“’Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kinds of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have ye understood all these things?’ They say to him: ‘Yes.’ He said unto them: ‘Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.’”
The kingdom of heaven here described is a love through faith, woven with the cords of the Old and New Testaments, and thrown into the sea of the world: “Behold I will send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them” (Jeremias 16:16). This net then draws men out of the salt and bitterness of this same world: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15) onto the seashores of the heart’s rest, which is the love of Jesus: “Let us hasten therefore to enter into that rest; lest any man fall into the same example of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:11). This net draws “all kinds” of fish, be it the wise or unlearned, rich or poor, skilled or helpless, and puts heavenly grace upon them: “Let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called” (1 Corinthians 7:20), that no matter one’s station, love can always flourish: “Let all your things be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). Some are called to specific commandments of the Lord: “Sell what you possess and give alms” (Luke 12:33), but all are called to love: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13:34). There are many fish that are not drawn into the net, and remain in the bitterness of sin and death: “But on the shore thereof, and in the fenny places they shall not be healed, because they shall be turned into saltpits” (Ezechiel 47:11), but those that are drawn by the love of Christ are brought to the seashore that the love with which they lived their lives may be measured: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Apocalypse 20:12). Now, this differs from the parable of the sower because in the parable of the sower the emphasis is on truth, and the fact that those that have the weeds of error placed in their hearts cannot yield the true fruits of love, or at the very least their gardens are bristly and ugly, whereas here there is true knowledge of God, but even this does not beget a loving life: “So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself” (James 2:17). Thus, the angels will gauge the love and righteousness with which one lived, bringing the good fish, that is, those that lived on love, to the eternal refreshment of ecstatic love: “And he shewed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 22:1), whereas those that did not love will be thrown into the fire, and while there is physical pain here, the greatest agony is the aridity of not loving or being loved, thus in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus there is a cry out for one drop of refreshment, one little act of love, in his place of grief: “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:24). Jesus then, as a good teacher, makes sure that those that will in turn teach have understanding, that they may guide others safely to the eternal shores. Then He explains that everyone that is instructed in the kingdom of heaven, that is, in the art of love, can pull fruit for loving better from all of Sacred Scripture, for “All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The lens of love opens the entirety of the Bible, which is the treasure that the householder that is Jesus brings forward that His followers may rejoice in them and give to the poor, which are the unloved and uninstructed: “That which we have seen and have heard, we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3); “Good instruction shall give grace” (Proverbs 13:15). Or, things new and old can refer to the newness of the life of love and the magnificence of loving the Beloved, while also being able to speak on the emptiness and horrors of sin, which defile human nature, for understanding the full picture of the person and love’s impact on the soul allows for a greater appreciation of one’s neighbor: “Where there is no knowledge of the soul, there is no good” (Proverbs 19:2), and looking at the black of sin set against the white of what true love looks like makes the white shine all the more radiantly: “But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day. The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall” (Proverbs 4:18-19).