Jesus Speaks to Heads of Households, Part 1
Posted by John Reuther on January 23, 2010
Are you the head of a household, the pastor of a church, or do you hope to be in this role one day?
Then here is a parable for you, a profound word from the Lord Jesus, a story in a saying, a picture in a proverb: “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” It causes heads of households to ask whether their households (ministries, etc.) are filled with trash, trivia, or treasure. What does your household look like?
This parable came at the conclusion of a series of parables that Jesus told His disciples, recorded in Matthew 13. The parables tell us what the kingdom of God is like. Jesus was calling His disciples to feast on the fullness of the kingdom when He taught the parables of the sower, the tares in the field, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the precious pearl, and the dragnet. But then He asked them whether they understood all of these parables. They said “Yes” (Matt. 13:51). Then He told them the parable of the head of the household, because by means of this parable He would show them that they must now go out and help others to see what they were privileged to see.
There is nothing more important than to understand what the kingdom of God is, how it has come to us, where it is taking us, how to enter into it, and what it affords us. In Matt. 12:42, Jesus told the disciples that He is greater than Solomon. You cannot appreciate who Jesus is unless you understand His relationship to Solomon. He gave us a collection of proverbs that enable us to put the truth of God to work in our lives to live effectively and efficiently for His glory.
But the Lord Jesus excelled Solomon. This is because He is the God-man who brings wisdom directly from heaven to earth. It is also because He is the sinless son of God who overcame every temptation, something that Solomon did not do. Solomon’s wisdom enlightens our eyes, but his declension saddens our hearts, and causes us to look for the perfection of wisdom in Jesus. Third, it is because Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, showing us the way, the truth, and the life that leads us to heaven. Solomon was a wise man, though merely a man. Jesus is the incarnation of wisdom, the sinless God-man. Heads-of-households, consider the attention-getting parable of the householder from our “Greater-than-Solomon.”
The Conversion of a Scribe
The parable begins with the story of a converted scribe. In Old and New Testament times scribes did the important work of copying, interpreting, and teaching God’s word. Ezra was the greatest scribe in the history of the nation of Israel: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). But the scribes of Jesus’ day were unlike Ezra, and the difference became apparent when Jesus began to teach and preach publicly about the presence of the kingdom of God.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men, for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in” (Matt. 23:13). It must have been painful for Jesus to speak this way about fellow-Israelites, but they were guilty of great sin in this regard. The scribes of Jesus’ day were handling the treasures of God’s word yet mishandling them. Truth was tradition for them, not treasure. They were more concerned with immortalizing their traditional interpretations of the law rather than anticipating the fulfillment of the law in the Messiah, the true treasure of Israel. To them, the handling of truth was a job, not a joy.
The scribes joined with the Pharisees to test Jesus and debate with Him. They gave the appearance of being interested in Jesus. “Then a scribe came and said to Him, Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go. Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head’” (Matt. 8:19). They were familiar with the word of God, but not followers of the truth as God was revealing it to them in Christ. Consequently, they were not men who set forth the truth as treasure to be cherished and employed in the service of the kingdom of God. Jesus declares in the parable that conversion sets a scribe on the right path, restores the scribe to his rightful role, and makes him the dispenser of treasures to bless the people of God.
Nothing would have brought the Lord Jesus greater joy than to see a scribe become a follower of the kingdom of heaven. The scribes, along with the Pharisees and elders of the people, were supposed to be spiritual leaders and safe guides, but they were poor and pathetic ones because they did not seek truth and dispense the treasure. How tragic that scribes who had an intimate knowledge of the word of God and a lifetime of opportunities to study the plan and purpose of God should miss the truth and reject God’s plan. “But the Pharisees and the lawyers (scribes were also called lawyers) rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John” (Lk. 7:30). But the conversion of a scribe led to discipleship, leadership, and headship, like that of a head of a household.
God calls all people: scribes, fishermen, tax-collectors, men, women, and children to repent of their sins in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). It is one of the curses of the ages that men and women are not familiar with God’s word, but foreigners to its light and life. Study the Bible like Ezra the faithful scribe and follow the Lord Jesus as a true disciple of the kingdom.
Paul said: “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:1-4). When we come to Christ we become like converted scribes, students of the word and sons of the kingdom.
Have you been converted and become a disciple of the kingdom? Christ will no longer be a mystery to you. Have you found your greatest treasure in Him? You will be rich with treasures of the kingdom. Now, are you also the head of a household, a leader, a pastor, a political leader? You will have all you need to bless and guide in your particular household with the treasures of heaven, no matter how large or small it is.
The Care of a Household
The word used of the head of the household in Matt. 13:52 is oikodespot. Oikos means house and despot means ruler. Jesus was not referring to a tyrannical despot who rules arbitrarily and cares only about his own selfish interests. The ruler of the household whom Jesus is speaking about is one who rules lovingly, caringly, and bestows richly from his treasure. The householder is anyone who is given the stewardship of a house, a church, or a governmental realm.
Some men rule as tyrants in the home, or mere managers in the church, but these men have no commission from God to rule in this way. And tyrannical, arbitrary, and selfish rule in any household is a denial of God’s sovereignty to rule in the households of men or the household of God. Such household despots repudiate rather than reflect God’s love, grace, and mercy for sinners. If you are a man who rules in your household with any measure of self-will or self-interest, I loving urge you to turn to Jesus the Master and be converted and/or corrected.
The head of the household that Jesus is talking about is a good man, not a despot. He is a benevolent, caring ruler of his household. He is not merely given rule of his household, he is given resources of great treasure with which to bless his household. The test of a man’s rule in the household is how much of the treasure he passes on to his wife and family, to his church, or to those under his sphere of rule. Even mothers of children bring out of their treasure to bless their households (Prov. 31:26).
But a man must have the treasure in himself, otherwise his leadership in the home will not be good, but bad. Listen to what Jesus said about this. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit….For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil” (Matt. 12:33, 35). A true head of a household is a good man who brings forth good fruit from the good treasure of God. Jesus is saying: don’t pretend to be something you are not. Either we are good and bring good out of our treasure, or we are bad and bring no good to our households because we have what He calls only an “evil treasure.” How alarming that is.
Jesus Himself was this kind of ruler over the household He came to care for in His incarnate life among us. Jesus is compared to Solomon, and also to Moses, as in Heb. 3:6. This passage shows that Jesus has charge over the house of God today, as Moses did in Israel. The church of God is called the household of God in 1 Tim. 3:15, because Jesus has organized the people of God into the family of God on earth which He will lead to His eternal kingdom.
Unlike the scribes, Jesus was faithful to His calling. He dispensed out of the treasure things new and old. The subject of the new and the old was an important one in the teaching ministry of our Lord. He established the old and brought the new, always emphasizing the vital and organic connection of the old and the new.
He said “Do not think that I came to abolish the law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). This statement compares to what Jeremiah said: “Thus says the Lord, Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16). When God works in history to save sinners and build His kingdom, He is establishing paths for future generations to follow. He does not want those paths to become overgrown with weeds so that they are no longer discernible. He wants us to keep walking in those old paths, for they are the heritage upon which God continues His work in our lives.
God wants us to have continuity with the past and reap the harvest of what He intended to bring to later generations. A good man brings out of his treasure a rich display of biblical history to feed his wife, family, and church, with. He has a good growing knowledge of the work of God and a desire to make those old paths the foundation of his household and church life and purpose.
But Jesus also spoke often about the coming of the new and the fulfillment that He came to bring. With fulfillment came certain changes that needed to be made. Old Testament history was the foundation; God was continuing to build His kingdom and Church in Jesus. The old paths lead to the new, but the new builds upon the old. He told a parable about this also: “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins and both are preserved” (Matt. 9:16-17). There is a newness to the Gospel that builds on the old, and forges ahead in the new. The converted scribe understands and accepts the old and the new and sees God’s grand design in both. The unconverted scribes opposed Jesus and with the Pharisees and leaders of the people, put Him to death.
Now what does this mean for the head of a household today? Look for the second installment in this three-part series soon.
John Reuther, Pastor, Covenant Baptist Church, Lumberton, NJ – Reformed Baptist Seminary, Easely, SC.
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