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The dragnet

Matt 13:47–50 · Later ministry in Galilee

Scripture

Matthew 13:47–50

gain, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

King James Version · public domain

Mateu 13:47–50

ërsëri, mbretëri’ e qiejvet gjan me një rrjetë që uhoth ndë dett, e mblodhi çdo farë gjëje; 48Edhe si umbush, e nxuarrë atë ndë buzë të detit, edhe ndenjtn’ e mblothnë të-miratë ndë enë, edhe të-ligat’ i hothnë jashtë. 49Kështu dotë jetë mbë të të-mbaruarët të jetësë; dotë dalën’ ëngjëjtë, e dotë ndajnë të-liqtë nga të-drejtëtë, 50Edhe dot’ i hedhën’ ata ndë furrët të zjarrit; atje dotë jetë të-qarët’ e të-kërcëlliturit’ e dhëmbëvet.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

The net cast into the sea gathers fish of every kind, and only when drawn to shore are the good and the worthless sorted out. The Fathers read the sea as this present life or the world, the net as the Gospel's preaching let down over all nations, and the shore as the end of the age. So the Church now holds worthy and unworthy together, and the separation is reserved for the angels at the close of the age. The parable runs parallel to the wheat and the tares: a mixed body now, a final judgment then.

Yet the tradition marks how the two differ. In the tares the servants are forbidden to uproot the weeds, since what looks like a weed may yet become wheat, and premature judgment harms more than patient waiting. The dragnet adds a note: once the net is hauled in there is no slipping back, no second chance after the shore. Chrysostom dwells on this severity, that the angels themselves perform the sorting and that those who shared the net with the good are parted from them with no remedy, so that the terror of the judgment is set plainly before us.

The phrase "of every kind" is taken seriously. Origen and those who follow him read the net as woven of many strands, the varied teaching of the Scriptures drawing in souls of every disposition; the breadth of the catch is no accident. The moral the Fathers press is that to be caught is not yet to be saved: to share the Scriptures and the company of the faithful is to be in the net, but what is weighed on the shore is whether one proved good or worthless. The parable is a summons to vigilance now, while the sorting is to come.

The Parable of the Dragnet (Matthew 13:47–50)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

The kingdom of heaven, Christ says, is like a net cast into the sea that gathers fish of every kind; when it is full, the fishermen draw it ashore, sit down, gather the good into vessels, and throw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the world: the angels will come forth, sever the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Found only in Matthew, this is the last of the seven parables of Matthew 13, and like the tares it points to the final judgment. The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations. Nothing is paraphrased. A note on sources follows at the end.

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 47 (on Matthew 13:44–52) As preserved in the Catena Aurea, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain. The fuller homily appears in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200147.htm

On why this fearful parable follows the others, lest we trust in preaching or faith alone:

In the foregoing parables He has commended the Gospel preaching; now, that we may not trust in preaching only, nor think that faith alone is sufficient for our salvation, He adds another fearful parable, saying, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast into the sea.

On how the dragnet differs from the sower and the tares, the bad fish being those of evil life:

Wherein does this parable differ from the parable of the tares? There, as here, some perish and some are saved; but there, because of their heresy of evil dogmas; in the first parable of the sower, because of their not attending to what was spoken; here, because of their evil life, because of which, though drawn by the net, that is, enjoying the knowledge of God, they cannot be saved.

On the severity of the sentence, and that here the angels do the separating:

And when you hear that the wicked are cast away, that you may not suppose that this punishment may be risked, He adds an exposition shewing its severity, saying, Thus shall it be in the end of the world; the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Though He elsewhere declares, that He shall separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; He here declares, that the Angels shall do it, as also in the parable of the tares.

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 13:47–50) Source: as preserved in the Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain.

On the net as the Old and New Testaments, cast by the apostle-fishermen into the sea of the world:

In fulfilment of that prophecy of Jeremiah, who said, I will send unto you many fishers, when Peter and Andrew, James and John, heard the words, Follow me, I will make you fishers of men, they put together a net for themselves formed of the Old and New Testaments, and cast it into the sea of this world, and that remains spread until this day, taking up out of the salt and bitter and whirlpools whatever falls into it, that is good men and bad.

On the sorting that waits for the end of the world:

For when the end of the world shall be come, then shall be shewn the true test of separating the fishes, and as in a sheltered harbour the good shall be sent into the vessels of heavenly abodes, but the flame of hell shall seize the wicked to be dried up and withered.

Note on sources and other Fathers

The two readings sit well together. Chrysostom is careful to distinguish this parable from the tares and the sower: there men are lost for false doctrine or for not heeding the word, but here for an evil life, and these are the most wretched of all, since they have been "drawn by the net," brought within reach of the knowledge of God, and still are not saved. So the dragnet is a warning against resting in faith or membership without a corresponding life. Jerome supplies the picture: the net is woven of the two Testaments and let down by the fishermen Christ called, and it is still spread over the sea of this world, gathering good and bad alike until the harbor of the end, when the good go to the "vessels of heavenly abodes" and the rest to the flame.

Because the dragnet appears only in Matthew, St. Cyril of Alexandria's Commentary on Luke does not treat it. St. Gregory the Great, also through the public-domain Catena Aurea, declines to elaborate the warning and only deepens it: "To fear becomes us here, rather than to expound; for the torments of sinners are pronounced in plain terms, that none might plead his ignorance." Jerome's and Gregory's passages come through the Catena Aurea, since those works have no public-domain English editions of their own; Chrysostom's homily is the primary public-domain source. Blessed Augustine, the Venerable Bede, and others also comment, in modern copyrighted translations.

Patristic sources