Dr Paul Allen

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 13:47–50 “So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous” ( v. 49 ). The parable of the wheat and the tares ( Matt. 13:24–30 , 36–43 ) is probably not first and foremost about the presence of people who profess the Christian faith falsely in the institutional church. However, this does not mean that Jesus has nothing to say on the subject. The parable of the net apparently deals with the fact that those who do not really know Christ will “worship” beside true believers in the visible covenant community. Several hints in Matthew 13:47–50 indicate that the parable of the net is about the church. First among these is Jesus’ use of a fishing metaphor ( v. 47 ). He calls His disciples to be “fishers of men” and four of the Twelve — Peter, Andrew, James, and John — were professional fishermen before our Lord made them apostles ( 4:18–22 ). Fishermen casting a

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 13:47-50 "So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous" ( v. 49 ). The parable of the wheat and the tares ( Matt. 13:24-30 , 36-43 ) is probably not first and foremost about the presence of people who profess the Christian faith falsely in the institutional church. However, this does not mean that Jesus has nothing to say on the subject. The parable of the net apparently deals with the fact that those who do not really know Chr