Fish Tales: One Fish, Two Fish, Good Fish, Bad Fish

Today's "fish tale" is the last of our series - the parable of the net, as found in Matthew 13:47-50.


This parable is sometimes called the "parable of the dragnet." Read here about the function of a dragnet:

This was a common scene along the Sea of Galilee. The dragnet was as much as a mile long. It was weighted on the bottom and had floats on the top. It would be spread in the shape of a huge semi-circle, and then dragged to shore. Then came the task of getting rid of the undesirable fish and getting the edible fish ready for market. (Gary DeLashmutt)


This parable clearly involves a time of judgment - the fish are sorted into piles of good and bad. In the same way, Jesus reminds us, there will be a day of judgment when there is a separation of the righteous and the unrighteous. In the meantime, we all live together.

Our tendency is to want to avoid being judgmental - much in the spirit of the quote from Edward Hoch, governor of Kansas about 100 years ago:

There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us.


In our desire to avoid being judgmental, we need to also avoid becoming "judgment-free." If someone is described as "lacking judgment," that is not a compliment. It means they have lost their sense of right and wrong, no moral compass you might say.

Talking about judgment makes us think about heaven and hell. In the Sunday message, we looked at four questions:

What is the percentage of Americans who believe...
that there is a heaven?
that there is a hell?
that they are going to heaven?
that they are going to hell?

Read this article to find out the answer.


Sometimes it seems like these words of Jesus do not match the compassionate picture of Jesus we have in our minds. But the one Jesus embodies both intense compassion, mercy and forgiveness and yet also a clear statement about a day of judgment.

Belief in a "day of judgment" is central to United Methodist doctrine:

"We believe all men stand under the righteous judgment of Jesus Christ, both now and in the last day. We believe in the resurrection of the dead; the righteous to life eternal and the wicked to endless condemnation."
- "Doctrinal Standards and General Rules," The United Methodist Church


HEBREWS 9:27. It is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment.

1 JOHN 4:17. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment.


What do you think about holding together love and judgment?

Read the parable of the weeds and the wheat - how does that parable connect to the parable of the net?


Remember - you are NOT on the weed-pulling committee or the fish-sorting committee!!