Tuesday 30 November 2010

Background

Happy St Andrew's Day! Not surprisingly this passage is aboutAndrew - his call by Jesus to leave the fishing boat and become hisdisciple. 

The calling of the four fishermen is dealt with succinctly in justfive verses. Not a phrase or a word is wasted. But the passageraises questions. 

There is no doubt that Jesus spoke with authority, but what exactlywas it in Jesus' words or character that made the disciples payattention, listen and respond obediently? 

And what was it that Jesus saw in the fishermen that would makethem "fish for people"? 

In the job market, lots of attention is paid to transferable skills- abilities that you have acquired in one job or in life that canbe successfully used in another post. Perhaps the transferableskills ofthe fishermen included: 

• Patience - to wait for the fish to be caught. It can take along time (some say five years) for someone to move from initialcontact with the Church to faith.
• Perseverance - how many times would the fishermen go out in theboat, but catch nothing? And how many times would the disciplesspeak to someone about Jesus, only for it to fall on deafeyes?
• Courage - to launch the boat in rough weather or to sailthrough the storm. The disciples also need strength and courage inthe face of opposition and hostility.

There are two instances of Jesus calling the fishermenhere - Simon and Andrew casting their net on the water, and Jamesand John mending their nets. Is this needless repetition or mightMatthew the Gospel-writer be making a point? 

Some people have suggested that casting the nets relates toan evangelistic ministry directed at those outside the church (orthe net), while mending the nets is a pastoral ministry to thoseinside the church. The Greek word, katartizein, for mending, cropsup again in the epistles where it refers this time to the Church(eg  1 Corinthians 1:10;  Ephesians 4:12). 

Whatever the task or way ahead maybe, it is God who callsus. 

To Ponder

How would we respond if someone came up to us andsaid what Jesus said, "Follow me!"? What would that person have tosay or do to make us respond like the fisherman?

What are your skills? How might God use or byusing them?

Matthew's Gospel begins with Jesus makingdisciples and ends with the great commission to "make disciples ofall nations" (Matthew 28:20). What are you doing?