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THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS DRAGNET!
"The four-poster bucked Harrison Barnes White
to the hardwood floor and then attacked him. White dodged the bed by rolling
away, spinning himself into his bedclothes like a crepe suzette. But the
four poster reared like a stallion, landed like a wrecking ball, and pinned him
to the floor, which gave way under him and then delivered an uppercut to his
flailing body."1
So begins Richard Wheeler's novel entitled AFTERSHOCKS. In
it he plunges the reader into the midst of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake;
its grieving victims, its thieves, its corrupt politicians, its selfless heroes,
and its opportunist. Harry White, an average architect at best, fell into
this last category. Within 30 minutes of the quake, which hit a little
after five o'clock on an April morning, Harry White left his family to fend for
themselves because he had things to do and people to see. After all, there
was nothing better than an earthquake for an egotistical architect who wanted
to be rich and famous.2
What Harry White saw as he ventured out was unbelievably
hellish. But it was not hell. It wasn't even close, but he would
get a taste of hell before the week was out and the reader would be vividly reminded
of what Jesus had to say about the awfulness of hell during his earthly ministry.
In Matthew, prior to getting to the parables of
the kingdom as found in chapter thirteen, Jesus addressed the subject of hell
in his Sermon on the Mount. For in Matthew 5:21 - 24 we read:
"You have heard that it was said to the people
long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin.
But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift
at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24
leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your
brother; then come and offer your gift."
Then, in vv. 27 - 30, we are encouraged
to avoid hell at all cost. We read:
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not
commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully
has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right
eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to
lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is
better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into
hell."
In context, in view of the tradition of the Pharisees,
in view of the beatitudes, Jesus wasn't advocating physical mutilation so much
as the need for a radical change in our heart. However, whether the heart
was ultimately in view or not, it's clear that we're being told to be unmerciful
in the eradication of sin in our life. Why? Because inevitably it
leads us to hell.3
What we need to note in these two passages is
that the word translated "hell" is literally the word "Gehenna." This
was the valley south of Jerusalem where a continually burning fire consumed the
city refuge. So when Jesus spoke of hell, he informed his listeners of
the reality of hell and gave them a clear picture of its nature.4 What's
surprising, is that the reality of hell comes up in the last parable concerning
the kingdom of God. In Matthew 13:47 - 49 we read:
"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like
a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48
When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down
and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This
is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the
wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Remember, Jesus wasn't addressing the crowds at
this point in time. He was in somebody's home, probably the home of Peter's
mother-in-law, and addressed the last three parables to his disciples.
At first glance, this parable appears to repeat
the message of the second parable; The Case of the Midnight Farmer. But
that parable introduced the idea that good and evil would coexist in the present
form of the kingdom. This parable informs us of the separation of good
and evil at the end of the age. To see how this comes about we need to
have a clear view of the imagery given to us in this parable.
Fishing, of course, was a common enough enterprise
in Jesus' day as in ours. In fact, some of the disciples were fisherman
and understood that there were three ways to fish on the Sea of Galilee.
The first way to fish was with a line and hook. In
Matthew 17:24 - 27, at about the time taxes were due, we read:
After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum,
the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't
your teacher pay the temple tax?"
"Yes, he does," he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the
first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom
do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes-from their own sons or from
others?"
"From others," Peter answered.
"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said
to him. 27 "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and
throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will
find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
With this taxpaying tip, the line and hook method
of fishing was used. The second way to fish was by casting a net. When
the Lord came upon Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4:18 - 20 they were fishing. But
as commercial fishermen they weren't using a line and hook. We read:
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee,
he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting
a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus
said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20 At once they
left their nets and followed him.
A casting net (Gk. amphiblestron) was a circular
net with weights on its perimeter. Peter would drape the net over his
shoulder and with a turning motion cast the net into the sea. Ideally,
the net would hit the water as a large open circle and the weights on the outside
edge would bring the net down over any fish in the area. Then he would
pull a chord attached to his wrist that closed the net into a sack. It
was more like shopping for fish, than actually fishing the old-fashioned way.
The third method of fishing, as seen in this last
parable, uses a completely different type of net. It's a dragnet (Gk. sagene)
or what we might call a trawl net. It is a very large net, some say
up to one-half mile in length, requiring more than one person - unless that person
is God himself. When used, one end of the net was attached to the shoreline
and the other end was attached to a boat. The boat would then go out into
the water dragging the net along with it. With the net stretched out, the
boat would then arc its way toward the shoreline. Because the top edge
of the net had floats and the bottom edge had weights, it moved through the sea
like a vertical wall. All the sea life inside the arc was caught up in
the net or coerced toward the shoreline. Either way, judgment was inevitable.
John MacArthur, Jr. in his study notes on The
Parables of the Kingdom put it this way:
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a net. That net moves through the world
unseen. When the net touches the back of a fish, the creature simply swims
a little further ahead of it, enjoying what appears to be permanent freedom. Men
move about in this world imagining themselves to be free, fulfilling their own
desires, with little knowledge that the net of judgment is coming closer and
closer. Each time men are touched by the net, they move a little further
along. Eventually, they will find themselves hitting the net in front of
them. They will make a wild dash to escape, yet find themselves totally
surrounded by the net. Finally, they will be dragged onto the shore, flailing
as they enter death."5
You and I don't necessarily see God moving in
the lives of those around us. But, this parable tells us a mysterious dragnet
is moving through history nudging us all toward the shoreline of judgment. Ultimately,
this kingdom net will engulf all men, and God's angels will separate the wicked
from the righteous. The wicked will be thrown into a "fiery furnace" where
there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth. The righteous,
on the other hand, will remain in the presence of God.
Now let's return to the saga of Harry White, we
read:
"Harrison Barnes White, architect and city
planner, knew he needed a connection. That was how the world worked. Talent
counted, and he had an abundance of that, but just as important was knowing the
right people. That was the real way to get ahead. He believed devoutly
in the American dream, and believed the earthquake was the opportunity he had
waited for during the years of apprenticing.
There, in the middle of Van Ness, he took stock. He
stank. His stubble bristled. Grime permeated his suit. A week
of living like a tramp had done it to him and everyone else. He knew at
once what he had to do: refurbish himself. Once he had scraped off the
stubble and filth and cleaned his clothing, he would make an impressive figure
once again, call the shots, be taken for the upcoming personage he was. The
old adage, clothes make the man, was certainly true. A man with a natty
exterior was always perceived as a man of great interior quality. Clean
him and put him in fresh clothing, especially a suit and cravat, and he would
command the world, even his ruined world."6
And so Harry Barnes White was nudged to the shoreline
where he spotted a freighter and knew at once the solution to his problem. For
the freighter, unlike the ruined city, offered him the chance to clean up. He
could shower, shave, eat a good meal, wash his clothes, get a good nights sleep
in a real bunk, and be ready to present himself and his plan to the mayor of
San Francisco.
The last paragraph of this chapter, chapter 56,
reads,
"He slept like the dead until dawn, when
a bell awakened him. He stretched, clambered out of his marvelous bunk,
felt the freighter rock gently, peered out the porthole, and discovered he was
at sea."7
What the reader discovers in the chapters that
follow is that Harry Barnes White, a man wrapped up in himself, is in hell. And
being at sea on a freighter is only the beginning of what becomes a life of pure
hell for Harry Barnes White.
But what about us? What does this parable
mean for us? Paul, in Colossians 4:2 - 6 lays our job out for us non-evangelist
in this way:
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful
and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our
message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4
Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way
you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your
conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know
how to answer everyone."
Paul's primary concern for himself was to get
a hearing so he could proclaim the gospel. But for you and I his concern
was for our manner of life, our actions. Then, in that context of serving
and helping others, our conversation should be full of grace, seasoned with salt,
so as to draw others toward us and our God.
1 Richard
S. Wheeler, AFTERSHOCKS, A Forge Book, Published by Tom Doherty Associates,
Inc. 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, 1999, p 9.
2 The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake
that struck San Francisco and the coast of northern California at 5:12 A.M.
on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude
of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.8; however, other values have
been proposed from 7.7 to as high as 8.3. The epicenter occurred offshore about
2 miles from the city, near Mussel Rock. It ruptured along the San Andreas
Fault both northward and southward for a total length of 296 miles. Shaking
was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles, and as far as central Nevada. The earthquake
and resulting fire is remembered as one of the worst natural disasters in the
history of the United States.
3 A comedian by the name of John Elliot quipped, "Heaven
is an English policeman, a French cook, a German engineer, an Italian lover,
and everything organized by the Swiss. Hell is an English cook, a French
engineer, a German policeman, a Swiss lover, and everything organized by the
Italians." You see the world makes light of hell, as well as heaven,
but for Jesus it was, and is, a sobering issue.
4 Jesus spoke about hell more than any other person in the
Bible. For unlike all others, he knew of the reality of hell. He
was the only one who has ever walked on this planet who had seen what is in
store for those who persistently choose death over life. It's not that
God is cruel, its that he allows us to make our own decisions and those decisions
turn around and make us.
5 John F. MacArthur, Jr. The Parables of the Kingdom,
Word of Grace Communications, P. O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA. 91412, 1984,
p. 120.
6 Richard S. Wheeler, AFTERSHOCKS, pp. 273 -
274.
7 Ibid., p. 278.
JESUS & THE KINGDOM OF GOD 05/13/07
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