Exeter Temple Bible Message notes
20^th July 2014
Theme: Parables of the Kingdom: The Dragnet
Bible Reading: Matthew 13:47-52
As many of the followers of Jesus were depended upon fishing for their livelihood it is no wonder then that when Jesus wanted to teach them a lesson about the kingdom of God he used something they were very familiar with to do it.
1. A Net
In Bible days, there were 2 different kinds of nets used by fishermen. A casting net is small, bell shaped, and an individual could use it by himself. The other kind of net is a drag-net, and is much larger. A dragnet, even in Bible times could be up to a mile long.  The bottom of the net had weights with sinkers, and the top rope had cork floats which mean that it caught up fish which were hiding at the bottom of the lake.

-          the kingdom of God is here and at work already.

The common assumption in the times of Jesus was that there would be a day when everyone would be forced to submit to God’s rule. It was believed that it would happen quickly and wicked people would be surprised by it. Jesus taught that the reign of God often begins secretly. As with the illustration of the seed buried in the ground is mysteriously transformed underground until shoots begin to appear the parable of the net says a similar thing.  God is already at work like a net under the water gradually catching all kinds of fish. Already all kinds of people are being caught up in its values, its demands and its benefits.  

-          Jesus was reminding the disciples of their call to be fishers of men.

The kingdom had begun and they were called to take part in extending it; a dragnet doesn’t launch itself.  Dragnet fishing is a corporate activity and the casting requires an entire crew. 

2. The Catch

Another idea of the time was that only certain people could hope to be included as citizens of the kingdom. Samaritans or Romans and possible women would be excluded.  

This story infers that God wanted the entire sea of humanity in his kingdom.  Just as a dragnet sweeps up everything in its path so the kingdom embraces everyone. 

3. The Lake

The sea or a lake is home to fish leaving the sea in most cases means they will die.  From the point of view of a fish, being caught in a net is not desirable.  

However if it is supposed the lake is polluted or at a low level because of drought, fishermen who gather the fish to transfer them to a better and safer environment would be their saviour.     

The Bible often uses the imagery of the sea as symbolic of a place from which mankind needs to be saved, e.g. Noah, Jonah, the Exodus via the Red Sea, Peter, sinking in the waves, when he took his eyes off Jesus.

In the parable, the lake stands for the world and the fish, the people in it. When the Bible talks about the world, it means the earth that God created and which he loves so much that he was willing to save it but at other times it is referring a humanistic system of logic and thinking that is centred on selfishness and rebellion against God.  When people’s hearts and minds are caught up in that environment they are in grave danger. They need to be rescued and they need a new realm in which to live.  A net that comes along and lifts them out of that is great news.    

Modern dragnet fishing was banned by the UN in 2004 in light of scientists' warnings that bottom trawling has disrupted oceanic ecosystems. In the physical world that is bad news but if we think of the lake as being a evil system opposed to God’s rule then anything that disrupts it has to be a good thing.  We cannot over fish for the souls of men and women.

4. The Shore

It is the skipper of the boat who ultimately decides whether the net us full enough to go back to shore or whether to go on launching the nets again. He takes into account dangerous waters, the ability to locate the fish, the risk of nets being destroyed, the fatigue of the crew.

It is Jesus who decides when we stop launching the net that is the kingdom. So far he has not told us to go to shore. 

5. Sorting

v 48  “When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”

The parable takes an uncomfortable turn.

Fishermen do not keep the fish they have caught in the net forever.  There comes a time when the mixture of fish they have collected must be sorted out.  The mixed state of affairs where those in Christ live alongside those who do not will come to an end.  Eventually there will come a time of separation.

We are comfortable with a Jesus who says, “Let the children come to me,” but not when the story he tells indicates that there will come a day when like fish at the docks, we will be judged to be either to be wicked or righteous with the consequence that being declared wicked means an eternal conscious exclusion from all that is good. 

Jesus spoke more about hell than anyone else in the Bible. It is there in other NT passages too, e.g Hebrews 10:29 

The reason Jesus talks so much about hell is because he came to save us from it.  This parable far from being full of doom and gloom declares good news.

Jesus shows us that whilst we are still gathering in the kingdom we are to accept whoever comes our way.  We are not to discriminate along the way. We are not the ones to judge someone’s future destination now.   Our task is the keep casting the net until Jesus calls us home.  Even then it will not be for us to decide who is worthy of acceptance and who is not.

In the parable it is the fishermen who sort the fish but Jesus tells us that when it comes to judging people, it is not the role of other men and women but of angels. 

-          What does Jesus mean by good?
The word ‘good’ literally means “to have excellent qualities, pious, moral or unblemished.” This word means a great deal more than we typically think it does. It also means “fit for.” In other words only those who are “fit for” God’s kingdom will be able to enter it.
-          What awful deeds makes a person unfit for the kingdom?
We often assume that they are anything that is done differently to our opinion of acceptable behaviour.
Jesus demonstrated the measure of fitness for God’s kingdom on the cross and the way he dealt with the thief on the cross. The repentant thief could hardly have been accepted into paradise on the basis of his morality. It was his faith in Jesus that saved him.
If acceptance into the kingdom is on any other basis than faith then none of us will be accepted because none are without sin.
Romans 5:1 again in the message translation it says, “By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us, set us right with him, make us fit for him we have it altogether with God because of our Master Jesus Christ.”
The theme of the good news is that Jesus has rescued us from the judgment and wrath of God, and that rescue is available to anybody who looks to Christ, regardless of who they are, what they’ve done, what their race, what their gender, what prison yard they are on--or their crime.   Everyone is in the scope of the rescue plan- the net is big and wide.  But not every fish in the net will end up in the basket because they will not accept Jesus.
How should we respond to a parable like this?
Surely it should burden us to witness like there’s no tomorrow, for there may not be!

God Bless you

Carol