Going Fishing
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
January 27, 2008
Isaiah 9:1-4; Matthew 4:12-23
Is. 9:1 But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness--
on them light has shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
4 For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.Matt. 4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned."
17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea--for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
I. BEGINNING
When you're talking politics, as people often do in this town, the thing you want more than anything is experts to help to tell you what to think. And those shows are full of experts.
I have noticed that there is a certain hierarchy to the authority an expert has. In sports, the expert you want to interview is often a sports writer from the hometown paper of the team you're talking about. In politics, the authority of the expert is directly dependent on the publication he or she writes for. A beat reporter is good, a columnist is better. A veteran investigative journalist (a la Bob Woodward) is often best. And the Chicago Tribune outranks the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Washington Post outranks the Chicago Tribune. And the New York Times outranks them all.
And then if you're a professor called into a news forum show as an expert, the degree of professor you are and the university you're from matters most. As a George Washington University Law School Alum, I reluctantly admit that if Tim Russert can get an expert from Georgetown University, he's probably going to do it. If he can get the expert from Yale or Harvard, he's going to do that instead. For reasons of propriety and personal loyalty, I am not going to attempt to say where American University ranks on that list.
We want to hear things from experts. We want people with credentials. Heck, even the people who produce infomercials know that--that's why they've always got some guy up there in a white lab coat. "I have to buy these diet pills! They're recommended by a guy in a white lab coat! He must know what he's talking about."
When we evaluate a political candidate, half of what we look at is who that person surrounds him- or herself with in terms of advisors and representatives.
So, as I was reflecting on the lessons for today, one obvious question comes to mind: why on earth does Jesus surround himself with fishermen as he is trying to get his movement off the ground? I mean, think of it this way. Imagine turning on the television and there's Ted Koppel and he says, "A radical religious movement is underway with fascinating and complex understandings of God, grace, and the fate of humanity. Here to talk about it is a lobsterman from Ogunquit, Maine: Simon "the Rock" Jonason. Mr. Jonason, welcome."
You'd think, "Wait a minute! Where's the dean of the Harvard Chapel? Where's Tony Campolo or Jim Wallis? Or Phil Wogaman? They couldn't even get a professor from American University? They're interviewing a fisherman? That's the best expert they've got? Who's running this movement--a carpenter?
II. The Text: Matthew
What was Jesus thinking?
With all the religious talent out there--scribes, Pharisees, teachers of the Law, priests--he goes and brings on board fishermen. Fishermen.
18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea--for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus is walking along the Sea of Galilee and he sees Simon Peter and his brother Andrew fishing and calls them. They come. He sees James and John, the sons of Zebedee, fishing, and he calls them. And they come. The first four disciples out of the Twelve are fishermen. I should add, it's not that it get any more prestigious after that--he adds a tax collector (usually considered untrustworthy), a political zealot, and a number of other people whose careers merit no mention.
It's an odd choice for someone who is leading a new religious movement to surround himself with the likes of these. Wouldn't it have been better if he'd had one Torah scholar in the mix? One disciple who could reason with the best of the scribes? How did they ever expect to make serious religious people take notice?
III. Fishermen
Perhaps there is something about fishermen that Jesus wanted in his disciples. Some special skills or ability.
I looked it up: there is nothing particularly enlightening in the Old Testament about fishermen. The word only shows up once. Fish show up a number of times, but often they are just in lists of the things that God has made--birds of the air, fish of the sea, etc. There doesn't appear to be any great Jewish tradition about fish or fishermen such that Jesus would have sought to have one with him. The way that if we were trying to start a movement out west, we might dress like or be seen with cowboys. Or the way some candidates campaign with Chuck Norris.
And so as we reflect on this I have to think that Jesus thought that there was something about being a fisherman that makes for a good disciple.
A. The Work
Fishermen are hard workers. It's not easy. Many Americans when they think of fishing think of Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It, gently casting back and forth, fly fishing in a river in Montana. Or maybe propping up a pole on the dock and waiting for a bite. Something idyllic.
Fishing is hard. It requires you to get up early. To work long hours. For not a lot of money. And very often, at the end of the day, you stink of fish.
Perhaps Jesus understands that the work of discipleship likewise is difficult. It often requires long hours of us. Deprives us of our sleep. It often doesn't pay very much--if anything. And sometimes, it stinks. Anyone who's ever been on a work-service trip knows what that can be like.
B. The Nets
But I think that there is something else behind this image that goes beyond the hard work aspect. It's how a fisherman fishes.
The fishermen that we read about in the Gospels and the fisherman who make their living fishing today do so by casting nets. And casting them wide.
A fisherman can't fish in the same place all the time--it will get fished out. Fishermen have to go looking for new populations of fish. They have to be willing to go out into uncharted waters, into the deep waters, in pursuit of that catch that will be bountiful. They have to be willing to cast their nets wide, lest they miss an opportunity.
IV. Going Fishing
I think Jesus calls fishermen to be his disciples because the process of making disciples is like fishing. Jesus himself makes that very clear. He says, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." The same skills that come in handy in fishing come in handy in discipleship.
A. Move to new waters
The hardest part of being a Christian is being a Christian in the off-hours. It's easy to schedule our Christian faith: church at 7pm, Bible study at 5:30. Committee meeting on Wednesday, and so on. But if we stay fishing only in these waters, we will soon discover that both we and the waters are "fished out." Neither we nor anyone else will be enriched by our staying in our comfortable back bay. The kind of fishing Jesus envisions that we would do is not the prop up a pole on the pier kind of fishing, or cast the fly-reel lazily over the river kind of fishing. It is going out into new waters, uncharted waters.
B. Deep Water
Sometimes it involves us going out into deep water. Into waters that makes us uncomfortable. It means entering new contexts, new circumstances. New regions of life that are unfamiliar, or feel unsafe.
It's easy to be a Christian in an affluent suburb or on an affluent campus in Northwest Washington. But our Christian faith is only the kind that Jesus calls us to have if we are willing to take it to those places where we are challenged.
It's easy to do church in a church. All the stuff is already there: the Bibles, the hymnals, the pews, the organ. The pastor's office and the church administrator. Jesus calls us to be fishers of people in the deep water.
What would it be like to do church in a barber shop? Or a tattoo parlor? Or in a law firm? Or in someplace really depraved, like a college campus? What catches of disciples await us in places we are not inclined or used to thinking of places where discipling can happen?
So many times our churches have what I call the "Field of Dreams" mentality about church: If you build it they will come. Christ doesn't want fish retailers--he wants fishers for people. He sends us to the deep waters. These are the deep waters where Christ calls us.
One of the oldest symbols of the church is that of a boat. We are meant to be out on the waters, casting our nets.
C. Casting the Nets Wide
There is another thing that fishers do that we are called to do, and that is to cast the nets wide.
We who are of the Wesleyan tradition are believers in God's Prevenient Grace--that is, the grace that comes before us, convicting us, reminding us of our need for God, inviting us into relationship with God.
Wesley believed that this grace was available everywhere and to everyone. There was no one who was excluded. Casting the nets wide is an expression of this understanding of God's prevenient grace. It is a reminder that no one is beyond the reach of God's love. When we are in the world, we are called to share God's love with everyone. We share the message of God's salvation with everyone.
Now, this too may take us out of our comfort zones. This too may take us into the 'deep water.' For we will have to engage people who don't look like we do. Who don't talk the way we do. Who don't love the way we do. Who don't think the way we do. Who don't--dare I say it-- vote the way we do?
This is Reconciling Sunday for us here at American. It is the Sunday we celebrate our commitment to be a reconciling community. You can read our Reconciling Statement in the bulletin, but in short it is means this: no matter whether you're straight, gay, bi, transgendered, black, white, liberal, conservative, Protestant, Catholic, agnostic or atheist or whatever, you are welcomed in this community and we are committed to being in ministry with you. This year we celebrate fourteen years as a reconciling campus ministry--that makes us one of the oldest--something of which we should be enormously proud. For there are very many people who have been wounded by their encounters with the church, many who have been driven away. But this community is on record saying, "God's love is for you, too." This community is on record as one that casts its nets wide. This community is committed to inclusiveness.
Now, inclusiveness is a term that is thrown around so often that it loses its power. It becomes a buzzword instead of a sign of the radical nature of God's love.
V. The Hope for Zebulun & Naphtali
For it is the radical nature of God's love that we are proclaiming. We are not out here fishing for new church members, or singers in the choir, or members of the administrative board, or anything like that. We are looking to reach more disciples--more people who will be like Christ for the world. More people who will share that radical message of salvation and hope.
There is one last thing about the story from Matthew that bears noting. Matthew introduces the passage about Jesus calling the disciples with the following:
Matt. 4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned."
It is a quote from the passage from Isaiah that we read earlier. A passage that continues:
3 You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
4 For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
It is the central message of the Gospel: the great inversion of the world. The yoke of the burden of the people is broken, the burden of oppression and injustice is gone. Joy is once again on the afflicted people of Zebulun and Naphtali. The Gospel is about the upending of the world--the lifting up of the oppressed and downtrodden, the bringing down of the powerful and the mighty.
It is helpful to remember that we are about sharing this message and making disciples for the sake of this Gospel. We are not recruiting people to be Amway salesmen or anything like that.
We are calling people--all people--to be part of a great movement to proclaim God's love loose upon the world. To proclaim that God is bringing good news to the poor, relief to the afflicted, hope to the despairing, justice to the oppressed. To proclaim that God is setting up in our midst the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed--that dominion of God where there will be perfect peace, perfect justice, perfect fellowship among all peoples. A dominion where the last shall be first, the first shall be last, and fishermen shall be the greatest experts on evangelism around.
And so it is in light of that message of hope and salvation, that Christ invites us to step outside of our comforts and our fears, and to hang a sign on our doors that says, "Gone fishin'"
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Copyright © 2008. Mark A. Schaefer.
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