REFLECTIONS TODAY
Today’s Gospel reading is the seventh and last of the parables in Matthew’s 13th chapter. In his days, Jesus did not tell them one after the other as they are presented here. They are the work of the author’s editing, putting materials with a common theme into one place. Jesus likens a truly learned disciple to a “scribe,” an interpreter of God’s Word. The disciple scribe brings from his storeroom the wealth of the Old Testament as well as the vision of the New Covenant. Jesus makes it clear that he has not come to abandon the traditions of the “old” Hebrew covenant but to fulfill them. He equally rejects those who abandon the Hebrew tradition as well as those who reject the new insights, which he brings. This is a process that goes on today in the Christian faith. There is a continuing and creative tension between what has been handed down in the past and the new understanding, which arises with the changing circumstances of the contemporary days. We should be a constant interpreter of God’s Word in the light of the signs of the times. Gospel • Matthew 13:47-53 Jesus said to the disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous 50and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” “Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there. Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2023,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]); Website: [http://www.stpauls.ph](http://www.stpauls.ph).