URC Daily Devotion 16 January 2026
St Matthew 13: 47 – 52
“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 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. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
Reflection
This dreadful warning follows such beautiful verses. Yesterday we heard how knowledge of God surpasses all other attainments. It is like the prize of a choice pearl or hidden treasure in a field. To seek this richest of blessings is our life’s work.
Now comes the image of an enormous fishing net*, sweeping through the depths. It picks up all manner of fish. Some are already rotten, every bit as bad as inedible fruit.
Newly caught fish putrid?! Surely a fisherman would toss rejects into a bin, or return them to the lake. But no. Matthew describes their fate with terrible finality. God’s angels know what to do next. Jesus warns of what will happen to those opposing God.
The final sorting of ‘good’ from ‘bad’ is a dominant theme in Christian faith. This reassures some. Yet today’s passage has chilling undertones.
Why? Rather too often fervent people have cited such gospel texts, confident that they alone have found the one true path. They are sure that any variation is seriously wrong, even deserving of eternal punishment. In an instant my security in God is pricked with stinging anxiety. A fellow human is fixated on who might be on the dark side. They are even having a go at me!
Teaching the stark choice between good and evil so easily slips into toxic spiritual abuse.
Elsewhere in the New Testament we hear that perfect love casts out all fear.
God is holy, sovereign, the source of all wisdom, love and beauty, one who invites every creature into a wonderful symphony.
Whatever drowns the music, whatever stinks, God will deal with.
All I need day by day is to ask God to search my soul, to open me as a channel of his very own Peace, Love, Light and Hope. That is sufficient.
*This imagery is also found in Jeremiah 16:16, Habakkuk 1:14-15 and in Qumran thanksgiving hymn 1QH13, see Vermes, Geza (2003), The authentic gospel of Jesus, p. 2-3, penguin books.
Prayer
Holy One, we wait in quietness.
We open ourselves to your presence.
May we rest in the assurance that your judgement is just.
Bring us into clear knowledge of your loving purposes,
rid us of anxiety and keep our integrity deep.
Grant us lightness, grace and gentle intentionality
as we draw others towards your life-giving Way.
Yours be the glory. Amen