<p>13:48&nbsp;<em>When it was full</em>- Again we see the teaching that the drawing of the net to shore, the beginning of judgment, the return of Christ- is only once we have achieved certain objectives in preaching. Every&nbsp;<em>genos</em>, every nation or kindred, must have its representatives in the net. It must be &ldquo;full&rdquo; in the sense that there is a specific number of persons who must be saved. Paul specifically states this and uses the same word translated &ldquo;full&rdquo; in Rom. 11:25: &ldquo;Until the fullness [full number] of the Gentiles be come in&rdquo;. &ldquo;Until the times {s.w. &ldquo;opportunity&rdquo;] of the Gentiles be fulfilled&rdquo; (Lk. 21:24) probably has the same reference- for the same word is used for &ldquo;fulfilled&rdquo; as for &ldquo;full&rdquo;. The opportunity of the Gentiles to be saved will come to fullness. And then shall the end come.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Men drew it to shore</em>- It cannot be incident that the only other usage of the word for &ldquo;shore&rdquo; in the synoptics is earlier in this chapter, in 13:1. The crowds stood on the shore, whilst the Lord taught them. In one sense, judgment is yet to come; in another, as we hear His word, we are judged. They on the shore were as it were at judgment day. See on :47&nbsp;<em>gathered</em>.&nbsp;<br />
<em>Sat down</em>- Perhaps alluding to how a judgment session &lsquo;sits&rsquo;. But it cannot be accidental that the same word is used of how the Lord was &ldquo;sitting&rdquo; as He taught the people (the word is used twice- Mt. 13:1,2). As the people were on the shore, it was as if they were before Him in judgment; He sat there as if He were sitting in judgment before them. See on :47&nbsp;<em>gathered</em>.</p>
<p><em>And sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad-</em>&nbsp;An allusion to Jewish ideas that the Gentiles were those &lsquo;cast away&rsquo; and that they were the &lsquo;good ones&rsquo;. But the whole idea of the faithful coming out of the sea, with all its associations with the Gentile world, suggests that the Lord foresaw how many of the good fish would in fact be Gentiles and not Jews. The image of &lsquo;casting away&rsquo; surely shows the Lord&rsquo;s attitude to the rejected. There is no pleasure in their destruction, but rather simply getting rid of them and focusing upon the &ldquo;good&rdquo; category. In a Jewish context, hearers would assume that the fish who were cast away were the ritually unclean fish of Lev. 11:10-12 which could not be eaten. The Jewish leaders who made others stumble are thus declared unclean, and fit only to at best be cast back into the sea, the Gentile world.</p>