The Parable of the Net

Matthew 13:47-50

The parable of the net is like the parable of the wheat and the weeds as in both cases good and bad are at first together and then later sorted and separated. In the explanation of this parable we are told that the throwing away of the bad fish illustrates the final judgement and the punishment of the wicked.

When the disciples were called and told that Jesus, the master disciple maker, would make them fishers of people, He did not indicate that they would only catch certain types of fish. In the parable the net gathers every kind of fish. The Great Commission also tells us that we are to disciple all nations, not just certain nations, as Heaven is to be populated with people from every tribe, every ethnic group, and every language.

The fishing net or drag net as some call it was usually pulled in between two boats or between an anchor on the shore and a boat out on the lake. Once it was on dry land, the fishermen would sort the fish, separating either the unclean from the clean (Leviticus 11:9-12) or the edible from the inedible.

Unlike the parable of the wheat and weeds, the final destination of the righteous is not made clear. But the final destination of the wicked is described using the exact same language as in 13:42. It has often been said that if we followers of Jesus truly believed what He said about hell we would be far more passionate and urgent in our preaching to the lost. However, note that it is not ours to separate the good fish from the bad fish...that is up to God. Our task is to fish for people and if we do our task well, we won’t have the time to sit and ponder on things that only God knows, like what is going on in another person’s heart.

Judgement, in the New Testament, seems to be presented to us as a process. The first coming of Jesus started this process as the acceptance of His way of life sharply divides people one from the other…sheep from goats, wheat from weeds, and good fish from bad fish. This process of division continued through the first generation of Jewish believers and culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70…the believers had been warned by Jesus to flee from the city when they saw certain things happening (cf. Luke 21:20-24), while those who rejected the warnings of Jesus remained and were ultimately destroyed in the conflagration and the fire.

This process continues to this day and will continue until the Second Coming of Jesus.

The parables of Jesus challenge us on two levels: knowing and doing. Knowing something without doing something is unproductive and could be selfish, whereas doing something without knowledge is exasperating and exhausting. We are faced with decisions…what does it mean and what do I need to do about it?