This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time. We continue to listen to more parable from the Gospel of Matthew. Again we are presented with a doublet: the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price.
Matthew 13:44-52 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. 46 When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. 47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. 48 When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. 49 Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. 51 “Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” 52 And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”
These two parables are unique to Matthew, following immediately upon the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast, and, in some cases, a narrative about Jesus’ use of parables.
| Parable of the Sower | Matthew 13:1-9 | Mark 4:1-9 | Luke 8:4-8 |
| Reason for Parables | Matthew 13:10-15 | Mark 4:10-12 | Luke 8:9-10 |
| Interpreting the Sower | Matthew 13:18-23 | Mark 4:13-20 | Luke 8:11-15 |
| Purpose of Parables | Mark 4:21-25 | Luke 8:16-18 | |
| Parable of the Weeds | Matthew 13:24-30 | ||
| Parable of the Mustard Seed | Matthew 13:31-32 | Mark 4:30-32 | Luke 13:18-19 |
| Parable of the Yeast | Matthew 13:33 | Luke 13:20-21 | |
| Jesus’ Use of Parable | Matthew 13:34-35 | Mark 4:33-34 | |
| Interpreting the Weeds | Matthew 13:36-43 | ||
| Parables of Hidden Treasure and Pearl of Great Price | Matthew 13:44-46 | ||
| Parable of the Net | Matthew 13:47-50 | ||
| Parable of Treasure New and Old | Matthew 13:51-52 |
There is some discussion among scholars whether these parables were shared publicly or only given in private to the disciples. There is some support that since these unique parables follow a private explanation of the Parable of the Weeds without indication of a change of scene or audience, the simplest explanation is that somewhat a change of pattern, Jesus is preaching to the disciples. Many scholars also point to the similarities between these parables with that of the Weeds and the Net, then suggesting they are doublets meant to drive home Jesus’ point.
In any case, our gospel continues the themes of the kingdom parables which began with the start of Chapter 13. The first two parables (Hidden Treasure and the Pearl) continue the development of the theme of whole-hearted response with which the parable of the sower concluded. The third parable (the Net) is closely related to the parable of the weeds, and emphasizes again the division which the preaching of God’s kingdom brings.
The “day of parables” ends with a saying that expresses well the ideal to which the evangelist aspired: “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” The disciples need to understand the radically new act of God in Christ in the light of the Old Testament tradition. Such a person understands the relation between the new (Christ) and the old (Jewish tradition).
Image credit: The Pearl of Great Price, by Domenico Fetti, 17th century |Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Bilddatenbank | Public Domain
The Net Cast Widely. The net pictured here is a large dragnet, usually about six feet deep and up to several hundred feet wide, positioned in the lake by boats and requiring several men to operate (hence the plurals of v. 48). The picture is realistic, portraying an ordinary event with no surprising twists: The net brings in “every kind” of both good and bad fish, which are then sorted, the good being kept and the bad thrown out. Whatever the original meaning of the parable, Matthew’s own ecclesiastical application already appears in the telling of the parable itself. The bad fish are called “rotten” (sapra), inappropriate to fish that have just been caught, but used four times previously in Matthew’s description of bad “fruit” (works) presented by Christians, where it is appropriate (7:17-18; 12:33 twice). The fishers “sit” for the sorting, as will the Son of Man at the end (19:28; 25:31). 
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