“Again,
the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind, which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away. So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”
They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”
Matthew 13:47-52
Matthew 13 [45.] “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls, who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Matthew 13 [47.] “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind, which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away. So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”
They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
Matthew 13 [52.] He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”
Matthew 13 [53.] When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there. Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works? Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?” They were offended by him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.” He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Meaning:
These are the last two parables of Matthew 13. After the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44; 13:45-46), Jesus tells a parable from the fishing life that many of his disciples knew so well. He then asks whether they have understood, and closes with a picture of what a true disciple does with what he has learned.
- “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet”
A dragnet was a large net with floats on top and weights below. It was let down from boats or dragged through the water near the shore, sweeping up everything in its path. Peter, Andrew, James and John had worked with such nets until Jesus called them: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men” (Matthew 4:19).
- “Gathered some fish of every kind”
The net does not choose. The message of the Kingdom goes out to all people, and many kinds are drawn in. Not everyone who is gathered into the visible community is truly good. Like the wheat and darnel, good and bad are mixed together for now (Matthew 13:24-30).
- “gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away”
When the net was full, the fishermen sat on the beach and sorted the catch. Under the Law some fish were unclean and could not be eaten, and others were simply worthless. The sorting was careful and deliberate.
- “So will it be in the end of the world”
Jesus explains the parable himself. At the end, the angels will “separate the wicked from among the righteous”. The words repeat the solemn warning of the darnel parable: the wicked will be cast “into the furnace of fire”, where there will be “weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42). The separation is not done by the fishermen in the middle of the sea, but at the end, on the shore.
- “Have you understood all these things?”
Jesus checks that his disciples have grasped the parables. Their answer, “Yes, Lord”, is a confident one. Understanding was the mark of the good soil (Matthew 13:23).
- “Every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven”
A scribe was a trained teacher of the Law, like Ezra, who “had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances” (Ezra 7:10). Jesus describes a new kind of scribe: one who has become his disciple. Such a person is like a householder who brings out of his storeroom both new things and old. He treasures the old, the Law and the Prophets, and he also brings out the new, the teaching of the Kingdom revealed in Jesus. Jesus said, “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).
The Significance of Matthew 13:47-52
- A coming separation
The Kingdom draws people of every kind, but a day of sorting will come. Being in the net is not the same as being good fish. Each person should make sure of a real relationship with Christ.
- Old and new together
Disciples of Jesus are to value the whole of Scripture, the Old Testament and the New, and to share both from the treasure God has given them. “Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Cross-References:
Ezra 7:10: "For Ezra had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances." A model scribe.
Matthew 13:41: "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling," The same judgment in the darnel parable.
Matthew 5:17: "I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill." Jesus fulfils the old.
Conclusion: Jesus compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a dragnet that gathers fish of every kind, which are sorted on the shore: so at the end of the world the angels will separate the wicked from the righteous. When his disciples said they understood, he told them that every scribe made a disciple of the Kingdom is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible