"Do Not Be Afraid!" We Have Mercy in Christ Jesus!

Matthew 13:47-50 New International Version

The Parable of the Net 47 “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 blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Friday - February 11

Keeping with the fishing theme, in this parable Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like a fishing net. That is the image. The kingdom is the net that drags everyone and everything in. It drags in the fish along with the seaweed, the old bikes, even the abandoned cars. The net of the kingdom of God can even drag the bottom of the ocean and haul in shipwrecks like the Titanic! The net of the kingdom of God is strong enough and powerful enough to raise the dead because, after all, even the fish dragged in by the net are dead. They can’t live out of the water! The question is this: how will you be sorted? Like Peter in the boat with Jesus, that is what frightens us! Judgment. How will God judge us? In Christ we have mercy! Jesus has spoken his powerful and authoritative word: “Do not be afraid” (Luke 5:10).