciples—not necessarily limited to the Twelve, but certainly people who are real followers, not just the by-standing, curious crowds. Verse 36 says, “Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.’” The narrative indicates they are in private now.

So, His followers reply, “Yes.” They do understand all these things—the sower and seed, the wheat and the weeds, the mustard seed and the yeast, the treasure, the pearl, and the net. Okay.

A teacher of the law has authority, responsibility, and standing. A disciple is a learner, an apprentice. When the teachers of the law—the experts, become disciples of Jesus in the kingdom, they increase their treasure of wisdom and expand their capacity to share what came before and what Jesus is teaching them now. One thinks of the Sermon on the Mount (chs 5-7) as an example of this from Jesus. The humble openness of a student increases what they have available to share.

This hits on an important theme of the Gospels and throughout the New Testament as a whole. Down is the way up. Instead of preserving one’s place as an expert teacher, embrace the status of a learner—a disciple—at the feet of Jesus. Descending precedes ascending. This is literally modeled in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here it is applied to people with high religious status—“teachers of the law”—who become beginners—“disciples in the kingdom.”

So long as we cling to our present standing and knowledge, we keep a lid on our spiritual potential. However, when we lay that aside and humbly seek to follow Jesus day by day, we find fresh grace alongside gospel treasures we’ve known for years.

Application:

• When have you discovered new insights that enhanced or deepened old spiritual truths?

• What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?

Prayer: Lord, make me a humble student of the kingdom. Strengthen me in old truths and reveal new insights into them. Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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