"The Parable of the Net"
I've been reading a book called "Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus" by Rev. Robert Farrar Capon, and am learning some good insights on Jesus' parables, so I thought I'd share one with you.
Jesus' Parable of the Net from Matthew 13:47-50 is this:
{Jesus said,] “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The Greek word Jesus uses for "net" is "sagaynay," which is a seine or dragnet. This is ONLY time such a net appears in the New Testament. The usual fishing nets with large gaps were cast into the water and gathered up with mostly just fish in them. But this dragnet had weights at the bottom and would be dangled from the side of a boat and dragged through the water. The dragnet's smaller gaps would indiscriminately collect EVERYTHING in its path--not just fish but also seaweed, flotsam, jetsam, and general debris. The advantage of this kind of net is that it might collect other valuable or usable items or materials than just fish. The disadvantage is that there will be just as much, or even more, junk that needs to be thrown away.
I am reminded of how I and my wife like shopping at thrift stores. The thing is, and I've stressed this in teaching my children, that you can visit thrift stores ten times and not find a single thing of value, but the eleventh time, the one treasure that you find is worth all the ten times when you found nothing. When you're dragging a net, you're probably going to get a lot more junk than valuable stuff. But the stuff of value more than makes up for the junk you had to throw away.
How is the kingdom of heaven like such a net? "The net of the kingdom touches everything in the world, not just souls, but bodies, and not just people, but all things, animal, vegetable, and mineral" (Kingdom 125). The Christian Church, too, gets all kinds of people coming in the doors--and all are welcome. Too often we may try to "sort the good from the bad," but notice that in the parable, the sorting doesn't happen until we reach "the shore" (the end of the age), and the sorting is done not by you and me, but by the Lord (with the help of His servants, the angels). We might also compare Jesus' parable of the wedding feast, in which the Master tells His servants, after the original invitees decline the invitation, to go into the streets and "compel" everyone they can find to come to the feast. Good and bad, bring them all! The point for us is that not a single one of them deserves to be there at the feast. All are given the proper wedding clothes. The only person who is cast out is the one who has refused the proper wedding clothes. He is cast out because of his own refusal. Everyone else is there only because of the undeserved generosity of their host.
It's the same for you and me and all whom our Lord gathers to Himself, even as His kingdom, like a dragnet, brings in everything--good, bad, and indifferent. The sorting is not our job. You and I might even judge one another as "bad fish," but we know that in Christ, we are all forgiven and made good and clean. In the words of the other parable, we are given "proper clothing."
There's lots more I could say about this parable, and in typical fashion, you're only getting "10%" here, but it's some food for thought!
I've been reading a book called "Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus" by Rev. Robert Farrar Capon, and am learning some good insights on Jesus' parables, so I thought I'd share one with you.
Jesus' Parable of the Net from Matthew 13:47-50 is this:
{Jesus said,] “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The Greek word Jesus uses for "net" is "sagaynay," which is a seine or dragnet. This is ONLY time such a net appears in the New Testament. The usual fishing nets with large gaps were cast into the water and gathered up with mostly just fish in them. But this dragnet had weights at the bottom and would be dangled from the side of a boat and dragged through the water. The dragnet's smaller gaps would indiscriminately collect EVERYTHING in its path--not just fish but also seaweed, flotsam, jetsam, and general debris. The advantage of this kind of net is that it might collect other valuable or usable items or materials than just fish. The disadvantage is that there will be just as much, or even more, junk that needs to be thrown away.
I am reminded of how I and my wife like shopping at thrift stores. The thing is, and I've stressed this in teaching my children, that you can visit thrift stores ten times and not find a single thing of value, but the eleventh time, the one treasure that you find is worth all the ten times when you found nothing. When you're dragging a net, you're probably going to get a lot more junk than valuable stuff. But the stuff of value more than makes up for the junk you had to throw away.
How is the kingdom of heaven like such a net? "The net of the kingdom touches everything in the world, not just souls, but bodies, and not just people, but all things, animal, vegetable, and mineral" (Kingdom 125). The Christian Church, too, gets all kinds of people coming in the doors--and all are welcome. Too often we may try to "sort the good from the bad," but notice that in the parable, the sorting doesn't happen until we reach "the shore" (the end of the age), and the sorting is done not by you and me, but by the Lord (with the help of His servants, the angels). We might also compare Jesus' parable of the wedding feast, in which the Master tells His servants, after the original invitees decline the invitation, to go into the streets and "compel" everyone they can find to come to the feast. Good and bad, bring them all! The point for us is that not a single one of them deserves to be there at the feast. All are given the proper wedding clothes. The only person who is cast out is the one who has refused the proper wedding clothes. He is cast out because of his own refusal. Everyone else is there only because of the undeserved generosity of their host.
It's the same for you and me and all whom our Lord gathers to Himself, even as His kingdom, like a dragnet, brings in everything--good, bad, and indifferent. The sorting is not our job. You and I might even judge one another as "bad fish," but we know that in Christ, we are all forgiven and made good and clean. In the words of the other parable, we are given "proper clothing."
There's lots more I could say about this parable, and in typical fashion, you're only getting "10%" here, but it's some food for thought!
I'm getting full on excellent "food for thought"! Thank you, soon to be "The Reverend Timothy Andrew Prince" (Roll your R"s as you say this)
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