Fishers of Men or 'Vicious Old Men'?

Epiphany 3: 23rd January 2005

Is 9.1-4  |  1 Cor 1.10-18  |  Matt 4.12-23

Light promised to Israel; divisions in the church; Jesus calls disciples

Two Eskimos go fishing and one of them has 100% more success than the other; after the successful Eskimo has landed his third whopper, the other one asks what his secret is.  The reply is something like "Ou a-a-a ee a ur swom".  The other fisherman was naturally unsure what had been said, but did not comment; some time later the same thing happened again, and once more, the successful Eskimo's reply was unintelligible.  Being a fairly reserved type the other fisherman still did not ask what the other had said.    Finally, as yet another fish was landed by the successful fisherman, the other asked the question again.  Realising that he was not being understood, the successful fisherman turned round, spat something out of his mouth into his hands and said ....."You have to keep the worms warm!"

This joke is a neat parallel on the saying in some circles that Jesus said “Follow me and I will make you vicious old men...in other words, it is sometimes the case that some Christians look like they were baptised with lemon juice!

Why choose fishermen?

But if we look at the reality that He actually meant 'fishers of men' - why did Jesus choose these particular men? They weren’t poor, they weren’t educated, but they weren’t stupid. They were ordinary working people. They had a skill and a profession. What Jesus chose then, and still chooses today, is ordinary men and women who will give their all to him, just as the first disciples did.

God can do anything with that raw material. God wastes nothing. Thinking of Epiphany we remember that water became wine: The gifts of the Magi had symbolic value, but practical value too; the imprisonment of John the Baptist spurred questions about Jesus’ identity and paved the way for his ministry; 12 not particularly promising disciples turned the world upside down...

But why fishermen? Why not builders or farmers or shop keepers or religious students? What is it about fishermen which made them suitable material for working alongside Jesus in this task of faith sharing, of mission and evangelisation, of “fishing for people”?

Patience, perseverance, courage...

Perhaps these fisherman had qualities which would be needed in the work: fishermen need to be patient, to persevere, to have courage, to fit the bait to the fish and to keep out of sight. Fishermen gather fish in; they go out into troubled waters; they have to read the signs of sea and weather; there is much preparation before a trip.

Maybe these are qualities which the first disciples found they could employ in their new capacity as fishers for people - as those who sought to gather in people to Jesus.

What can we learn from the fishermen disciples when we think of what Jesus asks of us when he calls us to follow him?

Because, make no mistake about it, Christianity is not a spectator sport where we give God an hour on Sundays and where somebody else has to worry about spreading the good news, filling the pews, gathering people to Jesus and encouraging more people to give themselves to God: the task of faith sharing, of “fishing for people” is a task the whole Church shares - not just the professional ones in funny dresses...

Four qualifications for spreading the Gospel...

So, what did the first disciples have that equipped them for working with Jesus, and what might we need?

1	Patience  -  One of the qualities needed in a fisherman is patience. Not something we’re always good at. We live in an instant age where we’re learning to demand everything now - or yesterday. Fast food and instant solutions.... we don’t know what we want, but we want it now! Patience is required to grow anything - whether it’s a plant or a seed, or whether it’s the development of a talent or a growth in personality. John Finney, former Bishop of Pontefract, did some research which discovered that the average length of time between a person hearing the gospel and responding was 4 years. That varied between 6 months and one case of 87 years... We need patience if we are to see our friends and neighbours come to Christ as the first disciples did.
2	Attitude  -  A fisherman gathers the fish in, just as the Christian will seek to draw people to Jesus. Too often people are put off the Christian faith not by Christ, but by his friends - by Christians! During Epiphany we’ve been considering how John the Baptist pointed people to Jesus and withdrew, leaving Jesus centre stage “He must increase” said John “I must decrease...” Paul reminds us that “we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor 5.20) - we represent Jesus wherever we go, whatever we do, in the things we say and in the attitudes we present...
3	Preparation  -  Fishermen must prepare for their fishing trips - checking the nets, making sure the boat is water-worthy, checking the weather as far as they can, making sure all the provisions needed are on board. In our sharing of faith we too must make proper preparation - and that will include prayer.  By prayer we line ourselves up with the will of God. We seek God’s instructions, we put ourselves in a position where God can work through us, talk to us and show us what he wants us to do and the kind of people he wants us to be. And we pray for those with whom we’re sharing our lives and our faith. There’s a great prayer from Iona about those who need to forget the god they don’t believe in and discover the God who believes in them...
4	Awareness  -  Fishermen read the signs - they know the swells of the sea, the kind of weather which is safe, the kind of weather which keeps a boat in harbour, the likely place where the fish will be. So we too need to learn to read the signs - to learn when to keep quiet, and when to speak.  We need to be aware of the world around us and to learn “think Christianly” about the news, current affairs, hot topics, fashions and trends - to read the signs of the times. That means looking and listening before we speak. (Two ears; one mouth!) We need to be aware of the world in which we live, otherwise we run the risk of answering the questions which nobody is asking!

Fishermen have a particular set of gifts and skills they employ and hone in order to catch fish. No doubt the disciples realised that God wastes nothing, and that their former careers as catchers of fish actually gave them considerable skills and insight in gathering and drawing people to Jesus.

God wastes nothing

Not many of us may spend our days on the high seas or glued to a trout lake with a line and bait, but the principle of God wasting nothing is true for us too. The experiences, gifts, skills and traits we have acquired as we’ve gone through life are ones which, if we offer them to Jesus, can be transformed and built on to work for the coming of the Kingdom, to tell and show the good news of Jesus - because God wastes nothing! God is the original recycler!

Church is the place where tired, failed human beings are renewed, refreshed and polished - equipped and sent out - commissioned - to work with God in the world he made and loves, amongst people he made and loves.

Our experiences may have left us reeling, but placed into God’s hands they begin to take on a different aspect, very different things will come from them - that’s not the same as saying God sends us crappy things to test us or to make us learn or to punish us; it’s to say that no experience of life is wasted and when we place those things into God’s hands: he will bring light out of darkness, resurrection out of death - and, to use the words of Isaiah which Matthew used in today’s gospel: where we’ve “sat in darkness we will see a great light; and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned...” 

Fr Andrew J Perry
Rector, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea

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