Fishers of men?
25th March 2007
Each time I thought about the passage of Scripture that Jesus said to His first disciples, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” I had assumed He was talking about evangelism and that evangelism was about telling the message and convincing others to follow Jesus. Similarly, I thought Jesus’ emphasis was about catching men, fishing for people and also that evangelism was about the bait, the content of the message, and about reeling men in, the delivery and so on.
“Fishers of men” might really have to do with going out to where there might be a lot men, and making the effort to bring them to know the Lord. But, the other day, as I was sitting and listening a sermon about the story of the young boy in the sixth chapter of John, there was a “connecting of the dots” in my mind. It occurred to me that the phrase “fishers of men” might have a lot to do with what happened that day about the boy with the fish and the loaves.
The story of the young boy with the fish and loaves is quite familiar to almost everyone. There were far too many people that made it a logistical catering nightmare. While the adults gave up while contemplating such an impossible task, a young boy ventured out to make a difference with his limited resources. For he seemed to understand that his part in God’s economy was merely to be available and to let God do whatever He wants with what he had.
So, he offered up his lunch consisting of five barley loaves and two fish.
The Lord asked His disciples to organize the people into groups, asked for the boy’s offering and then after giving thanks to God, He got the disciples busy distributing food to everyone. The bread and fish kept on coming until everyone had their fill and there were twelve basketfuls left over.
The lesson here is that when we are willing to allow God to work in and through our lives, and we offer up ourselves and what little we have to let Him meet the needs of those around us, then He is going to transform our meager resources into overflowing provisions for those who are hungry, thirsty, hurting and in need of miracles in their lives.
When Christ promised the fishermen that if there were to follow Him, he will turn them into fishers of men he was also saying to them that the transformation will make them provide for people’s needs around them.
See, they used to catch fish for a living. Fish was the means of sustenance and livelihood. Fish was the way they provided for their families, communities and those in need.
Now, Jesus, was saying, “Instead, you will look to people.”
Instead of trusting fish to bring in their resources, and instead of trusting their own efforts to catch fish so that they might provide for themselves and the people around them, they now were to look for men who will multiply their lives and resources because God will fill them to overflowing. They were to invest their time and resources in looking for, and working with, men and women who were willing to make a difference with their lives and resources, just like that little boy in John chapter six.
So it is with us.
We too are to now first be willing to let God take control and be the One who will release the resources of Heaven to provide for the needs that we see around us. And then we are to go out there and look for others who are like minded in allowing God to fill the needs. If our following Christ results in our being fishers of men, then our discipleship - our following Jesus - does not merely lead us to telling others the gospel, but it also leads us to invest our lives in the journey of life transformation along with the community that God has called us to walk alongside. Together we are to witness God’s miracles in the lives of the needy, the hurting, the broken and the disenfranchised all around us.
By so doing we will then fulfill the Lord’s mission who came not to be served, but to serve, and if we do so, we will then also help to fulfill the scripture that He read out in the synagogue early in His ministry:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[e]
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May 24th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Very thought provoking. I’m going to have to go over those scriptures again. Thank you.