PARABLE OF THE DRAWN NET (MATTHEW 13:47-50)

This is a definite parable. Its message is practically identical to that of the wheat and the tares parable. 

However, the imagery is especially applicable to the disciples, many of whom were fishermen.

    Wheat and the Tares

        Mustard Seed

        Leaven

            Interpretation of the Wheat and the Tares

        Treasure

        Pearl

The Net

Snodgrass proposes the above arrangement. An alternative structure for the whole of Matthew 13 is presented below:

A. Jesus' family (12:46-50)

B. Jesus leaves house and tells parables (13:1-3a)

            C. Parable of the sower (13:3b-23)

D. Parable of the weeds and the wheat (13:24-46)

1. Parable of weeds told (13:24-30)

2. The mustard seed (13:31-32)

3. Leaven (13:33)

4. About parables (13:34-35)

1'. Parable of weeds explained (13:36-43)

2'. Treasure hidden in a field (13:44)

3'. Pearl of great value (13:45-46)

        C'. Parable of the net cast into the sea (13:47-52)

        B'. Jesus finished parables and left (13:53)

A'. Jesus' family (13:54-58)

Physical Picture

The sorting was to exclude any ritually unclean fish without scales or fins, such as eels or catfish.

This is not a sorting according to whether the fish are alive or dead or are too small. Most of the twenty varieties of fish found in the Sea of Galilee were ritually clean. Regulations are found in Leviticus 11:9-12 and Deuteronomy 14:9-10. The net was a seine net hauled in by two groups of men at each end standing on the shore or a net cast off of a boat.

The Tares and Net parables share obvious similarities with one another: both are mainly told for the disciples' benefit; both teach the danger or impossibility of separating the two groups from one another before the proper time; only those responsible for harvesting are entrusted to the job; and the final end of the unrighteous is to be thrown into a place where there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. When we attempt to act on our own in distinguishing the good from the bad, we are trying to co-opt the role of God and His angels. In doing so, we fall afoul of the many NT teachings against improper judging of our fellow man.

There is somewhat of a parallel to this story in The Gospel of Thomas 8: “And he said: Man is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea; he drew it out of the sea when it was full of little fishes. Among them the wise fisherman found a large good fish. The wise fisherman cast all the little fishes down into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty.” It sounds similar, but it concerns a wise man rather than being the picture of God's judgment and is really closer to the parable of the pearl of great price. Also, this Gnostic teaching expresses the same elitist idea as another parable in the Gospel of Thomas in which the shepherd saves the one lost sheep because it is the biggest one

Verse 47  “Again” just means “Here is another parable.”

In interpreting this parable, some center in on the gathering process and the wording “all sorts of fish” and thus feel this parable concerns the spread of the gospel message to the whole world and it explains Jesus' association with all sorts of people. Others feel this concerns the mixed nature of the Christian church. But Snodgrass sees the story as mainly concerned with the Final Judgment where humanity is divided into two groups: the saved and unsaved.

The symbolism of a net standing for judgment is also found in Habakkuk 1:14-17 and Ezekiel 32:3.

But in this parable neither the sea, the shore, the fishermen, or the boats stand for anything in particular. They just provide the necessary background to the story.

Verses 47-48  The OT background might be found in Jeremiah 16:16. There God says he will send out 

fishermen and hunters to track down all of the Jews who have turned to idols.

Verse 49   Snodgrass points out that removal of the evil “from the midst of the righteous” does not mean their removal from the church, but exclusion from the kingdom.

Verses 49-50 are almost a repetition of Matthew 13:40b-42 of the previous parable.

Hendricksen applies the parable to all those who respond to the gospel even if not all are ultimately

saved – the mixed church. We may catch bad fish but the net still must be cast widely.