“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 fiery 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 been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. (Matthew 13:47–54)

After Jesus gave his disciples a picture of the kingdom of heaven based on fishing, he asked if they understood him. They claimed that they did. Given their track record with most of the parables, we might be justified in holding on to a little bit of skepticism.

Jesus then said, “therefore.” Was he saying “therefore” in reaction to their affirmation that they understood, or was it in reaction to the parable he had just spoken? It was because they had just been instructed about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was calling his disciples “teachers of the law.” He was letting them know that because Jesus had trained them, they were now responsible as instructors.

They called Jesus “rabbi.” What a rabbi did, besides officiating over a synagogue service, was to accumulate students—disciples—who would follow him and learn his ways. The point of becoming a follower of a rabbi was to one day become a rabbi oneself. In contrast, the disciples had been thinking primarily about Jesus becoming king. But Jesus never forgot that his disciples would become rabbis like him, instructing the church that would be founded on the day of Pentecost.

We have been called to become the instructors of others. We all have people that we spend time with, that we share our thoughts and feelings with. We are all rabbis to someone, whether it’s our children, our coworkers, or certain friends.

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