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by Sandy Shaw
There is so much to learn from these parables in Matthew Chapter 13 and we move on now to verses 47 to 58. There is such depth of truth in these words of Jesus Christ.
Many of the truths from these previous parables seem to be drawn together in this net. There is such a seriousness attached to this parable.
The Kingdom of God is like a net. Jesus is teaching from a fishing boat by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is sitting in this fishing boat and as soon as Jesus speaks these words he is very much in the world of the people around him. This is important.
This net is a dragnet. Jesus is trawling through mankind and through the waters of humanity. There are all kinds of fish in this net. It draws in all kinds of people and it leaves the final questions until later.
The net is full. One day all this will come to an end and there will be no more spiritual fishing. This parable is not really about fishing, but about sorting.
The real focus of the parable is about the final sorting. Jesus has already said something about this when teaching on the wheat and the tares, and the sowing of the seed.
Some people come to this parable having a sophisticated dismissal or an intellectual embarrassment. This might have been all right in former dark ages but surely we have outgrown this type of thinking today! Have we? Some may have.
Some would like to take judgment away but then they move to take the judge away too, until there is no such thing as sin left.
Jesus is teaching here that you cannot do that. You cannot make the difference between good and bad disappear.
Evil and evil people will receive their just deserts one day. This is a moral world and a moral universe.
God will call people to that day of reckoning, and this has profound affects and consequences. God will deal with all injustices.
This is why we must not permit bitterness to twist and anger us or cause us to seek revenge.
Justice is real. There is going to be a final sorting. It is Jesus Christ the Son of God who is teaching this.
Evil will not be around for ever.
Paul wrestled with this reality and writes about his battle in Romans Chapter 7.
We all have to wrestle with this when certain things happen in our lives.
Yes, we gather for praise and worship and prayer and to hear the Word of God – yes, we come for comfort and love and blessing now – but there is something greater to come, and this parable is such a help, when we take all this seriously.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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