Matthew 5: 18-22, Luke 5:1-11, Matthew 13:47-52

Steve Holloway

In the first of our readings Jesus makes a profound declaration to the young fishermen -'Follow me and I will show you how to fish for men'. Do you think those men knew what Jesus had in mind? What a strange statement!! But even so, there was something in Jesus as a person and in what and how He spoke that made them leave their nets and follow Him.

Jesus was (and is) the master communicator - throughout His life He took images from everyday life and used them to teach much deeper principles. Luke's account of Jesus calling Peter, James and John is slightly different - in his account Luke points out that the men had caught nothing all night. Jesus instructs them to go out again and fish on the other side. Again, why should they do what this man said? What made Him a fishing expert? That same authority and trustworthiness that Matthew implies is recognised by Luke. The men obey and catch a huge net of fish.

If we put these two accounts together we see that Jesus used language and experiences that were familiar to the fishermen to show them their 'higher calling'. In future they would fish for men - but in a way they had never experienced before, not by cunning, force and brute strength - but the way Jesus was to show them - through love, service and obedience.

Later on in Matthew 13 Jesus uses the fishing analogy again to teach the crowds (and disciples) what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. It's like a fishing net - also known as a dragnet. The fishing technique people would have known was by dragging a net between two boats - everything in the way got caught!! The Kingdom is like that net - it covers everything and at the end of time the angels will separate the 'fish' (between heaven and hell).

It seems to me that we often think of evangelism in 'angling' terms and not like commercial fishing!! We sit on the riverbank of people's lives, daggling in the pretty lure of some event or strategy that makes the Gospel seem appetizing and hope that some poor unsuspecting sucker takes a nibble. We then whip them out before they have a chance to change their minds. I rather think we should be dragging the net of the Kingdom with our lives and allowing people to get caught up in it.

Notice that in the picture of the dragnet it is the angels who do the separating at the end of time. It's not our job to decide who's in and who's out - that's Jesus' task. It is for us to trawl the waters and allow people to be caught up in the beautiful Gospel of peace, joy and forgiveness that we know.

Questions to ponder.

1. Are you committed to fishing for people?
2. Are you an angler or a fisherman?
3. Are you trying to separate the fish instead of catching them?