Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The statement that every scribe instructed in the Kingdom of heaven brings out what is new and what is old refers, I think, in its immediate context to both the old law—the Law of Moses and the books we know as the Old Testament—and the new Gospel that Christ proclaims.

The word “scribe” is exactly the same word Jesus uses when he speaks about the scribes and the Pharisees. There is no difference; it means the same thing. A scribe could have been a major administrative expert or, more specifically, an expert in law—in this case, Jewish law. That, I think, is the immediate context in which Jesus speaks.

But the Fathers of the Church deepen this understanding by applying the image to the Old and New Testaments. That is true, at least in spirit. The New Testament did not yet exist while Jesus was preaching, but this is an authentic deepening of our understanding and applying the Lord’s words.

Even beyond than that, the image applies to our own lives. This is not merely about the Old and New Testaments, or about the old law and the Gospel. It is also about the very words Christ himself speaks, especially the parables.

Jesus says this after giving us five or six different parables and helping us understand why he speaks in parables. So I think he is referring to those parables and saying that, if you truly are a scribe—a kind of secretary in the Kingdom of God, one who understands, studies, and tries to put the word into practice—you will always be bringing out what is old and what is new.

There will be old understandings of the text, old explanations that make a great deal of sense and fit your situation and circumstances perfectly. But there will also be new situations and circumstances that no one has addressed before. By being trained in the Kingdom of God, by meditating and reflecting upon the word of God, you will bring something new out of it—something that speaks to that particular situation and context.

That is what it means to be a scribe in the Kingdom of God and, ultimately, a follower of Christ. Christ speaks a definitive truth, but that truth must be lived out in every age. It must be lived out in circumstances that he could not have explained directly to his original hearers in terms they would have understood.

Christ knows all. He knew that one day we would have cell phones. But he could not stand before people two thousand years ago and say, “You know what? That tendency to be on your phone all day—you need to stop that.” No one would have understood him.

And so he speaks in a language that can endure through all time. He speaks in parables, with metaphor and imagery—things we can return to again and again. We are meant to draw from them both what is old and what is new.

So much of human life never changes. Our ordinary, day-to-day experiences are the same experiences human beings have had throughout history. And so the old words remain good. There is great wisdom in them that can apply directly at every moment of our lives.

But there is also novelty in this world: new situations that ancient minds could never have imagined. To those situations, we must still bring the words of Christ and allow them to speak something new to us.

And so it is imperative that we, as Christians, spend time meditating on the word of God, allowing it to sink deep within our hearts, and studying what others have said about it. Then, in whatever situation we find ourselves, we will have the wisdom and understanding to ask: Do I bring out something old today? Has this truly been addressed before? Or is it time to mine something new from the word of God—something that will speak to this situation and draw both me and my neighbor closer to the Kingdom of heaven?