Cast Your Net

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Mark 1:16-18

Ever spent much time considering the different types and ways of fishing? There are many. My mother could spend countless hours sitting on a pier beside a lake with a thermos of coffee, a box of frozen bait shrimp and a cane pole. I'm sure she would have been tickled to catch a large fish but Sun Perch were just fine with her.

Me, I preferred to fish from the bow of my Daddy’s boat out in the bay. I loved everything about it: the casting, hanging on for dear life, the variety of what you might get on the end of your line. Daddy spoiled girls and, since I sat on the bow, I would swing my rod around and simply have to say, “Daddy…” and he would re-bait my hook. To him, there were boy jobs and girl jobs. Baiting hooks was a boy job, as was cleaning the fish and washing the boat afterward. Girls jobs included making the picnic lunch, wearing bikinis and attempting to sit on a 3lb coffee can in a rocking boat to potty. Yachts may have ‘heads’ but 16’ V hulls do not and it was, at the very least, an eight mile swim back to shore. ‘Nuff said.

The men Jesus called into service caught fish in nets. I imagine they caught a variety of other things, too. Their ‘fishing’ job was not done once the fish were in the boat because they had to clean and make repairs to their nets after a long night so they could go out again the next evening. The life of a fisherman was not an easy life and conditions were often harsh. It took dedicated men and mentalities to fish for a living. Tenacity and persistence made these men successful fishermen, pretty good qualities for building a team of disciples, too.   

The fish were sold to those waiting on the shore. The fishermen did the catching, bringing in the haul but the fish mongers sold them and the purchasers did the cleaning, preparing and cooking for their families. It took many hands doing several different jobs to get fish in the bowl on the table.

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.

For a fisherman to leave his nets, the core of his livelihood, some strong motivation and influence had to come into play and Jesus was just the one to do it. That’s another lesson for another day.

In Scripture He said, “I will make you fishers of men.” The key point I’m trying to make is we are to be the fishermen, not the ones responsible for cleaning the fish. Too often, Christians today try to ‘clean the fish’ to make them presentable and acceptable. That’s not our job, not what we are called to do. It’s not like HEB+ where you see the variety of fish gutted, cleaned and presented on ice. Jesus didn’t say, “I’ll make you fish mongers of men.”  

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.

We, just as the disciples did, need to do as He asked. We are follow Him and allow Him to ‘make us fishers of men’ without improvising and changing things to suit us better. Notice, the fishermen ‘left their nets and followed Him’. We, too, need to drop our ‘nets’ – our own agendas, priorities, and insisting on doing it our way – and follow Him, treating people as He did. I cannot recall one single scripture where Jesus referred to ‘stinky, unsuitable fish’, can you?

One more little note…some fish have to be reeled in slowly. Think about that for a minute.