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THE HOMEOWNER
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.”
Something old, something new.
Who doesn’t find comfort in the familiar?
We don old sweaters, curl up with beloved books, talk to
longtime friends. These are things we can count on to give us
feelings of happiness and ease.
Sometimes, though, the familiar is not
enough. Sometimes it is redundant. Ah, then, something new is
appealing. It provides something different, a new perspective.
It can bring a new flavor to your life, something you might
actually enjoy again and again, until it becomes … the familiar.
It’s like buying new ornaments to hang up with your family
heirlooms on the Christmas tree. Or putting up new curtains in
the front room.
In Jesus’ time, those who knew and taught
what we now call the Old Testament went through a very vivid
version of mixing the old and the new. They knew all the stories
and prophecies by heart. They recited them and examined them
almost every day.
Then Jesus came along. Now those prophecies
were not only being remembered, they were coming true! Things
that had been long promised were being lived by Jesus. Some of
the teachers and leaders didn’t want to believe it, but it was
all real. And those willing to accept the truth found their
world rocked. As Jesus put it in this parable, for those who
knew the law, it was like bringing out new treasures with the
old. Jesus was that new treasure!
Though these events happened ages ago, the
wonder that was Jesus resonates as much as ever. Jesus may be
the rock of ages, but he’s a treasure to mankind that shines
like new.
Dear God, in our old troubled world,
thank you for the always-new treasure of salvation provided by
your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen
Ken Hobart |
