Mt 13:47-53
Like a net: The parable of the dragnet reflects the same concern as that found in the parable of the weeds among the wheat and its explanation—namely, the good and bad exist together until the end of the age, when the Son of Man will make the final judgment.
Like a net: The parable of the dragnet reflects the same concern as that found in the parable of the weeds among the wheat and its explanation—namely, the good and bad exist together until the end of the age, when the Son of Man will make the final judgment.
The angels (previously “harvesters,” not “fishermen”) separate the good fish (people) from the bad. The righteous, those who have done the will of God and behaved correctly, are merely separated from the wicked. The emphasis is on the punishment which the wicked will receive.
Unlike the Marcan disciples, the Matthean followers of Jesus understand the parables. They are like scribes who have been instructed in the kingdom of heaven. The storerooms of their lives contain what is new—the teaching of Jesus—and what is old—the law and the prophets.
This final image of the scribe who is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old is one of the many issues that Matthew deals with throughout the Gospel. It reflects his in-between position. He is attempting to define what it means to be a Jewish-Christian without a synagogue but with a Torah. This author believes that the words of Jesus form a true interpretation of the old law, but the followers of Jesus must take Jesus’ words and put them into practice. Each person, then, is a storeroom, filled with the new and the old.