Fishing and Not Fishing: A Sermon on Matthew 4:12-23

Text: Matthew 4:12-23

         So, today we’re going to talk about fishing, and then not talk about fishing.

         Let’s start with the fishing part. Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John are all fishermen. They fish from boats with nets there are people all around the world that still fish this same way now. It’s not the big huge boats dragging half a mile long nets behinds them pulling in 100s of tons at a time. No fancy GPS or radar systems or any kind of depth tracker. Just knowledge of the sea and then throwing out the net time after time. They’re nets would be hand made rope ones, you’d throw it out then as you pull it in it pulls a loop closed trapping what’s inside in. It’s not made of fancy nylons or other near unbreakable polyesters. So, they would be out super early in the morning, 3-4 am, and then after they make their catch they’d bring it to market and then start fixing their nets since they would have tears and holes from the work of the day. So, it’s this early in the morning that Jesus meets them. They’ve been fishing for a good part of the night already, Peter and Andrew just finishing up, it says they’re still casting, James and John are sitting mending the nets with their father. They’ve been up for a long time, it’s getting close to the morning nap after work, they are tired, worn out, and ready for a rest. They are done for the day. Have you gotten home and been done? And Jesus walks up and says, hey, follow me, and I will make you fish for people. And they just get up and follow him immediately. Same with James and John, they just put the nets down they were mending and follow Jesus.

         Preacher Barbara Brown Taylor calls this the miracle of the immediately. That this is a miracle story, the miracle that they just drop everything immediately and follow.

         Jesus asks follow and he will make them fish for people, and they follow. That’s the first thing, the call of Jesus gives us the means, gives us the strength. When Jesus truly calls, he gives us the will and strength to do it.

         That leads into the second point I see here. Growing up my dad would take my sister and me fishing occasionally. My dad and I had regular fishing poles, nothing fancy, no elaborate reel systems, but still normal poles. My sister at 5-6 years old had a stick with fishing line and a hook tied to it. Guess who caught more fish.

         I see a good message in that. With how fancy fishing can get now days, boats with all these doodads, gadgets and equipment, the simple net and the simple stick with line work just as well.

         I draw from this that when we look at this idea of being fishers for people we don’t need any kind of fancy hook or elaborate things to be effective. We see that all we need is the love of Christ and patience. The love of Christ for all people, and the ability to share that with our words and actions, over and over again. A couple years ago when this text came up I talked about how being a fisher of people is about being willing to keep casting the net. To not give up, to simply cast again and again. That we are called to share that Jesus loves us and all others over and over again.

         Here’s where the metaphor of being fishers of people starts to break down though.

         A writer I like, Debie Thomas, writes about this, “What bothered me as a child — and bothers me still — about the fishing metaphor is that we so easily misinterpret it to mean that we have the power to “hook” or to “catch” others for God.  We don’t.  We are not called to cajole, manipulate, trap, bully, or even persuade others to “accept” Jesus, or join our religion.  It is God alone who captures the imagination.  God alone who makes the vision of his kingdom come alive in a human soul.  All we can do is embody the vision in the particulars of our lives, reflecting into the water the profound beauty of who Christ is.  The rest is up to God.

         So, here is where the text stops being about fishing. Why does Jesus talk about being fishers of people? Because he’s talking to fishermen. It’s as simple as that, he’s using the language they understand to teach them. Teach them that following Jesus is not about changing everything in our lives, we don’t drop all our things, all of who we are, to follow Jesus. All the skills they have as Fishers of fish, Jesus will use to make them into fishers of people. As Jesus says, follow me, and I will make you fish for people. He’s using the example of fishing, but in a different way. No longer will they cast out nets, but they will cast out the love of God to others.

         Jesus takes who we are and makes us into followers. That’s why they can just get up and leave. Jesus isn’t asking, change who you are, get different tools first, and then follow me. Jesus takes and uses the gifts that we already have from God, to mold us into his followers. To show us how we can use who we already are to share the love of God with the world. To share the good news with those around us. That’s what evangelism means. It means to share the good news. The good news that God loves them and because of that Jesus died and rose for them. And how Jesus lived his whole life for the sake of others, even to the point of his death.

         If you are a lawyer, well, in Christ you are a lawyer for people. If you are a teacher, you are a teacher for people, a salesperson for people, a nurse for people, a para for people, a farmer for people, an IT worker for people, a cashier for people, a pet sitter for people, an aide for people, a banker for people, a day care worker for people, a retiree for people, a trucker for people, a financial consultant for people, a government employee for people, a manger for people, ok, I got to the point where my list is getting too long.

         The point is that Jesus is calling you to be you as a follower, not to drop who you are and become something else, just as you are, not with extras needed. That’s who Jesus wants you to be as a follower.

         To be people who in our daily lives share the good news of the love of Christ. In our words and actions with the people we meet every day. By being lawyers for people, by being fishers for people, by being people for people, in our day to day treating people as Jesus would treat them, with love and welcome, care and invitation. Sharing the wonderous love of God with them, over and over, again and again, and praying and letting that love work within them.

         Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t require having the fanciest of stuff, it doesn’t require getting all the correct equipment, it requires being who we are, who God made us to be, that’s all that’s needed. A simple net, and a stick with a line. And it’s about being who we are, using the gifts we have from God to share the wonderous news of God’s love with the whole world.

         Let us pray,

God of mercy, walk with us in our lives, help us to be people for people, to be fishers for people, to be people who cast out the love of God on all we encounter in this world. Love us and care for us, Amen.