1. Read Matthew 13:47-51
2. Reflections
1. a story about judgment
2. sagene, a net, occurs only once in NT
3. a net (and the kingdom) gathers up everything in its path (not just fish)
4. if the kingdom works like a dragnet, the church (as the sacrament of the kingdom) should not get into the habit of rejecting as junk the floatsam and jetsam of the world
1. the practice of tossing out rotten types while the net is still in the water has been almost everbody's idea of a terrific way to futher the kingdom -- everybody, except Jesus
5. judgment
1. the criterion is not the innate goodness or badness of the fish -- but their acceptability to the fisherman
1. "The world God loves is the world he sees in his only-begotten Son."
2. nobody goes to hell because he had a rotten track record in the world -- any more than anyone goes to heaven because he had a good one
3. Both heaven and hell are populated entirely and only by forgiven sinners. Hell is just a courtesy for those who insist they want no part of forgiveness.
4. fishermen do the sorting but a new crew, angels, do the job of separation, committed to doing only and always what he does
5. parable of King's Son's Wedding [Matthew 22:1-14] -- the fellow without the wedding garment
6. Questions
1. does the church welcome sinners? all or just "little-bitty" sinners or only those who repent and then never seriously need forgiveness again?
2. what about reform? what of this scriptural truth: the world has already gotten away with - no, that's too weak; it has already been absolutely saved by - its murder of God himself incarnate?
3. At the end of the age, how did the righteous ones get to be righteous? To whom is the free gift offered? Is there nobody at the Last Judgment who hasn't been given the righteousness of Christ? How come some are judged ponerous (willful evil)?