Text: Matt. 4:12-25
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
A pastor who has spent long and fruitless day fishing picked out three fat fish in the market. "Before you wrap them," he said to the store manager," toss them to me, one by one. That way I'll be able to tell my wife I caught them and I'll be speaking the truth."
Bits & Pieces, July 21, 1994, p. 15.
Being a fishermen or as Jesus calls in the Gospel reading today “fishers of men” requires a very special lure … the word of God. And through this word and by the working of the Holy Spirit you too are caught …
… and Christ will make you fishers of men too!
In the gospel account today Jesus calls Simon and Andrew into apostleship and special service.
19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
This had not been the account of their first meeting for John records this in his gospel in chapter 1:
35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
Both Andrew and Peter were disciples of Jesus but in the account today Jesus calls them into service in a special and profound way. They would be called to serve, leaving their nets and their old profession of catching fish and now would be fishers of men.
Life can bring about change too. Sometime it is intended change and sometime it is unintended change which may lead to service to the Lord in a new and special way.
The call of God on my own life and through this congregation also brought changes for me and my family. But God is still the active agent, just as He was for these two fishermen calling them to follow Him.
But it is not only clergy and those who serve in ministry part or full time who are called by God to serve. All Christians have a call to serve their neighbor. When Christ has made you His and has, by His Spirit, called you to believe you too are called to serve others in love as you would also have them serve you.
The call of God to faith changes everything. You are no longer your own because you have been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20) and that price was the very son of God laying down His life for you.
21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Whether, Andrew and Peter or James and John the call from Jesus was received with immediate action. No hesitation. I don’t know about you but for me, pondering is a more and definite reaction that I have at least that’s what my wife would say. And well, it should be for faith and action. We don’t have Jesus here in the flesh to give the call a valid focus. Who and by whom are we called and for what purpose are we called? The means that is given for discernment is prayer and should be used in great abundance.
Ill.
A wonderful prayer that is listed of unknown origin reads:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me show love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
And I would add one thing … where there is opportunity, Christ!
We all need to be heralds of the truth and the Lord is the one who makes a way where there is no way. Through faith in Him we believe and are given life eternal and can now tell other that same good news.
Faith in anything else only brings false hope and death.
Ill.
Take for example the store of Ivan McGuire a veteran sky diver who fell 10,500 feet to his death. He apparently forgot to wear a parachute in his excitement to film other sky divers, police said Monday after seeing footage taken by the man during his final free fall.
''You could only see the instructor and the student falling on the video. But the release for his parachute is on his right hip, and when that right hand goes down, the left hand goes forward and it comes into . . . view.
''It's kind of boggled in there, and it sounded like he may have said, 'Oh no,' right after his left hand came into view.''
Nothing could save him, for his faith was in a parachute never buckled on. Faith in anything but an all-sufficient God can also be just as tragic spiritually. Only with faith in Jesus Christ dare we step into the dangerous excitement of life. But because of Jesus Christ:
You are caught and Christ will make you fishers of men too!
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Jesus is the great healer. He is the great physician and though in this life when we find the sickness that comes from a corrupted world we too know that there is a greater illness that we all face. But praise god He has taken that illness of sin that only leads to death and He has nailed it to the cross for you so that you can be caught by his and made His child. You then with faith in Christ can tell others that same good news, invite them to church and all the while the Lord uses you and your efforts for the glory of His greater kindom.
You are caught and Christ will make you fishers of men too!
St. Paul reminds us in the epistle that:
17 For Christ did not send him … with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1Cor. 1:17-18)
God’s power is the saving word of God, the Christ who came to live, suffer, die and rise again for you and for all who will be caught by the word and brought to faith by God’s Holy Spirit.
You are caught and Christ will make you fishers of men too!
And though at times the work can be a daunting task; the good news is that it is God working through you to accomplish His great work and will bring it to completion in his time and in His way.
You are caught and Christ will make you fishers of men too!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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