Parallel Texts in Matthew, Mark
& Luke
10. The
Treasure, the Pearl & the Net
Matt 13:44- 50
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Echoed Themes
This cluster of three parables followed
by an eschatological interpretation of the third is found only in the
gospel of Matthew. Like the previous parables in this chapter, all three
parables in this group offer an analogy for the "kingdom of Heaven." But
the subjects and plots of these parables differ dramatically from the sower and seed imagery invoked in the parables with which this discourse
began.
Like the mustard seed and leaven, the
first two parables in this cluster-- the buried treasure and the
precious pearl -- share a similar plot. The theme linking the
former pair is the focus on something very small producing something
very large (Matt 13:31-33). The latter pair both present the kingdom as
something of such great value that one who finds it is willing to "sell
all that he has" in order to obtain it. Unlike previous parables in this
chapter, all of which focused on the active role of a
living agent (sower, seed or leaven), the kingdom is here likened
to a passive object which requires a human act to possess it. Yet
like the parables of the mustard and leaven, no interpretation is
offered for the imagery of the buried treasure or pearl.
The third analogy in this cluster -- a
net that gathers all kinds of fish -- presents a plot similar to the
parable of the weeds and the wheat (Matt 13:24-30): the eventual sorting
of the good from the bad. Moreover, both parables are interpreted
eschatologically. And the focus of both interpretations is not on
the initial broadcasting of seed or net -- nor even on the ingathering
of harvest or fish -- but on the separation of the "evil" from the
"righteous." The fate of the evil is underlined in the
interpretation of both parables by the verbatim echo of the
climactic phrases: "and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men
will weep and gnash their teeth" (Matt 13:42 //13:50).
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Rhetorical Pattern:
Parabolic Catena
The echoed themes in this cluster of
sayings draws attention to the elegant rhetorical construction of this
chapter in the gospel of Matthew: a parabolic catena (looped
chain) in which each link suggests another and latter elements mimic and
reinforce the former. In fact Matthew's catena of kingdom parables has
three loops, each introduced by a parable and concluded by an
interpretation:
- Parable of the Sower (13:1-9) > seed
- Reason for parables:
secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven
(13:10-11)
- Difference between those
who understand & those who don't (13:12-17)
- Interpretation of Sower (13:18-23)
- Parable of the Weeds & Wheat
(13:24-29) > sort good from bad
- Parable of the Mustard seed
(13:31-32) > growth
- Parable of the Leaven (13:33)
> growth
- Interpretation of the Weeds & Wheat
(13:36-43) > evil burned
- Parable of the Treasure (13:44) >
sell all
- Parable of the Pearl
(13:45-46) > sell all
- Parable of Net
(13:47-48) > sort good from bad
- Interpretation of the Net (13:49-50)
> evil burned
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Distorted Focus
While this rhetorical pattern stresses
themes that are echoed elsewhere in Matthew's gospel, its artificial
character obscures the focus of the final parable in this chain. If
the Kingdom of Heaven is really "like a net" cast to gather "fish of
every kind," then this parable was probably originally designed to
stress the ingathering of all rather than the subsequent discarding of
the undesirable, an act in which the net itself plays no function.
Moreover, the explicit echo of the fate of the weeds in the previous
harvest parable totally distorts the image of fishermen sorting their
catch. For unlike weeds, rejected fish are not "thrown
into the furnace of fire," but are usually tossed back into the sea.
Thus the interpretation of the parable of the net, like those of the
parables of the sower and the weeds, was evidently not composed
by the same mind that created the parable it pretends to explain. Rather, it was
evidently forged by the only writer who recorded this parabolic catena:
Matthew.
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last revised
01 March 2023
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