When Christ taught his people he often used Parables; sheep, seeds, debtors, fish, wages. These were items the people things the people he was teaching understood. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes had corrupted the law of Moses to the point that the people no longer were able to understand its true intent and purpose. Jesus used parables to help bring the people back to an understanding to the law and to his Gospel.
While we do not quite identify to the agrarian society that Christ was speaking to in the Old Testament, his parables still have relevance to us today. As we read of the man who sold all he had to posses the pearl I great price it reminds us of those who join the church. Sometimes they have to give things up that brought them temporary happiness or that were good, but they are exchanging them for what is best and will lead to eternal happiness. The parable of the mustard seed shows us that great things can come from that which is small. Just the restoration has come forth as a stone cut without hands. The great tree when grows then offers blessings to those who would receive. In the leaven we can see that the Church will continue to grow, but if leaven the flour of apostasy that can grow as well and draw people away from the Church. As the world grows more and more populated we need more and more missionaries to find the honest in heart. It is not always easy, as the wheat is often found among the tares. As we cast our net though we accept all who are willing to come unto Christ. As the Church grows there will be some that were gathered who were not willing to do all that the Father asks of them.
I was raised in the Church, so I don’t always see myself as having giving something up to join the Church to obtain the Pearl of Great Price. Although I try to give up the tendencies of the natural man daily, there are those who gave up specific things. One of my ancestors, George McMillan Hayes, was disowned by his family when they found he had joined the Church. He had to work hard and save to cross the Atlantic and the plains to join the Saints in Zion.
As I read the parable of the fishing net I think about 2 Nephi 31:19 which says, “…after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.” Once we are gathered into the net of the Gospel we “…must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.”
Read some of our other New Testament Readings posts.
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