Friday, March 6, 2015

Lenten Devotion - Day 15

Friday, March 6, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 13:36-53 (same scripture from past two days)

"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.” (Matt. 13:47-48)

“You will not find Jesus in heaven, reclining on a cloud. He isn’t in church on Sunday morning, sitting in the pews. He isn’t locked away in the Vatican or held hostage by a denominational seminary. Rather, Jesus is sitting in the Emergency Room, an uninsured, undocumented immigrant needing healing. He is behind bars, so far from his parole date he can’t think that far into the future. He is homeless, evicted from his apartment, waiting in line at the shelter for a bed and a cup of soup. He is the poor child living in government housing with lice in his hair, the stripes of abuse on his body and a growl in his stomach. He is an old forgotten woman in a roach infested apartment who no one thinks of anymore. He is a refugee in Sudan, living in squalor. He is the abused and molested child who falsely feels responsible for the evil that is perpetrated against her. He is the young woman who hates herself for the decisions she has made, decisions that have imperiled her life, but did the best she could, torn between impossible choices. Jesus is anyone without power, ability or the means to help themselves, and he beckons us to come to him; not on a do- gooding crusade, but in solidarity and embrace.” ― Ronnie McBrayer, How Far Is Heaven?: Rediscovering the Kingdom of God in the Here and Now

prayer_6437c  In chapter 13, Matthew continues to tell another short parable about the net thrown into the sea which follows the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl. In each parable, Jesus identifies how we can compare or understand the kingdom of Heaven. Each can be understood separately to teach us about the kingdom, but Matthew clustered these three them together for a reason followed by asking the disciples if they understood and telling about the scribe who brought out treasures both old and new, covered in a devotion on Feb. 21.

  John tells a story about the disciples responding to Jesus’ request to cast a net on the other side of the boat in chapter 21. Though not a parable but a story after the resurrection, it was a similar meaning related to where he is calling them to share the good news of the kingdom.

  Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is like a net." And he wasn't talking about just any old fishing net; he named a very specific kind of net. In fact, this is the only place in the entire New Testament that this particular word for “net” is used. The net depicted in the parable seems to be a unique large dragnet, which was usually about six feet deep and several hundred feet wide, requiring a number of people to maneuver it.

  As is the case with dragnet fishing, the net catches all kinds of fish both good and bad, which are then sorted out with the good being kept and the bad thrown out. Matthew uses the word “rotten” to refer to the “bad” fish and also occurs in other places in the gospel to describe the bad fruit of Christians, “In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.” (Matt. 7:17-18) and "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.” (Matt. 12:33)

  God's dragnet gathers up everything. And that means everything. God's dragnet gathers all things: good things, true things, beautiful things, but it also gathers up broken things, ugly things, painful things, the leftover rubbish of our human failures and sins and in ways which go beyond our comprehension, draws them under the influence of the love of God in Jesus Christ. There is nothing of any kind in your life and mine which cannot be gathered into the loving reign, the gracious authority, the redemptive purpose of God in Jesus Christ. In fact, the word "fish" never appears in the original Greek. The old King James translation correctly conveyed the meaning when it said, "gathered of every kind."

  The kingdom of God, Jesus said, is like a gigantic dragnet, which gathers everything together under the rule or reign of the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus does not discriminate among the population of humans all are capable of getting hooked by the kingdom and Jesus repeatedly extends an invitation to all to receive and enter the kingdom, both good and bad.

  Jesus often attempted to get the religious authorities of his day, that they could not pre-select who is in and who is out. God is calling all into the kingdom. Unless we gather up all of God’s people into the kingdom then they will not have the opportunity to receive and enter the kingdom. They will not have the opportunity to discover the hidden treasure or the pearl of great value. Jesus invites all to experience the kingdom as it comes near and experience it as it exists among them. Without being gathered up into the kingdom and given an opportunity then transformation cannot happen.

  God has allowed me the privilege to witness individuals who produced no fruits, offered no value to their world, individuals who boldly sinned and proved themselves as capable of inflicting only pain become people who were transformed by a re-birth by the water and the spirit described in John 3:5. They only had the chance for this transformation because someone extended them an invitation to experience the love and forgiveness found in Jesus Christ.

  We, like the early disciples, are called to offer the opportunity to others to discover the hidden treasure and find the pearl of great value. We don’t find these things for ourselves and then keep it a secret. We are expected to share the experience with others and invite them to the kingdom.

Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning: Psalms 22; 148
Evening: Psalms 105; 130
Jeremiah 5:1–9
Romans 2:25–3:18
John 5:30–47

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