The net grows heavy

This I found in the red letters of  the 13th chapter of Matthew's Gospel this morning (for those keeping score at home, that's the words Jesus spoke):

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind. When the net was full, they dragged it up on the shore, sat down, and sorted the good fish into crates, but threw the bad ones away. That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicket people from the righteous, throwing the wicked ito the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnasing of teetch. Do you understand all these things?" "Yes," they said, "we do."

Getting a handle on this is difficult. I've bowed to the knowledge that I can't save myself, eternally or in this life. I've surrendered to the fact I need God's mercy, and grace to survive. I've given myself over to the love that Paul writes about so, so eloquently in the 13th chapter of his letter to the church in Corinth.

Then I come across this language, and I'm frightened just like I was when I was eight years old and folks talked about hell. The devil was someone or something with horns and a tail and hooves and apparently a real desire to wear read all the time. Scared the, uh, heck out of me though bits and pieces of the smouldering embers of hell stayed on me apparently.

The words in this teaching are scary, and I read nothing about the devil doing anything at all. In fact, it is the angels (those lovely little beings with wings and such and glowing pixie dust and you have your ideas of angels, I can have mine)
Look at the language slowly, thinking not of end result but how one gets there...

The sorting of the fish

the throwing away of the bad

The fact that there are indeed "bad" ones

The unusual language of angels coming to do the sorting

wicked versus righteous

fiery furnace as a destination, not the more common language today of hell being a separation from God.

weeping and gnashing of teeth for those who are in that fiery furnace, which is what gave me the nightmares in the first place.

I could go on and on about the theology here. Certainly there is much talk we could do about the separation of good and evil.

This teaching comes in a series, with parables about wheat and weeds, mustard seeds, yeast, the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl, and the fishing net appearing as a boxed set, as it were.

The end result of the teaching is that there is a separation at the end, with good going and evil, hypocritical, bad (whatever the term) going somewhere else. There is a price to be paid for actions, a destination for those who buy and sell short. The devil is the culprit in the wheat and weeds parable. Our own choices seem to be the villains in other parables. And Jesus is the teacher, using what is described as parables to explain things hidden "since the creation of the world."

Tough stuff for the children to learn, we see.

I think it is beneficial to see that at the understand of this teaching, in Matthew's way of splicing these together, Jesus is rejected at Nazareth. The teaching is too difficult. The way of living is too hard. The yeast permeats, the weeds do grow, and enemy does come or the seed being planted is not growing, and the only answer anyone has for any of this is to simply give up, doing away with the teacher as well as the teaching.

But let's take just a second to look at just this parable, since it is the one my eyes were attracted to this morning.

First, the net (which is the Kingdom of Heaven apparently) is thrown into the water and catches fish OF EVERY KIND. Isn't that interesting. The Kingdom is so enticing that it drags in fish over all kinds, makes. The net isn't a special kind of bait. It is a device that simply drags the water top to bottom and brings them in.

Now, if we take the metaphor out even more, that the net to me becomes the Church. That being so, then it is worth noting that the Church is supposed to drag the water and take in people of all kinds. We are not selective. We take the drum with the catfish. We take the redfish with the, uh, cod. (My understanding and knowledge of fish becomes an issue in the illustration at this point. I've run quickly out of fish.) 

Then, according to the teaching, the good are kept and the bad are thrown away. The drum is tossed. The catfish is mealed, so to speak.

It becomes very interesting at this point, for we are also told not to judge, so the Church can't be the entity that is doing the throwing away. We have no real capability of deciding that which is good and that which is bad, for that would mean judging, which Matthew 7 tells us is a sin. So it is not in our job description to do the separation. We, of course, haven't had a handle on that through the centuries.

Who does this judging? Who is responsible. In this parable, it is the angels, in this teaching. Other teaching says it is Jesus. Still other says it is the Father. The end result is, however, no teaching has us, the Church, the body, the bride, the followers of the Way, Christians doing the judging. Paul says, at one point, that we can throw out those not doing good, but we'll let the majority rule here, particularly in terms of this parable.

Why would this teaching be difficult? It seems that the separating would be done by an outside entity, therefore making it much easier on us all. I ain't got to keep score, in other words. It further seems that the net is dragging in all of us, so there is no work to be done on our part there, either. Our biggest challenge seems to be to say in the water.

So why is it difficult?
From two viewpoints, I believe.

First, suppose you're the one told to throw out the net. Suppose you're told that the net will be completely inclusive. All those persons you've been seeing thinking would never be in your place of worship are dragged in just like all those persons who look like you, think like you, act like you. Then suppose you also have to accept all those "others." Finally, suppose you're not even going to be to help with the judging of who gets to stay and who is thrown out.

Let me say that simply wouldn't go over well for some, particularly the religious who were hearing this teaching for the first time.

Second, suppose you're the one who supposes themselves to be righteous because you have spent your lifetime "doing" the right thing in your eyes, mind and heart. Then suppose the net pulling in the fish drags in good fish and bad fish alike. Then suppose you are told that the separation of those will come at the end of time (not nearly as quickly as you would like). Finally, suppose you're told that the dividing line won't be how you've done the law but instead how you love your fellow fish.

Again, let me say that wouldn't go over well for some.

So all those persons the teaching of the Kingdom of God drew in as Jesus began his ministry were not to be found by the time the cross became an issue.

Know anyone like that today? Know everyone like that today?

Bottom line: It's still scary teaching after all these years, and I haven't seen a guy with a tail and horns in decades.