Been Fishin' Lately?

Mark 1: 14-20
January 25, 2009 Third Sunday in Epiphany

We are Disciples of Christ. The bible makes that clear. We are Christians first and that qualifies for being disciples. But what does it really mean to be a disciple of Jesus?
In Greek, the word “disciple” means follower, or learner, or student. So what does it mean to be a student of Jesus, to learn the way of Jesus Christ, whether you’re a capital D Disciple or a little d disciple? And how is the capital C Church, the body of Christ universal, doing when it comes to living out what we have learned?
The scripture for today tells the story of the calling of the very first Disciples of Christ (not to be confused with the denomination). Can you identify with them at all? Can you get a mental image of who they were and what they might have looked like? We know from the text that they were fishermen, but we also know that, a little bit later, Jesus will call others from all walks of life to be his disciples.
Personally, I’m thankful that my calling to follow Jesus didn’t require previous expertise at catching fish. I’m afraid I would have been passed over. Don’t get me wrong, I really like fishing. Just being out in the fresh air and sunshine make the activity enjoyable for me. And I can cast with a rod and reel just as well as the next person, although I’m sure there are lots of folks who are more accurate with their casting than I am. I know a lot about fishing. I can talk about it for hours. But I’m just not very good at catching fish. The fish seem to know whose line that bait is attached to, and more often than not, they just swim right past it. Just ask my sons Matthew or Andrew or Nicholas, they have all been fishing with me.
But these fishermen Jesus called to follow him didn’t fish the same way you and I do. They didn’t bait hooks and cast them out and wait for the fish to come along and take the bait. They fished with large nets (and I’ve been tempted to try that myself). If they were fishing from the shore, they would cast their nets out as far as they could throw them, covering as broad an area as they could with each cast. Then they would slowly pull the net back to shore, trapping fish in the net as it came back in.
One day on the shore of Lake Galilee, some fishermen were casting their nets into the sea. And a man they didn’t know came along and said to them, “Follow me, and I’ll teach you how to fish for people.” And on the basis of that simple invitation, they left everything behind and followed him. Now, if you’re like me, you have a lot of questions about this encounter. Why did Jesus choose these particular people? And why would they leave their profession, the one thing they knew how to do better than anything, and follow a stranger on the basis of nothing more than an invitation to tag along on a different kind of fishing trip?
Unfortunately, the writer of Mark doesn’t give us enough information to answer our questions. Mark knows a lot more detail than he’s willing to tell us, but Mark only wants to give us the bare-bones description of the life and ministry of Jesus.
I suppose it’s possible that Jesus spent several hours talking to Simon, Andrew, James, and John, convincing them to leave a profitable business and venture out with him into the Galilean countryside. But that’s not what Mark says. According to Mark, these four fishermen left everything and followed Jesus on the basis of a short, vague, ambiguous invitation.
But we don’t want to leave it at that. Inquiring minds want to know details. We want to fill in the blanks, speculate on the motives. We want to examine the psychological dynamics of the members of the group, not necessarily because we’re so creative and want to flesh out the details, but because we’re just naturally evasive and non-committal people. In our wildest dreams, we cannot imagine that anyone would just walk away from everything they had worked for and follow a stranger on the basis of a simple invitation and a mysterious promise. I mean, how many of you would be willing to do it right now? We’re not uncomplicated fishermen like Simon, Andrew, James, and John. We are complex, educated, technically knowledgeable people, people who have responsibilities and complicated lives. We’re not about to drop everything and go running after some traveling evangelist who announces that the time has come and the kingdom of God is here.
We want to thoroughly discuss the matter, look at it from every possible angle, weigh all of our options and come up with a five-year plan of implementation before we go one step further. We are, after all, rational, well-balanced, well-adjusted people, and we’re not willing to change directions impulsively, or make decisions based on passion rather than intellect. You just can’t be too careful, you know? Or can you?
I want to share with you this morning a story I came across in the course my sermon research this past week. But before I do that, I have to make a confession to you. The hardest part of ministry, as it relates to me and many other preachers I have known, is that there are times when I have to say things that might cause hurt feelings or embarrassment or bitterness between me and people I love and care about very deeply. Sometimes I have to say things that sound awfully judgmental to people that I know and love, and that’s hard for me. Like most ministers I know, I have a need to be liked by everyone in the church. I don’t like to be the cause of unhappiness or anger or disappointment. But a good friend once told me that ministry involved both comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. He was right. So when I tell this story, which I believe to be a painfully accurate description of the church’s approach to following Jesus - and I’m referring here to the universal church, not just to Wilson Chapel Church - I do so out of my desire to be faithful to God and faithful to the people for whom I care.
This is my adaptation of the story called, “A Plea for Fishing,” by Darrell Robinson: Once there was a group of people who called themselves fishermen. And there were many fish in the waters all around them. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes and rivers just filled with fish. And the fish were hungry.
Week after week, month after month, year after year, these people who called themselves fishermen held meetings and talked about their call to be fishermen, the abundance of fish, and they passed along all the latest innovations in fishing. Year after year, they carefully defined what fishing was all about, defended fishing as a noble occupation, and declared that fishing is always the primary task of fishermen.
They constantly searched for new and better methods of fishing, and for new and better definitions of fishing. They loved such slogans as “Fishing is the task of every fisherman.” They sponsored special meetings known as “Fisherman’s Campaigns.” They went on nationwide and even worldwide tours to discuss fishing and promote fishing and hear about all the new developments and technological advances in fishing and new ways of presenting the bait to the fish that made it more attractive and alluring.
They built large, beautiful buildings called “Fishing Headquarters,” and selected some of their best fishermen to staff it. They appealed to everyone to become fishermen. There was only one thing they did not do. They didn’t fish…. Ever.
In addition to organizing and holding regularly scheduled meetings, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other parts of the world where the fish were plentiful. The board appointed various committees and held many meetings to talk about fishing, defend fishing, and develop new strategies for fishing. But the committee members never went fishing.
Large, expensive training centers were built for the purpose of teaching fishermen how to fish. They offered courses on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, dealing with the different generations of fish, the psychological makeup of fish, and how to approach and feed fish. The professors all had degrees in fishology, but none of them ever went fishing. They only taught fishing. After completing the course of study, graduates were given their fishing license and sent out to do full-time fishing, some to distant waters that were filled with fish.
Many who felt the call to be fishermen responded. They were commissioned and sent to fish. But like the fishermen back home, they could talk for hours about the need for fishing, and they knew all the current developments in fishing, but they didn’t fish. They were too busy doing other things. Some said they really wanted to fish, but since they just didn’t have time, they would just furnish fishing equipment for others. Others felt that their job was to establish a good relationship with the fish so that the fish would be more receptive to the fishermen.
After one stirring meeting on “The Necessity for Fishing,” one young fellow left the meeting and actually went fishing! He reported the next day that he caught two outstanding fish. He was honored for his excellent catch, and immediately a nationwide tour was scheduled so that he could visit all the big meetings and tell how he did it. So he quit fishing at once in order to have time to tell others about the experience. He was also placed on the Fishermen’s General Board, which consumed quite a bit of his time, so much so that he had no time at all for fishing.
Now it’s true that many of the fishermen made personal sacrifices and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and had to bear the smell of dead and decaying fish every day. They were ridiculed by some who made fun of their fishermen’s clubs and for the fact that, though they claimed to be fishermen, they never fished. They wondered about those people who felt that attending weekly meetings to talk about fishing was a waste of time. After all, were they not following the Master, who said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”?
Imagine how hurt they were when one day someone suggested that those who don’t catch fish were not really fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be. But they understood the criticism. Even their role model had said that they would be misunderstood and even persecuted. They remembered the seminar on cross bearing. But in the back of their mind they kept wondering, they had a nagging feeling that the critics were right. After all, can people who never catch any fish really claim to be fishermen? Are you following if you’re not fishing?

Been fishin’ lately?

Amen