Thought for the Day - Friday 31 July

Thought for the Day – Friday 31^st July

“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.”’ (Matthew 13: 47-50)

Another Friday and for us this week another parable about the kingdom of heaven!

This time it is like a net!

Have you ever used a net to catch things?

I know when I was little and went to stay with my Gran in Morecambe, she always kept a little net in the house so that any of her grandchildren who were staying with her and wanted to go ‘guddling’ about in the rock pools on the beach could take the net and do just that!

So, most days we would trot off with net and bucket in hand and set off for the rock pools down beside the Moby Dick Ship (before someone burnt it down!) or near Marineland (before someone closed it down!) and just guddle about in the water for ages. Of course, after hours of ‘guddling’ we always came back with numerous crabs to show our Gran – who I have to say always promptly sent us back to the beach to put them back in their rock pools! Just as well we only lived one street away from the beach!

When we were using the net and looking for crabs though, as is the way with nets, we often ended up catching all sorts of other things we didn’t want to catch – like whelks and limpets and little fish, even at times Morecambe bay shrimps which were a true delicacy - and while they were interesting to look at they weren’t crabs and so we would sort out our catch, put the crabs in the bucket and then throw these other finds back in the sea!

That is the kind of image Jesus is trying to portray here in this parable when he says the kingdom of heaven is like a net.

As people who believe in Jesus we ourselves are like citizens of the kingdom of heaven and we are called to tell everyone about Jesus – in other words to cast our net far and wide so that everyone has the opportunity to become part of the kingdom of heaven. Here in this story though, Jesus is referring to a dragnet, so like a fisherman using a dragnet, when we throw out our net we will end up catching what we wish to catch but also perhaps what we do not wish to catch – put bluntly the good as well as the bad and so at some point, at the end times, there has to be a sorting of the catch.

However, unlike the sorting I did as a child with my net, we don’t do the sorting we just keep casting the net to try and grow the kingdom of heaven here and now in these present times, but at the end times, there will be a sorting and there will be that weeping and gnashing of teeth!

Let’s hope and pray we are not the ones weeping and gnashing our teeth!

Prayer

Loving Lord,

You take our meagre lives and with your love cause them to produce acts of loving kindness for you in this world. You hear our cries and find us when we are lost and wandering in fear. You bring us home with you so that we may be made whole, rejoicing in your goodness. Lord, prepare our hearts and our spirits to respond in eagerness that we may joyfully serve you, casting our nets for the sake of your kingdom all our days, knowing that you are always watching over us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Friday Fun Time:

Here are your questions and challenges for today!

1. What’s the strangest thing you have ever caught in a net or found on a beach or anywhere else?

2. ‘Gnashers’ is a peculiar word we have assigned to teeth – can you think of any other strange

     words we use for things?

3. As we are thinking about fishing nets can you name ten fish?

4. What’s your favourite ‘Fish and Chip Shop’ and why?

5. How many words of three letters or more can you make from the phrase ‘kingdom of heaven’?