Parable of the fishing net

Thursday, July 28, 2016
17th Week
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Jer 18: 1-6
Gospel:
Matthew 13:47-53

Jesus said to his disciples, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish in buckets, but throw the worthless ones away. That is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just and throw them into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. So he said to them, “You will see that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple of the Kingdom is like a householder who can produce from his store things both new and old.”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

Parables of the kingdom are better understood in the light of what Jesus told the Pharisees about God’s reign. Jesus told them, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). The original Greek used for “within you” is “entos hymon”. This word can also mean “in your midst”. Jesus couldn’t have used it to mean “within you”. Why would he tell the Pharisees “the kingdom of heaven is within you” when Jesus knew what was in their hearts? He had criticized them many times for being hypocrites (Matt. 23:27).

It is more plausible that Jesus used “entos hymon” to mean “in your midst”. The kingdom was a reality in their midst, as real as the blind recovering their sight, the lame walking, lepers being cleansed, the deaf hearing, the dead resuscitating, and the good news being preached to the poor (Matthew 11:5). Jesus wanted to tell them that God’s kingdom was not to be the sentimental creation of the human heart but a reality unfolding by what he was doing. This explains why he used parables related to the ground (parable of the weeds growing side by side with the wheat), the air (birds of the air taking shelter on a tree that sprouts from a small seed such as mustard) and the sea (today’s parable of the fishing net). Nothing could be more real about the kingdom than these.

In using “entos hymon” to mean “in your midst” Jesus was also committing his blessing to our good works, giving them power to bring to reality God’s kingdom in our midst. Had Jesus used “within you” instead of “in your midst”, Jesus could have been accused of making false advertisements just to get more followers. In whose heart, anyway, could the kingdom flourish? Is there a person among us pure enough to accommodate it? – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email: [email protected].

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