Cnoc-a-Phobuill

Matt 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Now this parable deals with the end of the age, the final wrapping up, but put away any thoughts of rapture and tribulation etc.

Our understanding of the end in broad terms will allow us more freedom to live our lives today in a sense of peace and assuredness. We will see in this final act the very thing that Jesus has been teaching so far in his parables. This Kingdom is catholic or universal in its calling and appeal and yet it is deeply mysterious and refuses to be nailed to a preset series of rules and controls.

The main object we initially encounter is a net, in the Greek text this version of net is only used once, the word is sagene or dragnet, the others used are amphiblestron or throw net and diktyon or general net or network.

Now if you have ever seen deep sea fishing you will know that a dragnet is towed along the ocean floor, nothing escapes, nothing is left. Here Jesus uses it to emphasise that the final gathering will not omit anything, all will be included.

You will also notice if you have seen deep sea fishing, that it is not only fish that get caught. The net will gather up seaweed, rocks, old tyres, fish, squid, prawns, in fact the flotsam and jetsam of the ocean depths.

What Jesus is teaching is that everything will be caught up in that final act, not just people, but animal, vegetable and mineral.

If it were only people waiting for salvation then why would Paul write that all creation groans with longing to be set free from its captivity?

Did Jesus not say ‘if I be lifted up I will draw all things unto me? Will the new heaven and earth not be populated with all of nature, tree of life, city of God, rivers of life, all kinds of animals…we really do need to drop the idea that God’s plan of redemption centres around man alone and ultimately around me!!

Just as the net fetches everything from the sea to the millennial beach, so to the kingdom will deliver the whole earth to God. The new heavens and earth are not replacements for the old damaged ones, they are transfigurations of them. As one writer says, ‘the redeemed order is not the created order forsaken, it is the created order, all of it, raised and glorified’.

Now check your versions…there is no mention of fish in this parable, and whilst I think Jesus did mean fish indirectly, what can we make of its lack of insertion.

I am not sure if you have watched the BBC1 documentary called ‘Trawler men’? (The sheer weight of the description ‘trawling’ should give us insight into the work of the net and the kingdom.) This show features the ups and downs of three Peterhead fishing boats as they ply their trade in the freezing northern seas.

They are, in the main, fishing for prawns, and this invariably means drag net fishing. What strikes me though is Jesus knowledge of fishing when compared to this BBC documentary. Each time these men bring in the nets we find that it is not just fish. It is often fish of different sizes, but also prawns, starfish, squid, torpedoes and not a few rocks as well.

Dragnet fishing pulls in everything as I have already pointed out, what the passage calls ‘of every kind’. This shows the universal nature of the net and of the kingdom. Yet what is noticeable here is the lack of judgment or separation whilst the net is in the sea. How impossible for a trawler to separate the contents of the net whilst underwater, the whole lot, of ‘every kind’, no distinction between good and bad, is pulled to the shoreline.

Clearly a day of separation is on the way, but if the net saves its separating till all is pulled ashore, then how much more should the kingdom, and therefore the church, avoid the business of judging the contents of this great universal fishing trip.

We have in Scotland some of the finest game fishing in the world, the rich and famous flock to this corner of the UK to battle with the sport fish in our rivers.

The church, as representative of the Kingdom and therefore the dragnet approach to fishing, should resist all temptation then to act as these sport fishermen, only looking for the trophy fish, those people who are well thought of and have something to offer the church.

Even more so, bearing in mind the dragnet imagery, the church should not get into a habit of rejecting the flotsam and jetsam and old junk that will turn up in the net, remembering that it is not the trawler man who will decide who is or who is not fit for the to sit at the wedding supper of the Lamb.

The church (each one of us) has a role to play in the here and now, and not in the future. If Jesus in this parable refuses to sort the net till it reaches the millennial shore, then we should imitate that pattern.

Jesus, as you know only too well, did not shy away from sinners, so why should the church? Now I know you will maybe be thinking, ‘your wrong Dave, the church welcomes sinners’. But I know better you see, for experience tells me that the church whilst welcoming sinners, only welcomes those who repent and then never seriously need forgiveness again.

Oh yes I know it always welcomes those who gossip, or are envious, or who manipulate or have bad tempers, you know those ‘little’ sins…but God help those who commit adultery, or get divorced, or who live as unmarried.

How many times do we forgive? 70 x 7 which equal 490, only 490? No, Jesus used 7 x 70 as a way of expressing through the number associated with perfection the amount of times we forgive, the perfect amount! Do you want a figure?

Okay let me give you a Kingdom maths lesson 7 x 70 = (not 490, remember this is the mysterious world of the kingdom of God, yes 490 in the world. What would we do if it were 490, anyone guess, we would keep score) but here it equals perfect forgiveness, or in other words, eternal and never ending grace. If you take nothing else away today, then take this, and I mean it most seriously and gravely, just how big is the cup you use to measure forgiveness to others? ‘Because I tell you this, it is the same cup you will drink from in the heavenly kingdom and here on earth.

I think I will leave it there, and we never even got the net onto the beach and got round to the sorting between good and bad, maybe we will sort them next week.

Labels: lairg dingwall church sermon