Jesus says to them, Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea, [Lord].
The Lord has just finished a long series of parables about the kingdom. He now turns to His disciples with one question, and their short answer opens the way to the picture of the trained scribe in verse 52. (Older translations render their reply "Yes, Lord.")
Why could the disciples say "Yes" when so many others could not? The answer is not brainpower.
Crowds pressed around our Lord who had plenty of natural intelligence but not the least idea about these things. We see this when the disciples asked why He spoke in parables. He assured them that it was given to them to understand what He was saying. They did not have more natural ability to think these things out. But God did a sovereign work in their souls, and that gave them the ability to understand these things.
There was a second reason they could answer. The crowd heard the same parables, but the disciples received something more.
The parables presented the truth wrapped in a veil, which neither the disciples nor the crowd could see through. The Prophet lifted the veil to teach His followers. As we read, "He did not speak to them [the crowd] without a parable, but privately to His own disciples He explained everything" (Mark 4:34). So when He asked, "Have you understood all these things?" they were able to reply, "Yes, Lord."
Commentators are agreed that the answer was honest but far from complete. What they held then was a fraction of what they would later hold.
To the Lord's question whether they understood all these things, the disciples answer "Yes," though their understanding could only have been small indeed compared with what they would later discern.
The gap was closed later, and by a specific means — the Spirit given at Pentecost, who would recover for them what they had failed to retain.
Even then they were able to understand something of what the Lord had revealed. But the full meaning would wait until the Holy Spirit came to live in them.
Their claim did not stand on its own. In the next verse the Lord describes what an understanding person actually does.
They answered, "Yes, Lord." But here is the proof of their understanding: they would be able to bring out of their treasure of knowledge things new and old. True wisdom would never discard the old. It would gain fresh value because of the new.
A scribe was a trained teacher of the Scriptures. The Lord's teaching did not cancel what such a man already knew; it added a shape he had never imagined.
The scribe knew about the kingdom. But he had no idea at all of the character it would take on: the kingdom of heaven planted in this world by means of the word, on which everything here depends.
There is a plain consequence here for anyone who teaches. Understanding must come before speaking.
The least we can look for in those who minister is familiarity with the Scripture, the understanding of God's mind as He has revealed it in the word. There may be this, notice, without any gift of speech, without any ability to communicate it to others. But without this, what have we to communicate? God's saints surely do not gather in the name of Jesus to be handed crude, half-digested human thoughts. They do not gather to hear what others have said or written repeated back to them.
The Lord put this question to His disciples. It is still a fair question for anyone who reads the chapter.
If the Lord should ask us, as He did His disciples, "Have you understood all these things?" may we be able to answer "Yes, Lord". If we can truly say so, then the understanding will enrich us spiritually, and we shall be "like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and old".
- Given — the disciples' understanding came from a work of God in them, not from sharper minds than the crowd's.
- Opened — the parables stayed veiled until the Lord explained them to His own. That explanation is what made "Yes" possible.
- Partial — their "Yes" was honest but small; the full meaning waited for the Holy Spirit to come and live in them.
- Proved — real understanding shows itself. It brings out treasure, and it keeps the old alongside the new.
- Passed on — you cannot hand others what you have never taken in. Understanding comes first, then ministry.
And he said to them, For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man [that is] a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.
Matthew 13 ends its seven parables with a question: had the disciples understood? Jesus answers with a picture — the trained scribe is like the head of a household, bringing both old supplies and new ones out of his store.
The word "Therefore" looks back at the disciples' answer: they had understood. That order matters for anyone who wants to teach. You cannot hand out what you have never taken in.
The least we can look for in those who minister is knowledge of the Scripture, an understanding of God's mind as revealed in the word. There may be this, notice, without any gift of speech, without any ability to communicate it to others. But without this, what have we to communicate? God's saints surely do not gather from time to time in the name of Jesus to be handed raw, half-digested human thoughts. Nor do they gather to hear repeated back to them what others have spoken or written.
Where that store gets filled matters too. The last three parables had a smaller audience.
It is significant that the Lord spoke the last three parables in the house, to the disciples. As we have seen, they contain the mystery of Israel, the mystery of the church, and the mystery of the ending of the age. The great crowd did not hear them, since they contain truths for His own. To them alone the Spirit of God gives knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom.
A scribe was a man trained in the Hebrew Scriptures. He already owned a real store of truth about the kingdom before Jesus said a word.
The scribe studied the Old Testament Scriptures. He knew its glowing prophecies of the Kingdom of Heaven well — a kingdom with the Jew at its centre, reaching through the Jew to the Gentile nations. He expected the glory of the reign of the Messiah. These were "the things old," known for long centuries.
The parables did not announce a different kingdom. They gave it a shape nobody had pictured.
The doctrine of the kingdom, for instance, was a well-known doctrine. But the kingdom would take the forms the Lord described. It would take in the whole world without distinction. The people of God would draw their existence not from Abraham but from the word. All this was quite new. It was all of God. The scribe had knowledge of the kingdom, but he knew nothing of the character it would take on: the kingdom of heaven planted in this world by means of the word, on which everything here depends.
The householder brings out both. Learning the new revelation does not entitle a man to throw away what God had already given.
The scribe was well taught in the law of Moses, so he could bring out the old things. And since he was trained for the kingdom of heaven, he could bring the new things out of his treasure too. He was indeed to have new things, but he was not to give up the old.
Wisdom keeps both, and for a reason.
True wisdom would never discard the old. It would have fresh value because of the new. Both alike are the work of the Holy Spirit.
There are limits to what this verse covers. The Lord treats the disciples as scribes, not yet as members of the church. The new light falls on ground they already knew.
Here we have lessons about the kingdom of heaven applied to knowledge gained as by scribes in the Old Testament. Nothing here is about the mystery that was hidden and later revealed by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and prophets. Instead, the kingdom and its mysteries throw light on the promises and the government of God — things a scribe would have found in the law and the prophets.
The image is domestic and practical. A store cupboard exists for the table, and the man in charge of it is judged by whether the household eats well.
He encourages them to be well-instructed scribes, saying that there is great treasure in the knowledge of the truth of the kingdom of heaven, and one so instructed is like a householder who makes well-balanced provision for his house, things both new and old.
The alternative to a stocked cupboard is an empty one, and it shows.
If we are like Ruth, we will have something to give to others, and our ministry will be neither barren nor unfruitful. Many a believer sits silent in the meetings, year after year, just because he has not been out gathering.
- Understand. The treasure starts with taking in what Christ taught. The disciples learned it in the house with Him, not in the crowd.
- Store. The "old" is the long-known prophecy of Messiah's reign. The "new" is the kingdom's present, unexpected form, planted in the world by the word.
- Keep both. New light does not retire the old; the old gains fresh value because of the new, and both come from the same Spirit.
- Stay in bounds. This verse speaks to scribes about the kingdom. It does not open the mystery of the church, revealed later to the apostles.
- Serve it out. A full store is for the table. Whoever gathers has something to give; whoever does not sits silent.