What Jesus and the New Testament authors say about the Scriptures: Matthew 13:51-52
Matthew 13:51–52 occurs as the end of a long passage on parables in Matthew’s Gospel. During the course of his teaching, Jesus raises some of the issues that we’ve already mentioned previously. Intriguingly, as Jesus talks about the parables he uses much the same language that is used about the Old Testament. For example, Jesus talks about the fact that parables seem to confirm the hard heartedness of those listening. He quotes Isaiah 6 that talks about people having dull hearts, unseeing eyes, and unhearing ears. He also talks about the fact that as his disciples they have been given opened eyes and hearing ears. Moreover, just as he opens up the scriptures to his disciples in Luke 24, so he opens up the parables to them in Matthew 13. Then, at the end of his teaching on parables we get these verses:
51“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. 52He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
In understanding the significance of these verses we first need to sort out who Jesus is talking about when he mentions ‘scribes'. One possibility is that he could be talking about Jewish scribes who become Christians. Another is Christian teachers of the Old Testament and even another is that he intends disciples in general. My own interpretation is that it is most likely to be the second or third option but that whichever it is, what is of particular significance is what he then goes on to say.
First, he asks if they understand ‘all these things’. In other words, he asks them if they understand the core message of the parables, at which point they assure him that they do. In response, he tells them that people like them, that is, people who have been instructed in the kingdom of heaven, are people who have been granted a heavenly insight. They have undergone a massive transformation in thought and perspective in having come to see that Jesus is the centre of God’s kingdom and purpose and this transformation is to be applied to their understanding of the Old Testament. As disciple-scribes they do not discard the Old Testament scriptures. Rather, they know that these scriptures have their focus and fulfilment in Jesus and as a result, they are able to dig deep into these scriptures and are able to draw out from them both new and old truths.
In other words, these disciple-scribes are able to do the sorts of things that we hear Jesus doing in his teaching and we see Matthew doing as he reads and comments on the Old Testament throughout his Gospel. They are able to do what Jesus did with the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
From this we can see that it is not the intention of Jesus that the Old Testament scriptures are dispensed with. Rather, they can be read as documents that were written to God’s people before Christ but they are to be read in the light of God’s revelation of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is therefore Christian scripture and there are many things that it teaches that are ‘old’ in the sense that a Jewish reader could agree with what is said. However, the fact that it has been fulfilled in Christ will also mean that there are many things that it teaches that are ‘new’ in a sense that only a Christian reader could understand fully.
My own take on this verse is therefore that it is quite possible for a Christian preacher to interpret a passage in the same way that a Jewish reader might and to do so is entirely Christian. However, the Christian preacher will also note and often explain how this passage contains things concerning Christ (when it does!).