The Parable of the Net
Dr. James Smith
Matthew 13:47-52
21 September 2003
Throughout our series on the parables of Matthew 13, we have noted that Jesus was fond of taking a known image from the natural world and using it to explain a deeper and unknown spiritual truth.
As I have studied these parables, I have been consistently struck by the fact that images in one culture are not so easily understood in another.
For example, modern urban dwellers often require remedial agricultural teaching in order to understand the parables of Jesus.
This morning we come to the end of our series with the parable of the net. Americans typically do not consume large amounts of fish or seafood and most people have probably never even seen a fishing net.
So what can we liken Jesus’ parable of the net in Matthew 13:47-50 to?
Well, as I thought about it, my mind turned to the fish that is most often eaten in the United States . . . Tuna.
Now even if you are not a fan of tuna fish sandwiches, did you know that 5% of the world’s annual fishing harvest is in the form of tuna or related fishes?
Actually, there are a number of varieties of tuna including the bigeye (ahi), yellowfin and albacore. Tuna fish are strongly migratory and are known to swim from Japan to the U.S. and back.
They vary in size and shape but typically weigh between 25-40 lbs. They are powerful swimmers found in schools and generally swim at about 15 mph but are capable of 55 mph short bursts.
Perhaps some of you may remember that about 15 years ago, animal rights activists began to campaign against the tuna industry. The problem was that the seine nets that were used to encircle schools of tuna were catching lots of dolphins as well.
The fishing industry calls the unintentional killing of fish not intended to be caught such as low value fish or marine mammals . . . bycatch.
It would seem that yellowfin tuna frequently “hang out” with dolphins, which are of no real commercial value other then entertaining us at SeaWorld.
These dolphins were getting caught in the nets and literally drowning because they could not come up for air. International attention has encouraged the development of new nets that allow the dolphins to escape . . . thus decreasing wasteful bycatch.
Today, if you look carefully at your tuna fish cans, you will usually find a little picture of a dolphin and the words, “dolphin safe.” (Show can)
Much of the tuna that is harvested today is now albacore tuna. Unlike other tuna species, albacore tuna don’t form schools underneath groups of dolphins so dolphins are not caught.
Now in Jesus’ day, the Sea of Galilee was intensively fished as it continues to be so today.
Fishermen of Jesus’ day, such as Simon Peter, James and John, were skilled in a variety of fishing techniques as we find in the gospels. They sometimes used hooks and lines, as well as hand cast seine nets that encircled schools of fish.
Matthew 13:47 envisions a much larger net that was let down into the lake. This is a drag net as opposed to a seine net, which would have been dragged between two boats or dropped into the water by a single boat and then pulled to the land with long ropes.
Verse 48 tells us that in this case, the net was pulled to the shore.
About 24 different kinds of fish have been counted in the Sea of Galilee. Some of these were considered “unclean” or as v. 48 says, “bad” and some were considered “clean” or “good.”
You will remember that in Leviticus 11:10-12, all fish without scales and fins were considered unclean or bad and were not to be eaten according to Kosher dietary law.
In the fishing industry, both then and now, “bycatch” is inevitable. But in Jesus’ day, fishing technology could not be altered so that only the “good” fish were caught. And there certainly was no one lobbying for unclean fish or marine mammals like the dolphins today.
You would not find jars of fish with the label, “dolphin safe” or anything else for that matter.
Unclean or bad fish were simply a troublesome day to day reality and would simply be thrown to the side where dogs would gobble them up, cats would drag them away and birds would pick their bones clean.
This parable then, is not primarily concerned with fishing or fishing nets but deeper the truth that at the end of time, there will be a judgment.
Unlike the previous aphoristic parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl, the parable of the drag net is an extended parable that partially unfolds for its listeners some of the truth and horror of the end time judgment.
In this parable that is only found in the gospel of Matthew, like the earlier parable of the weeds, we are reminded that while we live in this world we will be surrounded by the good and the bad.
And this image, especially as explained in the parable of the weeds, also tells us that the physical church of Jesus Christ will also be filled with the clean and the unclean, the redeemed and those who will be consigned to the fiery furnace.
And while the church differentiates itself from the world, some of its members will inevitably be affected by its polluted runoff that finds its way in our streams.
The fish was to quickly become one of the most important symbols of the Christian faith, from the early church to today.
Early church authors such as Tertullian admonished early Christians to be like little fish that follow behind the big fish and to constantly swim in the waters of its commitments make to Christ during and after entering into the baptismal waters.
In Jesus’ day as today, whether intentionally or not, fish that swam downstream to the end of the Jordan River found themselves in the lethal waters of the Dead Sea, where there was no way out.
The parable of the net functions as warning that all who fail to follow in the wake of Jesus Christ will find themselves sooner or later, tossed into the “bad” pile.
Dolphins are a lot cuter then tuna fish and can be trained to do all kinds of tricks for us. But the bottom line is that according to Kosher law they are considered unclean and frankly . . . they’re not good eating.
Tuna, on the other hand, are clean and highly prized in the eyes of men and women. But on that final day, there will be no “dolphin safe” areas and all the bycatch found at the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven will simply be fuel for the biggest and smelliest fish fry in all of human history.
In all honesty, when was the last time that you gave any thought to the truth of Matthew 13:47-50? Isn’t there plenty here for each one of us prayerfully ponder? And shouldn’t it inspire us to take a renewed interest in sharing the gospel with the unsaved?
Matthew 13:47-50 reminds us that the Kingdom of Heaven is also about judgment and just as fishermen still separate their catch today, so there will be a separation on that final day.
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