Good Catch
Would you invest in something sight unseen?
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out 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 furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’ - Matthew 13:44-52
Once again Jesus is talking about culling the good from the bad at the time of judgment.
He gives his disciples three examples. The first two are about purchasing something of great value once it is found and the next is about catching everything, only to sort through to find the good and toss out the bad afterwards.
This, he tells them, is what the kingdom of heaven is like.
All are accepted together, whether good or bad, and then later, the decision is made which to treasure and which to discard.
God invests in us, without prejudice. Each of us gets a shot at being chosen from among the widely cast net, but not all of us take seriously what it means to be a good catch.
We may be misguided to think that because God loves us, we are accepted as we are, and so we don't have to work at our faith.
But what if what Jesus says is true? At some point, we will be found out, and those who are worthy catches will be saved, while those who are not will be tossed aside.
We say that Jesus' death on the cross is payment for all our sins, but even if it is, does that give us a free pass to sin again? I think if we knowing decide to be bad, we should expect to be tossed aside.
Just because God doesn't punish us now, it doesn't mean we are out of the woods.
It's like that old expression we heard as children. Wait til your father gets home.
More to come...