Matthew 13.47-52

⁴⁷ “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹ This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. 

“Yes,” they replied.

⁵² He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” 

The fishing metaphor Jesus uses here is not uncommon.  Jesus has done this kind of thing before.  It makes sense, really.  Many of the people who listened to him were in that line of work.  So the metaphor is nothing new, but that does not diminish the chilling reality it teaches.  Jesus describes a net that was large, broad, and would catch pretty much anything near it.  This is not like a fishing line that is set for one fish one time.  This is not like bait that might appeal to one kind of fish more than another.  This is not an aimed shot at one particular area of the lake that might hold a specific type or size of fish.  This is a net.

The good news is that a net can catch a lot of fish.  A whole lot.  I think there will be a much greater variety of people in heaven than we often think.  The net of the kingdom can catch more fish than our small fishing poles.  The poor?  The foreign?  The unloved?  The outcast?  There is room in the net for them.  The upper-middle class suburban family?  There’s room.  The person who fell away when they went to college?  There’s room.

The bad news is that not every fish in the net is kept.

Now here’s where it gets scary.  I don’t know the difference between “wicked” and “righteous.”  I don’t know the criteria the angels will consider when they come to separate those two groups.  I don’t even know when they will do it.  What I do know is that Jesus said in Matthew 7 that there is a small gate at the end of a narrow road that only a “few” make it through.  I don’t know what that means, but I know it’s true.  So I think there may be fewer people in heaven than we often imagine.

I don’t know what all it takes to get through the gate, and I don’t know what the angles will be looking for when they separate the righteous fish from the wicked fish, but I know one other thing Jesus said in His lifetime.  In John 14 He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”

I don’t have all the answers (you’re probably thinking that I don’t seem to have any of them), but I know that the gate is narrow, and I know that Jesus said He’s the only way to stay on that narrow path, and I know that the apostle John said in 1 John 2:6 that anyone who claims to live in Christ must walk as Jesus did.  I don’t have all the answers, but I know the question: How can I be like Jesus?

When we answer that question, I think we are on the way to being one of the righteous fish.

And I love verse 51 when Jesus asked the disciples if they understand everything He’s been saying for the past fifty verses or so.  This is a critical part of their development as the soon-to-be leaders of the church because of what Jesus says in verse 52.  They need to hold on to what they know about God from the Old Testament, but they need this new teaching from Jesus as well.  And what Jesus is saying is that He’s not saying anything new.  He is affirming what has been said about God all along.

God has always held a high standard, God has always demanded a lot from His followers, and God has always promised consequences when we don’t obey.  And He knew pretty early on in the game that we wouldn’t live up to that standard; we wouldn’t be perfect fish.  But God always had a plan.

Ben Cross