Matthew 4: 18-25
18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
One of my favorite activities to do while on vacation was to go fishing. We used to rent a cabin at Lake Hope in southern Ohio for a week. We would spend our time fishing in the lake for whatever we could catch. Often over the course of the entire week we would have to walk the entire length of the lake. We would not keep fishing where the fish were not, we would keep moving until we found the fish and when we did, we would stay there until they stopped biting. We would not stay where there was no fish, we would move around to where the fish were and where the fish were biting.
So too is it when it comes to fishing for people. In our text from Matthew, Jesus goes fishing for disciples, and to catch them, he must move to where they are. So, Jesus leaves Nazareth and travels to the Sea of Galilee to fish for people. The people he wants to catch are not in Nazareth, they are in Capernaum and to catch them, the fish do not move to the fisherman, but the fisherman move to the fish. Instead of using bait to catch fish, Jesus uses his Word of Summons to call his prospective disciples. “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” So also with us, Jesus issues his Word of Summons to the entire world, through the Word of the Spirit, summoning us all to the sacred space of following Christ.
But a summons requires an answer and Jesus’ summons is no different. The invitation into His sacred space must be responded to and the first disciple’s answer. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. They transitioned from being catchers of fish to catchers of people. They entered the sacred space of following and learning and encountering Jesus. So also with us, Jesus issues us His Word of Summons and that Word requires an answer from us. If we are summoned to discipleship, we must answer with discipleship and that mean trust in the Master and obedience to his Word. To Follow Jesus as the first disciples did is to trust and obey.
But to obey Jesus is become fishers for people; and here is where our resistance enters this picture. The difficult problem for us is we do not want to leave our closed, safe circles of family and friends and go fishing for strangers. But if you fish only where there are no fish, you will never catch anything. To truly catch something, the fisher must move to where the fish is. Can we fish for people if we never leave the safety of our living rooms and easy chairs? Can we fish for people if we never leave our sanctuaries and go out into our neighborhoods? Can we fish for people if we never are around sick people, or jailed people, or unconverted people, or poor people, or people different from us? How can we catch anyone, if we never leave our safe spaces and enter the spaces where the people are?
But Jesus is not just our Example, but also our Redeemer and this means that he did not come to cure our ignorance, as if that were enough to just tell us the truth. But Jesus also came to deliver us and to recreate us. So, Jesus did not just teach his disciples about catching people, but he actually went and did so. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. He did not just teach about reaching people, he went and reached people.
Who better to help us reach and connect with people than the one who not only revealed what being human truly is, but also the one who redeemed us from our inhumanity to remake us as humans? Who better to help us become fishers of people than the one who is himself the great Fisher of people? So, we not only are told what our true humanity is – in loving encounter with each other, but through Christ we become truly human – in loving encounter with each other. In Christ and through Christ we become truly human again.
But my friends at some point if we are to be truly human, we need to leave the safe spaces of your own making and enter the spaces where people are. We will not encounter them if we do not. They will never be in our living room; we must move to them. They will never come into our sanctuary; we must move to them. They will never come to us; we must move to them. The fish do not move to the fisher, the fisher moves to the fish. Jesus fished for people, and to that end he moved towards the people. Now is the time to go fishing, will you?