Oh how we love to sort fish!

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
Matthew 13:47-50 (NRSV)

I think to some degree, we are all "fish sorters". We all have our favorite people we'd love to throw into the fires of the furnace. You know, the kind of people who are just SO WRONG. They are not like us at all, they think, act and live wrongly. What's wrong with them-whatever are they thinking? Let's get a head start and assist the Angels with getting rid of these people!

Now let's see........first to go are the Muslims-no one will argue with that. Then, oh yeah them Gays gotta go! No one will miss the people with HIV/AIDS....throw 'em in. In fact, there's gonna be a lot more room for us decent people once we're finished. Good upstanding heterosexual Christians who live like God told us. Just read your bible!

If we're honest, we'll all admit that we have our own list (even good liberals like me) of those we would be better off without. We miss the part about this being an "end of the age" activity and busy ourselves with minimalizing the humanness of those with whom we disagree. The point of this scripture seems to be that we're all stuck with one another and have no business judging who is and is not acceptable. Perhaps we should spend more time getting ourselves in better shape. Instead of sorting fish, perhaps we should try harder to swim more efficiently (compassionately, empathically, guilelessly) in our common school.

Let's not concern ourselves with the work of Angels.