Homily for July 30th, 2015: Matthew 13:47-53.
“The kingdom
of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea.” It is what we call a
dragnet. Dragged along the bottom, it collects
everything in its path. In Matthew ’s
gospel it immediately follows the parable of the weeds among the wheat. Both
parables have a similar message, one which Jesus’ first hearers would easily
have understood. They were familiar with dietary laws, which separated unclean
foods from those they were permitted to eat. Sea creatures without fins or
scales were unclean, and hence could not be eaten. So once the net is brought
ashore, there must be a selection. The clean fish are put into buckets and
taken to market. Everything else is thrown away. “Thus it will be at the end of
the age,” Jesus tells us. “The angels will go out and separate the wicked from
the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace.” In the parable of the
wheat and the weeds they do the same with the weeds.
God is not
mocked, Jesus is telling us. The power of evil, of which we see signs daily in
the morning headlines, and on the evening news on TV, is temporary. In the end,
goodness will triumph, Jesus is telling us, and evil will be burned up in the
flames of God’s justice.
That too is the gospel. That is the
good news.
No comments:
Post a Comment