Matt.13:47-50 – Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they pulled it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age: the angels will come forth and remove the wicked from among the righteous, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I went shrimping one time with a fisherman from our church, this parable took on new meaning that day after I saw for myself what can be caught in a net. That day we caught lots of shrimp but there were other things caught in that net. There was crabs, catfish, grass, and all sorts of trash in those nets. Part of the work is getting the good harvest out of the net, separating the discarded stuff from the shrimp. This is how Jesus was describing His church, it is designed to catch people, He will sort out the harvest at the end of the age. Here is how Barclay describes this parable.

“It is in the nature of the dragnet that it does not, and cannot, discriminate. It is bound to draw in all kinds of things in its course through the water. Its contents are bound to be a mixture. If we apply that to the Church, which is the instrument of God’s kingdom upon earth, it means that the Church cannot be discriminative but is bound to be a mixture of all kinds of people, good and bad, useless and useful.…..this parable teaches that the time of separation will come when the good and the bad are sent to their respective destinations. That separation, however, certain as it is, is not our work but God’s. Therefore it is our duty to gather in all who will come, and not to judge or separate, but to leave the final judgment to God.”

When Jesus first called Peter, Andrew, James, and John they were fishing with nets on the Sea of Galilee. He told them to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men. His calling is still the same for His disciples today. It seems like church folk get sidetracked easily and seem to get involved in everything except the one thing He has called us to do, launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a catch. The end of the age is drawing near, the harvest is about complete, soon He will be sorting out what He will keep in His kingdom. Maybe its time to go fishing.