The Master Fisherman

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

(Matthew 4:18-22)

Once there was a group of people called the Fishing Society. They gathered every week to talk about the importance of fishing but they never fished. They said they wanted fish, so they decided to build a big new aquarium. They pooled their money (pun intended) and built a sparkling new meeting hall they named “The Aquarium Center.” They employed a scholar to teach them from the Fishing Manual. Each week they gathered in their beautiful building and recited portions of the Fishing Manual. Their fishing scholar explained some of the mysteries of the Fishing Manual. The meetings ended with the scholar dramatically casting a net in the large tank in the center of the Aquarium Center. The members were all hopeful that some fish would be caught. None were ever caught, of course, because there were so very few fish in the tank. This led to disagreement among the members of the Fishing Society. Why couldn’t they keep fish in their beautiful aquarium center? Most members didn’t really know how the few fish that were there actually got into the tank. As much as they talked about fishing – the whole concept still seemed mysterious and somewhat intimidating to just about everyone. Some said specialization was the answer so they built smaller tanks specially designed for fish of all ages and sizes. Still, no fish. Just the few that had been there all along. Some blamed the problem on the lack of attendance of members of the Fishing Society. So, they conducted week-long fishing crusades. They constantly talked about new and better methods of fishing. They bought some of the finest fishing equipment on the market. The one thing they didn’t do, however, was to fish. They even elected numerous committees to operate the Fishing Society more efficiently. One group kept busy by regulating the water in the Aquarium. Others worked to keep the glass walls polished; others sorted and arranged the expensive fishing gear. One young man in their group had a radical idea. He said if fish were to be caught, they would have to go out to the ocean and lakes and catch them. Some people were alarmed at such a suggestion. The young man actually went out and tried fishing. To everyone’s amazement, he came back with a couple of fine fish. He was such a sensation he was given the title “Doctor of Fishology” and started a school to teach other aspiring fishermen. All of this consumed so much time he soon had no time for fishing himself. Then the Fishing Society sent a few brave professional fishermen to live a few blocks from the water. These were called “fishinaries.” These foreign fishinaries sent back pictures of themselves standing by the water holding their catches. They sometimes returned to the Aquarium Center and showed slides of them actually catching fish. This excited the members - but only for a few minutes.

Over the years, some members of the Fishing Society forgot about fishing, there was plenty to do without worrying about that. Some even suggested they change the name of their group from the Fishing Society to just “The Society.” After all, they didn’t want to offend the fish. One day a bearded stranger appeared at their weekly meeting. This longhaired, sandaled man claimed to be the Master Fisherman. He extended hands to appeal to the fishermen to follow him out to where the fish were. Some noticed there were ugly scars in His palms, probably from fishing. He had the gall to say He was the One who started the Fishing Society. Many angrily disagreed. After all, they were the ones who had worked hard and given a great deal of their money to build up the Society. They felt the Society only existed because they had supported it and attended its meetings for so long. An argument soon broke out about whose opinion should matter the most. As the Stranger turned to leave, His final comment made some of the respectable members of the Society so angry that they stopped up their ears. He said, “If you never try to catch fish – you have no right to call yourself a fisherman. If you aren’t fishing – you aren’t following me.”

After their initial shock, the members of the Fishing Society decided that it was best to just put this unfortunate incident behind them. They resumed their busy activity of maintaining their beautiful hall. They continued the same activities in which they were previously involved. Their lives were filled with Society meetings and the never ending work of keeping up the aquarium. As they polished away and consulted their Fishing Manual, they were glad their beautiful hall had not been built in vain, after all, it made them feel good about themselves.

The call Jesus extends to all of us is to be fishers of men, not keepers of an aquarium. Imagine where we’d be if Peter, Andrew, James and John only built a club and then spent the rest of their lives waiting for people to come and join. Instead, they answered the call, they followed Jesus, and they changed their world because they went looking for people who needed to hear the Gospel. Every good fisherman knows, the fish don’t come to you – you have to go to them. You won’t catch many fish waiting for them to swim into the middle of your living room. I challenge you to cast a line this week. Ask the Lord to lead you to someone with whom you can share the Gospel message. Then decide to search for them as you go through your daily activities.

Because of the Master Fisherman,

PT