Mark 1:16-20 (NASB) 16As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." 18Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 19Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.
Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John are fishermen. They use the skill of their minds and the strength of their bodies to catch fish. And they fish together as a community. They go out in separate boats but they help one another to find the fish, to cast the nets around the fish, and, when the catch is large, to help one another bring in the fish. It is a hard life but a good life.
And then it happened that a stranger came to their village. He was a stranger, but they had heard of Him. When John the Baptist had been arrested and executed they had heard that the stranger was the one taking John’s place. And today they met Him and something happened. They sensed the power and presence of God in this man and heard a call to their life that struck a chord, even though they did not really understand much at this point. They simply had a dim awareness.
And this is the way faith starts, with awareness, even with a vague awareness, a small awareness. Four fishermen leave behind their nets and begin a walk with this stranger, uncertain and yet sure that this is what they want to do. They feel a power and have a sense of excitement that bringing in a big haul of fish usually gives them.
Jesus came to a few fishermen at a time when people were looking for and hoping for God to show a grand display of power, and the only show of power is the awakening in these four of a sense of God’s presence and God’s call. The Kingdom came in the simple power of Jesus to influence these four fishermen enough that they left their nets and followed Him. These men were fishermen, and Jesus told them that He would show them how to do the same with people, to bring others into contact with God’s love and God’s grace and God’s call to their life. He would show them how to use all the skills of their minds and the strengths of their bodies to reach people who assume that God is distant and remote, and to bring them into God’s presence and love.
In a world where children have to be taken to soccer practice, and the dishwasher breaks, and there are bills to pay and deadlines to keep, Jesus meets us with an awareness of God’s presence. And I will make you… The call of God is not about what you and I have to do. It is about what God can do with us, as we mend our nets and do our jobs. Through us, God will touch the lives of others. It is not about what we have to do. It is about taking the next step with Jesus and believing what God can do with us.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 23, 2000
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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