Please use your imagination for a moment and picture a big bucket filled with stories. You can only use so many stories, but as you select them, you do so to make a particular point.
As a gospel writer, Matthew had a big bucket of accounts that were told verbally within the community about what Jesus had done. He chose three parables to make a specific point in chapter 13. Today, we look at the third parable.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.
So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13.47-50)
The first two parables—The Treasure Found in a Field and the Pearl of Great Value—are closely related. Both highlight the immense worth of discovering the Kingdom of God. When individuals encounter the truth of the Kingdom, they are willing to give up everything to live under God’s reign.
However, not everyone responds in this way. The parable of the net serves as a warning against taking the presence of God’s Kingdom for granted.
The central message of the Parable of the Net is the inevitability of a future separation. It reminds us that there will be accountability for those who reject God’s wonderful Kingdom.
Accountability
Psalm 14 reveals this about the fool: “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14.1).
It is not that fools don’t believe in God. What they don’t believe is that there will ever be accountability for their behavior.
Psalm 14 outlines a list of actions that are highly destructive towards the vulnerable of society. In one place, the fools are described as those who eat the vulnerable like they’re eating a piece of bread.
What the fools of society don’t understand is that when the net closes, separation will take place.
“For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The other day on the nightly news, I saw an anguished father shouting at the person who had killed his daughter in a drunken driving accident. Overcome with grief and anger, the father declared he would see the offender in hell, completely unwilling to offer forgiveness.
What the father didn’t realize is that there is a just Judge over all the earth. He didn’t need to take vengeance into his own hands because ultimate accountability for actions rests with God.
Thankfully, God also offers forgiveness—but we must come to Him to receive it.
The Net, Inequality, and Oppression
Jesus’ audience in Galilee understood oppression all too well. They were burdened by heavy taxes, meager wages, and domination by foreign powers. They knew what it felt like to be devoured by the “fools” who consume people as easily as bread.
When they heard Jesus tell the parable of the net, their question was clear: “When will God set us free?” Jesus assured them that a day was coming when God would make all things right.
Today, millions around the world still live under oppression, trapped in poverty simply because they were born in the wrong place or under the wrong circumstances. Of course, no one chooses such a life—it is thrust upon them.
The Bible teaches that a time will come when the net is drawn, God’s judgment is executed, and humanity is separated—some to a place of blessing and others to judgment.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this parable on YouTube today. It’s on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 