The 13th chapter of Matthew ends with a final parable, the seventh, about how God is at work in the world. It points to the end of time.
As presented, it’s very clear. Some of the fisherman’s catch is found unworthy and is tossed away. I have to confess that I squirm every time Jesus talks about the final judgment or the pains of hell. My image of our Triune God – Father, Son & Spirit – is so rooted in a consciousness of God’s love, compassion and mercy that I have a hard time dealing with the notion of God rejecting anyone. It’s my naïve hope that there’s no one in Hell because God’s mercy is so all-embracing that God will not let anyone become lost. But I am aware that each one of us is responsible for the choices we make and will need to face the consequences of our actions and inaction.
Our Gospel passage ends with Jesus asking his disciples if they understand what he has been saying and they say they do. Jesus then gives a description of the truly learned disciple. He is a “scribe,” an interpreter of God’s Word, who can bring from the storeroom “both the new and the old,” someone who has both the wealth of the Hebrew Testament as well as the vision of the Christian Testament. The Jerusalem Bible points out that, “This picture of a ‘scribe who has become a disciple,’ sums up the whole ideal of the evangelist and may well be a self-portrait.” St Matthew is clearly a Jew who has become a Christian.
As Jesus said earlier, he hadn’t come to destroy the traditions of the original covenant but to fulfil it with a new covenant. He would equally reject those who abandoned the Hebrew tradition as well as those who rejected the new insights which he brought. This is a process which we still grapple with today. We have to honor our past but be open to new insights about our faith which arise with changing circumstances.
May God give us discerning hearts to help us read the signs of the times.