Three Parables

The Sunday Gospel [July 24, 2011]

Matthew 13:44-52

44 "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. 46 When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. 47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. 48 When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. 49 Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. 51 "Do you understand all these things?" They answered, "Yes." 52 And he replied, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."

Reflection

“The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.” ~ Jesus in v. 47

How much we want life (and religion as well) to be either one thing or another. To be either black or white. No shades. No mix of good and bad. The fact that everything and everybody is a mixture of good and bad makes it all so messy – much like a fish net writhing with all kinds of icky creatures.

The great dragnet that Jesus talks about does not discriminate, but contains “all sorts of things,” good and bad and mediocre, sorrow and joy and boredom. We want only good fish in the net of life. No electric eels. No sting rays. No octopi. No sharks. No other undesirables. But Jesus says that only at the end is the sorting out – and that by God and the angels, not us.

This metaphor forces me to ask, Do I look on the universe too moralistically? Do I accept as good only what conforms to my narrow definition? Do I act as if “evil” can be abolished once and for all and “good” enthroned forever? To live in God’s often curious and frighteningly diverse world requires compassion and patience and joy. Those are the “dragnet” virtues. ~ James E. Adams, Living Faith

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarro-abel.blogspot.com/).