As human beings we’re an inquisitive bunch. We exhaust billions upon billions of dollars and man hours probing everything from the ocean depths to the far reaches of the universe. Why? Often times it’s simply to satisfy our insatiable curiosity to know what’s unknown. Of all the kingdom of heaven parables, the last one, the dragnet, stumped me the most. Its mystery prompted weeks of pondering and asking the Lord about it. So many things didn’t add up.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a [large, hauling] net [of great length] that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:47-50 ESV
First off, its duplication of the first parable perplexed me. The weeds in the field likewise conclude with harvesters (angels) separating the good (the wheat) from the bad (the weeds), which get tossed into the fiery furnace, resulting in weeping and gnashing of teeth. They’re exactly the same aside from the metaphor changing from farming to fishing. Why would Jesus tell a parable that adds nothing new? The truth of this net—or better, dragnet—parable has already been covered, right?
My next bewilderment stemmed from Matthew’s penchant to group like things together. Of the Gospel authors Matthew is the most likely to favor logical grouping over chronological order. His tax collecting, accountant background shines through! So Matthew categorizes teachings, miracles, parables, etc. into related sections. Matthew alone arranged these six kingdom of heaven parables together, even so far as to pair up the individual parables themselves. The mustard seed and the leaven are paired, as are the hidden treasure and the merchant seeking pearls. Naturally, I expected the nearly identical parables of the dragnet and the weeds in the field to be joined. But…he doesn’t. The parable of dragnet is off on its own, throwing a monkey wrench into his immaculate arrangement. This disjointedness jarred me—so uncharacteristic of Matthew.
Another mystery was why is it an “inside-the-house” parable? I noticed how all the parables within earshot of the crowds (outside the house) had to do with the world and those within earshot of the disciples (inside the house) had to do with the church. In other words, the “outside-the-house” parables illustrate how the kingdom of heaven operates in this fallen world, the “inside-the-house” parables in the church. Since the dragnet parable would be an inside-the-house parable, I anticipated it to relate to the church. But…it didn’t. It appears to deal with the world, defying this thematic organization.
Yet another anomaly baffled me. Not only do the three outside-the-house parables relate to the world, but each corresponds to a member of the Trinity. Yes, all of the Godhead is involved in everything, for God is one, but often Scripture attributes more prominence to one over the others. The Son sows to save people (first parable), the Father reveals the Son to draw people (second parable) and the Spirit hides the Son within to transform people (third parable). Inside the house, this pattern of the Trinity starts repeating itself. The Spirit reveals the Son as treasure to His people (first parable) and the Son sells all He has for His people (second parable). I expected the dragnet parable to be about the Father’s work with the Son to His people. But…I wasn’t seeing it.
I’m about to go out on a limb here. I’m uncomfortable taking a road less traveled than the faithful bands of church expositors, but the peculiar context of the dragnet parable persuades me. If Jesus did intend symmetries within these kingdom of heaven parables, then what follows makes sense. I am confident it’s true to the balance of Scripture. But whether it’s the truth of the dragnet parable itself, you may judge for yourself.
Now for the science geek in me. In the 19th century Dmitrii Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, wrestled twenty years to achieve his eureka discovery, the periodic table. He grasped for the first time ever that the elements (hydrogen to uranium) had an underlying, systematic arrangement.
To have perceived an overall organization, a superarching principle uniting and relating all the elements, had a quality of the miraculous, of genius. And this gave me, for the first time, a sense of the transcendent power of the human mind, and the fact that it might be equipped to discover or decipher the deepest secrets of nature, to read the mind of God.
Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, p. 191
The author’s aha moment so resonates with me. I’d never perceived any superarching principle uniting all these kingdom of heaven parables before. Mendeleev’s bombshell is but a shard of the awe-inspiring wonder of the kingdom of God! Jesus created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible (Col 1:16). The Carpenter constructed the entire visible universe using just ninety-two atomic building blocks and this invisible, eternal kingdom of just six, as embodied by the kingdom of heaven parables.
Though the dragnet parable appears to duplicate the parable of the weeds in the field, it really doesn’t. Here’s why I say that. Context means everything. Parables don’t appear at random but address a particular situation and specific audience. Our awesomely wise Lord Jesus is an absolute master with parables, using them to reveal the deepest secrets of the mind of God. Occasionally, the same parable can mean something different depending on its context. Case in point: the parable of the lamp. “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house” (Mt 5:15 ESV). This applies to believers shining in the world. Check out this same parable in Mark 4:21: “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand?” This applies to manifesting the spiritual meaning behind parables. Same parable, different applications. Context sheds a flood of light.
We’re ready now to embark on a bit of exegesis, the theologian’s vernacular for paying very close attention to a biblical text to ascertain its intended meaning. Jesus concluded the kingdom of heaven parables with this question: “Have you understood all these?” He sets the bar high, expecting us to be disciples who carefully study these kingdom of heaven parables. Eugene Peterson, translator of the Message Bible, explains exegesis this way:
Exegesis is loving God enough to stop and listen carefully to what he says. It follows that we bring the leisure and attentiveness of lovers to the text, cherishing every comma and semicolon, relishing the oddness of this preposition, delighting in the surprising placement of this noun.
Eugene Peterson, Eat The Book: The Art of Spiritual Reading
Permit me to guide you in the deep waters of the text, directing your attention to a delightfully surprising placement of a word: “again.” Observe carefully how “again” is repeated for these inside-the-house parables:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field…Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls…Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea…” (Matthew 13:44-45, 47 ESV)
Jesus’ use of “again” is rare when it comes to parables. Matthew’s back to back use of “again” is rarer than a Mickey Mantle rookie year baseball card. This dual “again” ties the three in-the-house parables together, ushering in a unique context for deciphering the dragnet parable. “Again” compels us to retrace the same ground as the preceding parable but from a different angle. Watch how this works.
A seeker, a treasure, and a purchase price that costs everything are common to the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the merchant seeking fine pearls. The latter is prefaced with “again,” which repeats the former but shifts attention from treasure to seeker. Granted, that’s pretty subtle. Because of its subtlety, many gloss right over that as I did for years. This subtle change, though, yields a different interpretation. In the former we sell everything for the Treasure—Jesus; in the latter Jesus sells all that He had to obtain the treasure—us. This unfolds a beautiful mirror image of Bride and Bridegroom each pursuing the other with a love that costs everything.
The heart of the kingdom of heaven is this love relationship between the Bridegroom and the Bride.
Now, the dragnet parable likewise begins with “again,” linking it to the merchant seeking fine pearls parable. This is even more subtle than the previous “again.” Stay with me here so you don’t miss it. Jesus used the first “again” to reenact the same scene but focusing on the seeker instead of the treasure. This back to back “again” with the dragnet parable suggests another replay of the preceding parables but from yet one more angle. This context turns the parable on its head! The first two had a seeker, a treasure, and an exorbitant purchase price. What about the dragnet parable? They’re all there, too! The seeker? The fisherman, the angels sent to do Jesus’ bidding. So ultimately the seeker is Jesus, just like the merchant parable. The treasure? That’s the good fish. But does this dragnet parable have a purchase price? Although there’s no liquidation of assets like the first two, there is a cost. It’s conveyed differently (and subtly, I might add). The cost is inferred by the destiny of the bad fish. Let me explain.
The Bible is ruthlessly unapologetic that no “good fish” exist in and of themselves. “There is none righteous; no, not one.” “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Apart from the saving grace of Jesus Christ, “good fish” and “bad fish” deserve the same punishment: the furnace of fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Whereas the peal merchant sold all he had, the dragnet parable ups the ante. Cost in terms of money progresses to one in terms of justice. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). The soul that sins shall die. Even the faintest modicum of sin cannot remain before a holy God. A ransom must be paid.
In these kingdom of heaven parables, swapping “kingdom” for “King” has helped me get the gist of them. So, the King is like a net thrown into the sea. It spotlights King Jesus as the gatherer, for that’s what a dragnet does. As this Shepherd will gather the sheep and the goats, this King as dragnet will one day gather up all peoples, good and bad. Another gathering is presumed. Let’s zoom in.
While many striking similarities exist between the parable of the weeds in the field and the dragnet parable, here’s a conspicuous difference: the latter excludes the interpretation of the righteous’ destiny. Here’s how the weeds parable concludes:
The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. (Matthew 13:41-43 ESV)
But in the dragnet parable, only the destiny of the wicked is described:
The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:49-50 ESV)
Both parables call attention to the good being “righteous,” a legal term pointing to the forgiveness of sins. In reality the “good fish” (the righteous) deserve what the “bad fish” (the evil) got: the fiery furnace—hell. Therein lies the cost! Had not Jesus paid the ultimate price for sins meriting hell, the “good fish” would have been thrown out alongside the “bad fish.” So the bad fish in the parable act as a lens through which to see the enormous cost Jesus paid. The doom of the wicked is the dark velvet background upon which the diamond of Christ’s love shines forth its variegated brilliance for His people.
Just below the water’s edge lies the parable’s second gathering. Jesus was that dragnet that gathered up every sin of the “good fish” and paid for them. The King is like a net thrown into the sea—like Jonah, whose three days in the fish’s belly foreshadowed Christ’s three days in the grave. The “good fish” required the highest price—Jesus draining dry the cup of God’s fiery indignation against sin—to make them righteous. Righteousness for sinners isn’t free. You know the old adage, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”? God’s justice demands that either we pay for sins, like the bad fish will, or a substitute does. Jesus became our substitute who tasted death for us (Heb 2:9). “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Co 5:21 ESV)!
Now it makes sense why the dragnet parable is “in the house.” It stands as a vivid reminder to the redeemed what it cost Jesus to buy them. Jesus as the merchant sold all he had to purchase that one pearl, which is amazing! The dragnet parable’s imagery, though, removes hazy ideas about what it really cost Jesus to purchase us.
The weeping and gnashing of teeth of the lost arouse our deepest sympathies. Nothing strikes fear more than the horror of perpetual suffering. When we think about dying, most of us would opt for pain-free, like passing away in our sleep. Drowning or burning to death, well, aren’t on our list. It’s hard enough to imagine me going into the fires of hell. But Jesus did it not only for me but for countless others! The “bad fish” experienced weeping. Jesus wept with loud cries and tears in Gethsemane (Heb 5:7). The “bad fish” experienced gnashing of teeth. Jesus gnashed His teeth when He cried out in supernatural darkness, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?“ The Old Testament tabernacle featured a bronze altar requiring a burnt offering to be perpetually burning upon it. We are only in the house because the true burnt offering, Jesus, suffered the perpetual burning of hell that we deserved. This Iron Bell song expresses our King’s sacrificial love so powerfully:
Jesus, I finally see the cross, the nails; You went through hell just to get to me. O Lord, King of kings, to think You wore a crown of thorns just to get to me.
Iron Bell, Leave It All
As I wind down (finally!), I freely admit my interpretation is off the beaten track. Since I’m not one hundred percent certain, though, that this is what Jesus intended for the parable, I’m not dogmatic about it. Again, you be the judge and prayerfully consider it. But I am convinced that it’s faithful to Scripture and too good to pass up without mentioning. The dragnet parable’s unique context breathes a vibrant life into it that has settled my perplexities and has renewed my awe and wonder of Jesus’ love for me—a love that willingly suffered hell for my innumerable transgressions.
I think I understand now why the dragnet parable wasn’t paired up like the other kingdom of heaven parables. Considered in isolation, it’s an outside-the-house parable, God’s fiery judgment that awaits the wicked of this world. But the Lord’s peculiar repetition of “again” specially joins the dragnet parable to the other inside-the-house parables. Its exclusive positioning with the hidden treasure and merchant seeking pearls invites contemplation under a different light. So the dragnet parable isn’t just reheated leftovers from the weeds in the field parable. Rather, it’s an inside-the-house lens through which we gaze upon the extravagant sacrifice Jesus willingly made for us to be forever with Him. The horrors of hell become panes of glass through which we see Jesus’ suffering for me and for you. Since hell is the pinnacle of God’s wrath, this parable sums up all wrath revealed against sinners throughout the Bible—all drowned in Noah’s flood, all consumed by fire and brimstone in Sodom and Gomorrah, all slain by the sword in Canaan. The list goes on. Every manifestation of God’s red-hot anger depicts what sin deserves, which translated into the price the Lord Jesus had to pay for us. Yet for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb 12:2).
Lastly, I’m satisfied how the inside-the-house symmetry of Father, Son and Spirit mirrors the outside-the-house parables. Outside, the Son is sowing saints (weeds in the field); inside, He is seeking that pearl and selling all. Outside, the Spirit is convicting sin within (leaven); inside, He is revealing Jesus within (hidden treasure). Outside, the Father is manifesting Jesus to attract people (mustard seed); inside, He gathers up the righteous because Jesus first gathered up all punishment their sins deserved (dragnet). In the eternal scope of things, ultimately it was the Father who cast Jesus into the fiery judgments that the sins of mankind had treasured up.
God’s astounding love and mercy and grace is beyond amazing! The beloved hymn, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe,” celebrates the cost; the dragnet parable zooms into a vivid depiction of this cost. It cost God’s only Son the misery and suffering of a fiery hell. But He arose again the third day victorious! Heaven rings with songs of praise exalting the Lamb of God, our Dragnet, who purchased us by His blood!
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:9-10 ESV)
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 