Be the master of your training, and the grateful recipient of God's gift.

“Treasure New and Old”

(Matthew 13:51-58, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, October 14, 2007)

Matthew 13:51-58 ⁵¹ "Have you understood all these things?" They said to him, "Yes." ⁵² And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." ⁵³ And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ⁵⁴ and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." ⁵⁸ And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

Introduction – Old and new… going home again

Many people find it hard to come back to their hometown after they have been away for some time. In some cases you may not be sure how you fit in. You are not the same, and maybe the people that you have returned to seem different too. In some cases, the people you return to may not be ready to receive the new you. How you are received when you come back home probably has a lot to do with what you are bringing home with you. In the case of Jesus, he came home with the Kingdom of heaven, and many people were unwilling to receive the gift.

A scribe in the kingdom (51-52)

Jesus and his followers were witnessing the end of an era. The Old Testament world would never be the same. Many were unable to receive the message of Jesus because they were unwilling to consider that God would not be dealing with His people based on circumcisions, based on Passovers, and based on clean foods. But there were some experts in the Old Testament (the scribes), who would eventually become captivated by the teaching of the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus says in verse 52 that “every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Though there are many new and wonderful things about the New Testament era, Jesus is not throwing away everything from the Old Testament when He comes home proclaiming the Kingdom of heaven. Someone who was an expert in the Old Testament word of God and who had come to understand the wonder of New Testament life, did not have to throw away all his knowledge of the law and the prophets. If you went away to Jesus University and you heard about the Kingdom of Heaven, and then you came back to Old Testament High School you might wonder, “What can I do with all the things that I learned as a child from the Law and the Prophets? Is any of that still useful as a follower of Jesus?” I think there are two things that Jesus wanted any scribe who would follow Him to see.

First, make sure that you understand the Kingdom of heaven well. Understand grace. It has always been the case that salvation was a gift from God given to people that deserved God’s anger for their sin. But many people had used the Old Testament system as a ticket of merit that they thought made them acceptable to God. To be useful scribes they needed to forget any idea that they had been saved by their own works. They were saved by the grace of God. They also needed to understand substitution. The way that God would bring about our safe participation in His family would be through a substitute – Jesus Christ. Our sinful record was put on Him on the cross and His sinless holiness was put on us. Through this substitution we are given God’s grace. They also needed to understand resurrection. The hope of the kingdom of heaven goes far beyond the grave. The King would have victory over the grave for us, and we would be granted this victory in the resurrection of the people of God to everlasting life.

These are not entirely new concepts, but they came with a new clarity in the New Testament era. The scribe that found these truths compelling… what should he do with all his old notebooks? Was it all wasted learning now that a new era had dawned in the coming of the Messiah? This brings us to a second thing to remember. As with many things in life, especially in our spiritual lives, we should be cautious about throwing out good things just because they are from our past. Don’t through out everything old. Many people feel that it is necessary in life to make such a break with their past that they diminish the value of good things from their youth as part of a childish past that means nothing. Particularly during life transitions this wrong thinking can be a great temptation. It needs to be resisted. Especially for the Old Testament scribes, they needed to use their knowledge of the Scriptures as a treasure, now rightly understood in light of the fulfillment of God’s plans for the Kingdom of Heaven. Some of you have received an excellent instruction in the Scriptures from your youth. How are you using this gift today? Don’t give up on the good gift that you were blessed with as a child. You were given the gift then because you could learn some things so well at that young age. But you were given it then so that you could be master over it today, so that you could use them as an adult, not so you could mistakenly throw them off as if they were childish. Now is the time to be the Christian adult you were trained to be. Do you have some knowledge of the Bible and of the faith? Be like the scribe who is able to use it all for blessing in the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus had a tremendous knowledge of the Old Testament. Jesus says in John 8:38, “I speak of what I have seen with my Father.” He surprised people even at a young age with His understanding of the Word. He used that knowledge of the Old Testament after His resurrection to tell two of His disciples about how all the Scriptures testified of Him. There are so many things of ethical, historical, and literary value to us in the Old Testament. But the whole Bible is especially important because it all tells us about Jesus Christ.

Home again to Nazareth (53-57)

This sounds great – and it is. But just try to take this kind of thing home to the old synagogue. Not everyone is going to love it. In verses 53 through 57 Jesus comes home to Nazareth – not always an easy thing to do, particularly if you left town as no one who seemed particularly special, as someone with humble beginnings.

The 40^th President of the United States had very humble beginnings. Born in an apartment above the local bank building in Tampico, Illinois, his parents moved to Dixon when he was nine years old. The town of Dixon, Illinois is known today as the hometown of Ronald Wilson Reagan. He attended Dixon High School and went on to Eureka College, a small liberal arts school in Illinois related to the Disciples of Christ denomination that his mother Nelle belonged to.

When Reagan came home to Dixon, they loved him, and Eureka College lists him as their most distinguished alumnus. Going home again does not always mean facing rejection. But Reagan did not come back to Dixon as the Savior of the world, and he was not working miracles. He did upset many apple-carts in America with his speeches and his philosophy. But when Jesus came back to his hometown, he came with a different way of looking at the holy book of the Jews. There was also the shock of His display of divine authority. People must have thought, “We know this man. We know His family. How is he doing miracles?” They took offence at Him. What if He had changed His message in order to win the approval of the people of Nazareth? Of course this was not really an option for the One who came to die for our sins. Settle your own heart on the truth as well. Not everyone is going to love you for it. Let it be. Keep on going.

Jesus explains the situation this way: “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” This was certainly the case for the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. The men of his hometown of Anathoth came to him and said, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand.” We need to give them some credit for being direct. Now the Son of God has come as the greatest of all prophets to the place where He grew up, and not only is his family skeptical, but the whole town is unwilling to consider Him to be a leading citizen of Nazareth. They are not pleased with the report of His miracles. They are offended by Him.

The mystery and strange power of unbelief (58)

What would we have done if we had the power to do miracles and people were criticizing us for the reports they heard about great things we were doing in other places? “I’ll show you some miracles.” That might have been my response. We are always proving ourselves first, and serving God second. That was not the way with Jesus. He did not come because He had to prove Himself. He did not have to do miracles that day just to show himself or the people in Nazareth who was the real Savior. This is the kind of proof that we would demand from Him so that we could know for sure who He was with our own eyes, but even then we would not be satisfied. Instead God gives the gift of faith. And He chose to connect the visible signs with the miracle of invisible faith. In this case it meant that He withheld miraculous displays of the Kingdom of heaven because of the unbelief of the people of Nazareth.

Treasures of Word and Spirit

What a blessing it is when God gives faith! He gives us treasures of the Word from the New and Old Testament and by a gift of Himself from heaven, the Holy Spirit makes this so wonderfully real. We believe. We know. We are healed. You don’t have to prove anything one way or another to the people at home. Simply and quietly receive the gift of faith from God today, and combine it with training you may have received in the past and can have today, and live again for the glory of God, as one who knows that Jesus Christ is the answer yesterday, today, and forever.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What was a scribe? How could a believing scribe use things old and things new in a good way?

2. Why do you think the people in Nazareth responded to Jesus as they did?

3. What is a prophet, and why is he so often shown disrespect from those he grew up with?

4. We often think about the power of faith, but how does this passage show the power of unbelief?