Let’s go fishin
Matthew 4:17-4:22
I have never been any good at fishing. Perhaps, when I was a kid it seemed slow and boring. That was brought on by the family curse of almost never catching anything.
I get it from my dad, he is exactly the same way. Now he used to try. He took me along many times. And we would spend the morning sitting in the boat, dad telling me to keep still the fish could hear me moving around. Now I don’t know, if that was true of if it was part of the cover story dad would use to deny the Curse.
I know it is a curse because, for a couple of years we went on a fishing trip with a bunch of guys. If some one was catching something they would wave and yell and the gang would gather in the same area. They would share what bait they were using and the spot was marked with little floats. We would throw in the line and get nothing and the boats around us would do the exact same thing and pull out one or two fish every few minutes. In a day we might get two and the others get 15 to 20 descent fish.
It’s a curse in one way and perhaps a blessing another. When you don’t catch anything, you don’t have to clean any….right.
Today’s scripture is not really about fishing as much as it is about call. The men called by Jesus were being called into a seminary education. They were going to study Theology with Theo (God) himself.
They were probably not much different than professional fisherman today. The work was hard and the hours long. Sometimes they had trouble selling all they could catch and other times they could not catch enough to feed the family much less to sell for cash. They were just fishermen. I imagine they knew how to spin a tale. The ones that got away, the storms that almost took their lives, the biggest catch ever perhaps even some kind of monster stories.
But, what I am wondering is why would they leave what they know for something completely unknown. As it was they had a daily routine, regular meals, and families. Yet Jesus walks up and says follow me and they Go…
It is a pretty good chance that this is not the first meeting between Jesus and these two sets of brothers. This happens after Jesus’ 40 days in the desert where he is tempted by Satan. He comes to the area from Nazareth after John the Baptist is arrested. He has been preaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
So, perhaps the brothers already know Jesus because they heard him preach. Perhaps they asked questions or talked to him. They must have already made up their minds that Jesus was special. Perhaps, even more, that he was sent by God or perhaps even suspect that the He is the messiah.
So they jump ship so to speak to change jobs… They leave fishing and are expecting to be trained to fish for people. They give up the certainty and the stable things in their life to get closer to God. They are trusting this man Jesus knows something and give an instant response.
Their response is a pretty sound statement of faith isn’t it.
- I heard a story of a missionary in Africa who received a knock on the door of his hut one afternoon. Answering, the missionary found a native boy holding a large fish in his hands. The boy said, "Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here. I’ve brought you my tithe." As the missionary gratefully took the fish, he questioned the boy. "If this is your tithe, where are the other nine fish?" At this, the boy beamed and said, "Oh, they’re still back in the river. I’m going back to catch them now."
Folks fishing can be a lot of work and often require a lot of faith and even a bit expectation. Even amateurs need equipment which sometime can get very expensive. There are a lot of people that really work hard at fishing, it is all about what you take home and perhaps mount on the wall. But, many people go fishing to relax. They are not worried about what they catch; they just want to get away.
- There is a story that Mark Twain loved to go fishing, but he hated to catch fish. The problem was he went fishing to relax, and catching fish ruined his relaxation, since he had to take the fish off the hook and do something with it.
When he wanted to relax by doing nothing, people thought he was lazy, but if he went fishing he could relax all he wanted. People would see him sitting by the river bank and they would say, “Look, he’s fishing, don’t bother him.” So Mark Twain had the perfect solution: he would take a fishing pole, line, and a bobber, but he wouldn’t put a hook on the end. He would cast the bobber in the water and lay back on the bank. That way he could relax all he wanted and he would be bothered neither by man nor fish.
Mark Twain is like a lot of Christians. They have their pole in the water, but there is no hook on the end. They are not fishing; they are relaxing. Do you think this is what Jesus had in mind when he said, "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Some how I don’t think so.
Last week we talked about how the New Year brings the ability to declare a “do over.” We celebrate the chance to look at the past and try to do better this year than last year. Part of that starts with prayer where we patiently listen to what God has to say. But, you need to realize that God did not call any of us to just sit back and relax all the time and never do any work for the kingdom, to never do any fishing at all.
When Jesus called his disciples he knew that there would be a learning curve. He knew that they would need to figure out what they believed and then he would turn them loose to do something in the kingdom. He would put them out there to take risk and to share the good news. He did not directly send them to start physical churches as much as to explain their new knowledge of God.
Here is the real question for today. When was the last time we really went fishing?
Think for a minute, is a fisherman a fisherman if he or she expects the fish to jump into the boat or onto the shore on their own?
What happens if a professional fisherman never fishes?
It will not take long until he goes broke and is out of business. Right!
What about a church? The church is in the fishing business except it is defined as being for people. Jesus was not the only fisherman in this Galilean venture. Everybody that was brought on board was trained as a fisherman and put on the nets or on a cane pole on the shore and expected to work at fishing.
-------SHANNON
This leaves me with a problem. I have been with you as your pastor for 5 years. I am supposed to encourage and teach you how to fish. I don’t see that I have been effective in helping bring back the good old days of a full church with young couples and children. I haven’t been able to motivate anyone, except the youth to invite people to church.
The pattern of doing church at the absolutely minimum level has been the pattern as long as I have been here. When some tried to raise the bar and do more they had to do it almost alone.
And yet, the PPR committee has unanimously agreed that I should remain as your pastor. Isn’t that a statement that we don’t want more? We don’t want to work at it, we like it just like it is!
-----------SHANNON
I have understood for a log time that it is not Tom or God that can make you do anything. Only you can accept the call that Jesus has for you.
Tom, can’t make you even dig for worms much less put a hook in the water.
Each of you needs to look at your ministry and decide what bait God has asked you to use. You need to look at what God wants you to do to fish for people.
I feel like it is my role to awaken in you the spirit that I see in long time fishermen. The ones that know that you don’t just fish you have to understand the fish and the bait and have to work at it if you want to do anything more that sit on the bank and pretend to fish. The main thing that happens with a fisherman is they long to fish, they want to be out there casting and hoping and even expecting to land something.
Folks, you can’t just sit back and think about fish and wish they were here. You can’t sit and wait for them to suddenly wake up on Sunday morning, get dressed and come here….That is like waiting on the trout to get the skillet and start the fire.
As fishermen you have to actually do something. You have to wet a line or throw a net.
You have to put a little bait in the water and have some expectation that something might happen.
From looking at some of the catalogs that accidentally come into my mail box I know that there are lots of different kinds of bait, live, artificial and thousands of other types. How abut foe churches when they want to fish for people?
Let me share that I don’t think that we even realize when we are fishing most of the time. I would call it the live bait….when people see a Christian just living…sometimes in good times and probably most often in the bad times….Live bait gets a lot of attention when you fish directly by living a Christian life.
How about another kind of bait?
Is it still fishing when a church does something for a community of a family and dos not expect anything in return?
How about if you give baby items to a pregnancy center so that children won’t be aborted?
How about giving to feed the hungry?
Working at or giving money to Murphy Harpist?
What about finding something for our youth to do or celebrate?
How about the giving to relief efforts, like last years Tsunami or hurricanes….
How about tutoring children in their school work?
How about reaching out into the community when someone has a loss and providing a meal or for other needs?
Sometimes we fish for the good of Christ not just for our churches.
As a church we need to decide to start fishing again.
Consider how God is calling you to fish and let’s commit to fishing when he asks.
All Glory be to God!
