Unpacking It

So let's look at the first part of that verse:

"Therefore every expert in the law who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven . . ."

That's the NET translation (which, if you've never checked out, go do it. Now.). Other versions use "scribe" and "teacher of the Law." The Message even goes as far as saying "student well-trained," but misses out completely on the point by not including the bit about the Law. Strong's describes them "a man learned in the Mosaic law and in the sacred writings, an interpreter, teacher. Scribes examined the more difficult and subtle questions of the law . . ."

So these were the guys who spent their lives studying the Scriptures (in this case, what we Christians call the Old Testament), seeking to understand them in order to communicate God's message, his ways, and his character to God's people. Sound familiar?

OK, let's move on. What does it mean to be trained for the kingdom of heaven? That's a tough one. I've got an idea, but let's do a little checking around first. This one isn't like the "experts of the Law" bit, since we can't just go to a Bible dictionary for the answer. When you run across phrases in a verse that don't immediately make sense, take a look at the context and then at the language itself.

We'll start with the context. This verse comes at the end of a whole bunch of parables Jesus has told, all about the kingdom of heaven. These are the "the kingdom is like . . ." parables. So let's talk briefly about parables. Parables are stories that have a surprise, a riddle, a mystery, or just plain oddness about them. Something about the parable is strange or surprising, and it is that element that makes the parable mysterious and hints at a deeper meaning. That's why Jesus so often said, "He who has ear to hear, let him hear." In other words, if you caught the oddness of the parable, it was an invitation to come and look deeper into it and figure out the mystery, find the answer to the riddle.

In a lot of ways, the kingdom of God is like a parable itself. There's a lot about the kingdom, about kingdom life and God's ways in the kingdom that doesn't match up with what we think is true about the world, what we accept about how life and relationships and smart choices work. Kingdom thinking is just different than how the rest of the world thinks. And this is a hint to those who are aware and listening that there's a lot about the kingdom that still needs to be figured out. The kingdom is a mystery, a riddle, that calls us to study it and try to understand it, to get to know and--as much as we can--understand the God who rules it.

So in this light, someone who's trained for the kingdom is one who accepts that invitation to look deeper and studies God's Word in light of the kingdom, seeking to understand the kingdom and the God who rules it.

Putting it together, an expert in the Law who's trained for the kingdom is one who gathers all of the resources, skills, and knowledge he (or she!) has accumulated in their study of Scripture and unleashes them all in service to the kingdom. It's reading the Bible with kingdom eyes: reading the Old Testament with eyes that also see Christ and God's grand plan unfolding through time and space, reading the New Testament and remembering the ways of God throughout the history of Israel, pulling forward through time images, stories, principles, and truths about God that were revealed and written in the Old Testament but find added depth and expression in the new kingdom age. It's appreciating the Bible in its own time-space context yet also knowing it was written to be as relevant and true today as yesterday.

And with that, I think I may be getting ahead of myself. There's still the rest of the verse to unpack, after all!