The ugliness in the world somehow seems much uglier than it did yesterday. The darkness of a government missing its moral compass is darker. The inequalities gripping humanity appear more unequal. What happened to my complacency and my acceptance of this status quo? I did not ask to be made aware. I was happy with a world that accepted me. I was content to just fit in and be unnoticed. Then he came along.
Then he came along and changed my life forever. Minding my own business casting my nets, this preacher man walked by and said to my brother Andrew and me, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Who is this stranger? Does he really believe I am going to leave my nets and my boat and walk away from my wife, my children? What does he want? What does he mean by ‘fishers of men’ and why is my brother abandoning his nets also and turning our boat over onto the beach? Why are we doing this?
Look! There are James and John with their father Zebedee mending nets on their boat. This stranger is calling to them. They, too, are dropping their work to slosh through the water to join us. He says we are going to be his followers, his disciples. We are going to preach at Capernaum and everywhere in Galilee. Preach what? Who is this man who calls himself Jesus? Just yesterday I was content to simply fish and mend my nets, but now he wants us to be fishers of men.
Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John encountered a dilemma on that day nearly two-thousand years ago working their trade on the Sea of Galilee. What would you have done? How about me? My spouse would definitely not understand and my friends would think I’ve had too much to drink. And what about the neighbors? “Yeah,” they would chortle, “Larry just left the mower in the yard, joined Joe and Bobby following some guy who said, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. He’s bonkers! ‘”
Everyone of us has had our day in the boat just fishing and easing along through life when Jesus appears on the shore beckoning us to follow. It happens unexpectedly, doesn’t it? He says our nets will catch something bigger and better than anything our dreams could imagine.
Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
Folks, that’s not a request. It’s a command.
lpb quest - the twilight dance 