‘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.’
Matthew 13:51-52 NIVUK
A number of years ago, I had the privilege of going to our town hall to watch my wife have British citizenship ceremonially conferred on her. It really was a special moment. We had passed through years of demanding and expensive and stressful immigration processes. And now they were all over: she could work, receive state benefits and be treated just like any other British citizen. She had the rights, but also the responsibilities, of being a citizen of the country where we live.
She truly belonged.
The Kingdom Parables are about just that. You see, to become a citizen, there are rights that you obtain, such as the right to live and work. But there are also responsibilities. You have to pay taxes and obey the law – in fact, if you commit a crime and the government deems it serious enough, they have the right to withdraw citizenship from you.
These parables are about what it means to be part of the Kingdom of God: both the rights and the responsibilities, and also the risks.
You see, people can declare themselves to be whoever they like – it isn’t that long ago that a British influencer declared himself to be Korean, for example – but identity documents contain who you really are and where you really come from.
In the same way, the teaching of the Kingdom Parables teach us who we really are, and let us determine if we really are a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
That means they are not at all an easy read. They might contain gentle pictures of agricultural life or charming pictures of ancient households, but the fact is that underneath the charm lies a series of stiff warnings we have to listen to.
Jesus rounds off the sequence of parables back in Matthew 13 with a very simple application parable – the same way He finishes off the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-27. Again, it might seem like quite charming picture, but challenges lie within.
Jesus uses three types of people to challenge us with the rights and responsibilities we all have when it comes to His teaching.
The first is a listener.
He asks if His disciples have understood what He has been teaching.
They say they have.
Because the first responsibility of any listener is not just to listen to words such as these as if they were a piece of music, but to understand them.
That is clear from Scripture:
My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.
Ezekiel 33:31-32 NIVUK
It is far from enough simply to hear the Word of God; we must listen to it and obey it. To hear it is a truly precious privilege. So many people in the world do not have that privilege.
But to understand it, apply it and live it is our responsibility – indeed, it is the responsibility of all who claim to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The second type of person is a scribe.
Here we might be swayed by their negative portrayal in the Gospels. These scribes didn’t just copy out the law from one scroll to another – they were a lot more than just an ancient version of a photocopier or a scanner.
Their job was also to know the law and to teach the law to others. Their knowledge was such that they participated in the religious Council, the Sanhedrin.
Yes, that is the group which condemned Jesus to death, but they had an important role in Jewish society. They were more than just religious scholars. They were judges and esteemed teachers too.
Having seen the picture of a listener, the picture of a scribe carries with it the idea of obtaining a deep knowledge of the Word of God and being capable to pass it on to others.
The third picture, after the listener and the scribe, is that of a householder.
After we moved house from a small, draughty apartment, we were keen to show off the blessing God had given us. So, once we were settled, we delighted in showing off our house to guests who came to visit.
That is, in a sense, is what Jesus is talking about. A householder – sometimes also called a master of a house – would be a reasonably wealthy man with servants and quite possibly even fields. He would be a man who would have savings and precious items – treasures.
Here Jesus is talking about a man who could be bringing out family heirlooms and recently acquired goods.
Jesus is comparing this to His teaching, and to the Scriptures. The ancient things represent the Jewish law and prophets – the Old Testament. The newer things represented, in Jesus’ day, His teachings.
For us, everything in the Bible is ancient, so it is all an heirloom, inherited from the many generations of believers who went before us. The newer things represent fresh insights and ideas and applications from modern, contemporary Bible teachers and preachers, provided these line up with Scripture and are not some wild, fevered fantasy.
The implication is that both are useful: both extend the Kingdom of Heaven and encourage others to come under Christ’s rule. So both must be accepted, treated as precious and with respect, and used to strengthen our faith.
Several years ago, when my daughter was in Primary School, we went on a trip to Bavaria. Germany's highest mountain is there – Zugspitze. We took the cable car right to the top and saw a view that to me is still one of the most breath-taking things I have ever seen.
Stretching out before us in the cloudless spring sunshine were mountain peaks from five countries: Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It was more than majestic. It was so beautiful that it almost looked otherworldly.
Those peaks were truly stunning. But they were also quite formidable.
Over the last weeks we have examined some formidable peaks of Jesus’ teaching, such as: the Parables of the Sower, the Mustard Seed, the Unmerciful Servant, and many others - great, classic parables that are well known and we can almost recite by heart.
We have also examined many lesser parables, such as the Parables of the Weeds, Yeast and Net, among others.
These are all beautiful, deeply impressive pieces of rhetoric and teaching. No doubt about that.
But they challenge us on Kingdom values and what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Because unlike a passport, it doesn’t take a document or a membership card to get you into the Kingdom of Heaven. You enter the Kingdom of Heaven by believing in Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, and your citizenship is proved by your changed attitude and actions (Philippians 3:17-21).
My hope and prayer in writing these words is that you will have learned, together with me, what it takes to be a good citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And more than that, we will be its ambassadors in a world that desperately needs to know the truth.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I have been truly challenged by these studies in the Kingdom Parables. I pray that you would continue Your work in me, and bring it to completion, so that I will be a worthy ambassador for the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.
Questions
1. Why do you think that Jesus ends a block of teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven with this parable? What is He saying we should do?
2. Which of the three pictures of listener, scribe and householder do you most identify with? Why?
3. What has challenged you the most in the Kingdom Parables? What do you intend to change as a result?
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