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Daily Meditation: Matthew 13:44-52
. . . the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old. (Matthew 13:52)
Have you ever watched the sequel to a movie without having seen the original? It could be a great, exciting story. But if you haven’t seen the original movie, you probably won’t understand everything that’s going on because you don’t know what came before.
Understanding the kingdom of God is a little like that. We can’t fully understand who Jesus is and what he came to do unless we see “both the new and the old”
(Matthew 13:52). To get the full picture, we need to see Jesus’ teachings and his acts of healing and mercy in the light of God’s centuries-long covenant relationship with the people of Israel.
That’s why Matthew so often points out how Jesus has fulfilled promises from the Old Testament. In his infancy narrative, Matthew quotes Micah 5:2 as a prophecy of the Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem (2:6). In chapter eight, when he describes Jesus healing and delivering so many people, he connects it to Isaiah’s suffering servant, who bears our pain (Isaiah 53:4). And when Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, Matthew reminds us that Zechariah 9:9 promises a king and savior coming to us riding on a donkey.
Christianity didn’t come from nowhere. It is a living outgrowth of everything that came before in God’s relationship with mankind, especially with Israel. If you want to see the richness of God’s plan, pay attention to the Old Testament! Matthew’s Gospel is a great resource. Keep your eyes open for the times when Jesus fulfills something that has been promised. Spend time praying with those passages. And become like a “scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven” by putting together the old and the new (Matthew 13:52).
“Jesus, I want to know the richness of all that you’ve done for me and for all people!”
