Fishers of Men
- Gary Fritsch
- Sep 4
- 3 min read
I loved fishing as a kid, and still do, although I will admit that my fishing excursions are much fewer and further between. To me, fishing was always about the bait, or a particular lure. What were the fish biting on at a particular lake or river was the question that you needed to answer. Jesus firmly and forever establishes the metaphor of fishing and bringing people to the Lord in the context of a different kind of fishing than most of us are used to.
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch" Jesus says. For Peter, the professional fisherman, this must have been a bit of an insult. The carpenter turned rabbi (an incredibly impossible combination at the time) was going to tell the fisherman how to catch fish? Especially when he had already exhausted every possible effort. Most of us would have replied: Buzz off, or stick to preaching, or go back to carpentry. But perhaps somehow we wouldn't have. Perhaps, like Peter, we would have heard something more, something deeper, something truer in the voice of this itinerant preacher. Perhaps we also would have cast our nets.
This brings up a point that has always intrigued me. How is making disciples like casting nets? In my experience, it seems a little more like fishing with a lure. A little more personal, a little more one-on-one. I think there is a very deep theological root to this. In 1 Timothy 2:4 it says that God desires all to be saved. Ultimately, if we are to answer our call to be fishers of men, we have to share in that desire. Picking and choosing is not ours to do. I can easily find myself wanting to invite and attract the people that I like, and the people that like me (hmm...those might be related somehow) and this will exclude others. God desires that His invitation be made genuinely to all.
This is quite the conundrum. I can only make so many invitations. Don't I have to put limits somewhere? Sort of. At the parish fish-fry each year, I help to seat people, but mostly just greet folks and make them feel welcome and occasionally get into a little deeper conversation. The first year, I did not have a name tag, so I spend a few moments creating one that said Gary and then below that, the title Fisher of Men (see what I did there?). One of the female patrons on seeing my nametag, inquired: 'only fisher of men?' to which I quipped: "I think I would get in trouble if my nametag said fisher of women." While we had a little chuckle, it was not lost on me that in that circumstance, I could not be a chooser. I had to welcome the young and old alike, the men and the women alike, the smiling and the surly alike. To them all I was being called to share the Joy of the Lord. Only then could I wear the nametag proclaiming fisher of men.
Later in the Gospels, after the resurrection, we hear of another miraculous catch, where the number and variety of fish are very intentionally noted. This catch reminds the Apostles of the Lord and His great power, authority and abundance - and the feeling that created among them. This Joy of the Lord would be needed as they embarked on building Christ's church chronicled in the Acts of the Apostles.
We are called to this same mission. Inviting others? For sure. Casting a wide net of joy and welcome to all - absolutely!
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