Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.
Ok, so today, we get to talk about the first disciples and the command that I’m not sure I’d have listened to. I think it’s easy to look at some of the teachings in from our perspective and think something along the lines of, “Well, it was Jesus, obviously they followed Him!” But neither Peter nor Andrew, James nor John, had the advantage of the Bible like we do.
Matthew 4:19 (NASB 2020) reads:
And He said to them, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of people.”
I want to take a brief moment to point out that some translations say “Fishers of men” and, in the language of the time, when referring to humanity as a whole man/men/mankind is what was commonly used. It’s not intended as exclusionary language.
In Mark 1: 14, we see the same command again:
And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
In Luke, Chapter 5, we get a little bit more of the story than we do in the first two gospels. Jesus was teaching on the bank and borrowed Simon’s boat (Simon who would become Peter). He preached and taught and Simon listened. Then, in verse 4, Jesus says to Simon
When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let your nets for a catch.”
We’re going to come back to that verse in particular at a later post because it deserves its own attention, but for the sake of this one, it’s important to note that Simon didn’t want to do it, but he did. In fact, in Verse 5, Simon replies
Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”
If you’ve read this passage before, you know that the nets almost burst from what they brought in. At this point, Simon who would become Peter knows. He doesn’t think he knows who is before him. He knows. In Verse 8 we see him cry out
But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
While the story is somewhat less in John, we do learn in John that Simon Peter’s brother, Andrew, had heard John the Baptist speak and then listened to Jesus. Andrew also knew. He believed it so much that he went and found his brother to make sure he shared the good news. John 1:41-42
He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah.” He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter)
So while Luke and John don’t really have the “follow me” command, the spirit of the command is in both gospels. Now, at the top of this post, I mentioned that these people didn’t have the benefit of the Bible like we do. They didn’t have the benefit of the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s truth to them like we do.
I am the youngest of three siblings. My brother, the middle child, and I had a bit of a sibling rivalry growing up (and I word it that way because I don’t want to say mean things about him on the internet, I’ve matured since childhood). I know without a shadow of a doubt that if I had gone to my brother and said, “Bro, I have met the Messiah, and he’s awesome and I want you to meet him too.” I’d have been met with jeers, jokes, and a being shoved in the dryer. He wouldn’t have believed me.
Sometimes, I wonder if Jesus were to come back today and I had the same level of conviction that Peter and the rest of the disciples had that He was who He said He was; who would I tell first? But that is what it means to be fishers of people. A core command of following Christ is sharing Him. It’s a part that we tend to dilute with worry about offending people or respecting boundaries. But it’s part of the job.
I do not know a lot about fishing, but I know that different fish prefer different bait. I think a lot of being a fisher of people is the same. Some of the lost are going to look at our actions and if they don’t see us behaving in a way to aligns with what Christians claim Christ was all about, they aren’t going to bite. Some of the lost are going to want to listen to our words and testimonies and that will be enough to plant a seed. Others are going to be like that annoying fish who always takes my bait (I’m not a good fisherman, full disclosure). They’re going to question and hit the line repeatedly and only persistently casting in the water is going to get them hooked.
I do not do the best job casting my line. I am often silent when I feel like God would be better served to speak. More often than not, it’s because I am so very scared that my words will push people away from Christ rather than draw them in. I worry that my example will push people away. I am so worried that I’ll say or do the wrong thing, that I freeze.
Then, God reminds me that Moses hated talking in public and said he was bad at it. Peter tried to shoo Jesus away because he was acutely aware of his own sins. Jesus gave Simon a different name because Simon wasn’t that person anymore. He was God’s now.
See, the command here is simple: “Follow me, and I will make you what I need you to be.”
If you’re a Christian and worried that your capabilities aren’t enough, God will make you what he needs you to be. You just have to follow Him. He will lead the way.
If you’re not a Christian and want to know what it’s like to follow Christ, let me start by telling you what it’s not. It’s not a magical prayer that suddenly fixes everything wrong in your life. It’s a relationship with God who will shape and mold you into the best possible version of yourself. Most of that process will be uncomfortable. Some of that process will hurt, but every time you lack back at where you were from where you are, you’ll look up in gratitude knowing that God put you in a better place through the process.
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