Parable of the dragnet, cast into the sea.

(Mat. 13:47-50).

This parable has the same meaning as that of wheat and tares. The sea is the world, the dragnet is the teachings of faith, the fishermen are Apostles and their successors. The “dragnet” collected from all peoples: barbarians, Judeans, fornicators, tax-collectors, robbers. Beach and sorting of fish is understood to mean the end of the world and Judgment Day, when the righteous will be separated from sinners, just like the good fish will be separated from the bad fish, caught in the dragline. It is imperative to turn one’s attention to, that Jesus-Saviour often takes opportunities to differentiate the fate between the righteous and the sinner in the next world. Consequently, one cannot agree with those like Origen, who thinks that everybody will be saved, even the devil.

In studying the Lord’s parables, it must be borne in mind that when He taught with them, He used examples from everyday life of His listeners, and not contrived ones. According to Saint John Chrysostom’s explanation, the Lord acted in this way so as to make His words more meaningful, to clothe the truth with a living image and to imprint it deeper into the mind. Consequently, with parables, one has to look for similarities, likenesses — but only in a general sense and not a particular one — not in every word, taken in isolation. Naturally, apart from this, every parable has to be understood in relation to the others, unigenous and with a general teaching spirit of Christ.

It is important to note that in His sermons and parables, the Lord Jesus Christ quite clearly delineates the understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven from that of God’s Kingdom. He calls Kingdom of Heaven as being that eternal state of ecstasy of the righteous, that will be revealed to them in the next life, after the Final Judgment Day. He calls God’s Kingdom as the community of believers that He had established, who strive to perform the will of the Heavenly Father. This God’s Kingdom that was revealed with the coming of Christ the Saviour, settles into the souls of humans and transfigures them, conditioning them for the inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, which will be revealed at the conclusion of this age. The above-mentioned parables are devoted toward revealing these understandings.

When the question was posed to the disciples as to whether they understood everything that was said, and they responded in the affirmative, He called them “scribes.” However, not those Scribes-Judeans that were hostile to Him, who only knew “ from the Old Testament” and even then distorted and perverted it, understanding and teaching it incorrectly - but those scribes, instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven, that were capable of being preachers of the Kingdom of Heaven. Having been instructed by Jesus Christ, they now knew the “old” prophecies and the “new” teachings of Christ on the Heavenly Kingdom. Consequently, they will be able to apply in their forthcoming sermons - just like a prudent owner that withdraws from his treasury, both new and old riches - to use either one or the other, according to the prevailing need. Likewise, so should all the Apostles’ successors utilise both the Old and the New Testaments in their sermons, because God has revealed the truth of one and the other.