Situation Vacant





"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

Jesus had this really terrible habit of speaking to people in riddles and most of the time they couldn’t understand anything he said. This is why I find what happens in today’s passage very amusing. Jesus tells his listeners seven parables in quick succession — The Sower, The Weeds, The Mustard Seed, The Yeast, The Hidden Treasure, The Pearl of Great Price, and The Net — and then asks his apostles: “Have you understood all this?” And they answer, “Yes.” And I go, “Wow! Really?”

In his head Jesus also probably went, “Wow! Really?” However, he doesn’t say anything; he goes on to tell them an eighth parable. He says (and as usual I paraphrase), “Ok, since you understand this, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” He is calling them scribes. This is ironical, because, along with the Pharisees, the scribes have been his archenemies. They have constantly tried to trap him so that he would get into trouble with the Roman authorities. So, why is he calling his apostles scribes?

To understand this, we need to go back in time to the days when the Jews began returning to Jerusalem. If you recall, Jerusalem had been besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon (see Daniel 1:1-2). Over the years more and more of the Jews were taken captive to Babylon. After the fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, exiled Judeans were permitted to return to Judah. (Please don’t get turned off by this history lesson; it’s good to know these things.) The first batch of arrivals found the city and temple in total ruin. 

They were authorized to rebuild both, but in order to do this, their spirit needed to be built up. To do this, the prophet Ezra stood on a pulpit, and began to teach the people. This is, by the way, the first time Scripture records that a pulpit was used to preach (see Nehemiah 8:4). Nehemiah followed Ezra, heralding the beginning of the ministry of the scribes. It was, as you can imagine, a powerful ministry. But, as it invariably happens, subsequent scribes began to offer interpretive opinions that they considered authoritative, and consequently the scribes became a group of legalistic, self-righteous teachers. This describes the scribes of Jesus’ day.

By referring to his disciples as scribes, Jesus was telling them that they were to be the new teachers. Although they might not understand much, despite their assertions that they did, they would eventually get it because Jesus would have explained it to them. They would also be trained in communicating these truths to others, especially once they applied these truths to their own lives. Because in order to teach well, we need experiential understanding, not just hard knowledge. This takes discipleship. Now, Jesus is looking for scribes today, those who will transmit their understanding of great kingdom truths that they have discovered and LIVED.

Are you one of them?

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/_hCBrlSGn3k.

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