SERMON: "Let's Go Fishin'"

"Let’s Go Fishin’"
Matthew 4:12-23

Tom and Stuart McLean were brothers. When they graduated from college they went into business with their father who was an electronic genius. The three of them were a good team and were very successful.

The two brothers decided one day that they weren’t getting enough exercise and so they took up jogging. They quickly worked themselves up to three miles a day. They also began to strike up conversations with others with whom they shared the jogging path. They hit it off particularly well with a young African-American who just seemed to arrive at the track about the same time as them each day and run at their pace.

Well, one day while they were talking with one another after showering at the clubhouse, this new jogging partner asked them if they’d be interested in helping him with a project he’d been thinking about doing. Stuart asked him what he had in mind.

The young man told them about his growing up in a bad part of the community, having been a good enough athlete to receive a scholarship to attend college and his desire now to go back to his old neighborhood to help others.

It was Tom who then asked, “Well, O.K., but what are you going to do? This kind of thing usually takes money. Who’s going to sponsor you?”

After explaining his plan and his belief of what it would do for the children, he said, “No one is sponsoring me. I just think the need is so great that it has to work. I’m quitting my job to get into the project . . . how would you guys like to join me?” The brothers didn’t say much, but they did promise to think about it.

Tom was the first to speak on the way home, “Craziest thing I ever heard of.” Stuart’s response suggested only partial agreement. “Yeah, perhaps so. You know, we were raised in a pretty privileged home and don’t really know what poverty means.”

Tom just looked at him as he said, “What are you trying to say?”

Stuart blurted out, “Let’s do it. Let’s help him.”


They talked the rest of the way home and even for awhile in their parents’ driveway before they went in to tell their dad about their decision.

Their dad was sitting on the living room couch watching the evening news when Tom hesitantly tried to inform him of their decision. “Ddad, StStuart and I are leaving the company.”

Their dad sat straight up, not quite believing what he’d heard, and asked, “What did you say?”1

Merle Franke wrote this modern parable based upon Matthew’s story of those who were first called by Jesus in order for us to get a better glimpse of the truly radical nature of the call and response.

James and John were the sons of Zebedee. The three of them, along with Simon and Andrew, made their living fishing the Sea of Galilee. Jesus came upon the two sets of brothers when he was out walking along the sea after hearing that Cousin John had been arrested, thus signaling that it was time for him to fulfill his mission. The brothers were fishing and Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

The four of them bit on the bait Jesus offered them, left the occupation they had trained their whole lives for and followed a man who had been raised a carpenter but who was traveling around the country preaching, teaching and healing. It had to have been especially hard for James and John because not only were they leaving their fishing, but the business they had built up with their dad as well. Matthew doesn’t share with us ol’ Zeb’s reaction, but it doesn’t take much to imagine that it was similar to Tom and Stuart McLean’s dad’s in Merle Frank’s parable: “What did you say?”

I don’t think Matthew neglected to share with us Zebedee’s response for any other reason than it wasn’t germane to the point he wanted to make with this story: that being, when Jesus Christ invites persons to follow him, it doesn’t matter what they’re doing or who they are, but only that Jesus Christ sees something in them, believes in their potential and has need of them.

There’s no question that the first four disciples of Jesus were pretty ordinary guys. They had no formal education. They probably weren’t particularly attractive. No doubt, they smelled a bit now and then. They probably weren’t very influential in their community. My guess is they weren’t wealthy, nor did they run with the socially elite. While they probably weren’t dirt poor, they surely came from the simple working class.

One of the greatest mistakes we make in the church is assuming that God wants or is able to work through those with extraordinary talents or education or resources. But the truth of the matter, according to the accounts we read in the bible, the truth of the matter is that God is able to work through any one of us despite the inadequate beliefs or feelings we have about ourselves. Whenever we’re tempted to reject the urgings in our souls, our minds, our guts that we sense are God telling us to do something because we don’t feel we’re qualified, we need to remind ourselves of God’s going to Moses and telling him to go to Pharaoh and tell him to “let my people go.” Remember Moses' response? “No, no, God, not me. I’m a nobody and I don’t talk too well.”  It's important that we remember that God was able to use him despite his feelings of inadequacy. We need to remember Gideon claiming that he was the weakest link of a weak family when God wanted to use him. And remember David’s reaction when he sensed God calling him? Do you remember how shocked he was? Do you remember how he argued that he was poor and unknown?

God will use us for what God needs to have done and will equip us to serve, to follow, to minister, to evangelize. It's a waste of our time arguing with God about our inadequacies. Our only choice is to respond and follow and let God do God’s thing in and through us.

There’s something else this story causes me to think about and that is what Jesus said he was going to equip those who follow him to do: fish – fish for others. “I have invited you to follow me because I want you to invite others. I want you to fish and catch others for the kingdom of God.”2 One writer coined what I think is a really challenging and convicting phrase: “If you are not fishing, you are not following.”3

The role of seeking others who need or want Jesus Christ in their lives is the role of all followers of Jesus Christ – all of us are disciples – all of us are ministers – all of us are missionaries – all of us are evangelists. There’s no question that some of us are better at, are more gifted for it, will spend more time at it, but, all of us are responsible at whatever level we’re capable of to reach out to others with the good news of God’s grace, forgiveness, joy, hope, peace, eternal life. All of us are evangelists – called to go and share the good news.

I know, I know, the word evangelism conjures up all kinds of ugly images in some of us because of some of the awful things that have been done by some in the name of evangelism down through the years. But, frankly, I think we need to reclaim the word and rid it of some of those misguided practices and images.

I read a negative images sermon a few years ago entitled “God’s Missionary People.” The preacher began by naming some of the negative evangelistic attempts from which we need to be freed. You know, like the evangelistic method of beating up on people with Jesus – the trying to guilt people into proper behavior in order for them to be loved by Jesus or that makes a conversation into a battle in which arguing a question becomes more important than communicating the love and grace of Jesus Christ - the using the Bible as a weapon of destruction and hatred rather than one of love building bridges.

Then there’s the evangelistic effort that holds out for people a comfortable, “everyone’s like me here, isn’t this cool,” sort of fellowship where we only take care of one another and only let others in like us. Or, like the evangelistic method that tries to win people to Jesus by promising that Jesus will make everything in life alright – that following Jesus will result in being rich, famous, successful and life will be problem free.

The preacher ended the sermon with some comments then about the kind of understanding about evangelism he thinks are more like what Jesus had in mind when he said that he was going to have us, his followers, fish for people.

First, he talked about lifestyle evangelism – letting our actions speak about the difference Jesus Christ makes in our lives. This involves things like putting your hand on a person at work’s shoulder when he or she is slumped over following the news that one of their parents just died or they’ve been let go. It might involve saying something like, “Is there anything I can do?” Or, “I’ll stay with you as long as you need me.” Lifestyle evangelism is like when you know a classmate has flunked a test and you call them and invite them to go out for a pizza or for an ice cream cone on you, and you’re letting them know that you care by listening to them or offering to help them prepare for the next test.

Lifestyle evangelism is about sorting clothes at an area thrift shop, serving coffee at a food pantry, visiting the elderly, living in such a way that others become curious about what it is that causes us to choose to do for others.

The preacher then talked about relational evangelism – a sharing of ourselves beyond the safe zones we’ve established for ourselves. It’s doing things like inviting a new friend, not only to dinner but to church. It’s listening to a colleague’s problems and offering sympathy and to pray with them. “Relational evangelism always involves some risks, for it requires actively involving a friend, a co-worker, or a client in one’s own life of faith.”3

Probably the most challenging form of evangelism this preacher described in his sermon is something he labeled membership evangelism. He describes it as, “witnessing to those who have fallen away from the snug centers of acceptable society and have been flung to the corners of existence, either economically, emotionally or physically. Membership evangelists witness to the drug addicts, the homeless, the mentally ill, all the despairing and hopeless of our society.”4  Membership evangelism remembers the disposed of. They try to reknit them into the fabric of society.

Any takers? Anyone wish to go fishing for Jesus among the least and forgotten? Anyone willing to offer good news of God’s love and forgiveness to those who are desperately in need of it?

Jesus Christ calls and Jesus Christ equips. Jesus Christ supplies what we need to fish and goes with us as the bait those in need crave, hunger for, will risk everything in order to obtain it. The difference in this bait is that it satisfies, it fills up, it heals, it comforts. We’re not out to hook others with Jesus but to feed them what he has to offer - to satisfy their hunger, their loneliness, their lack of purpose for living, their feelings of inferiority, their sense of being unacceptable.

The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We are called to follow – to be his disciples – to be an open community that loves God and serves our neighbors. We’re called to fish and we have much to offer. So, let’s go fishin’.

Let’s pray.
“O God, you know our reluctance to fish on your behalf – you know how unsure we are of the bait – the words we should use, how uncomfortable we are with overzealous religious types and our fear that others might perceive us that way. We don’t handle rejection, failure too well, Lord, and so much fishing for people is like fishing itself – not many get caught. We need your working on our hearts – we need a new shot of confidence – guide us, Lord, to the people in need of your message and help us to be the vessels in which they will see you. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Merle Frank, "Invitation From a Jogger," Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit: Cycle A (Lima: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 1995), 0-7880-0527-8.
Leonard Sweet, “God’s Missionary People,” Homiletics,  May 30, 1993.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ben Patterson, “The Great Fish Controversy,” The Wittenburg Door.


EXTRA ILLUSTRATION OR CHALLENGING THOUGHT
Several years ago a Ben Patterson wrote a little satire lifting up this danger and reality in many churches of his day and it’s still true in our day. It was reprinted in The Wittenburg Door and I think it might be helpful as a prophetic warning as we go about attempting to live out our journeys of faith. He entitled the piece The Great Fish Controversy.
“For months, the Fishers Society had been wracked with dissension. They had built a new meeting hall which they called their Aquarium and had even called a world renowned Fisherman’s Manual scholar to lecture them on the art of fishing. But still no fish were caught.  Several times each week they would gather in their ornate Aquarium Hall, recite portions of the Fisherman’s Manual and then listen to their scholar expound on the intricacies and mysteries of the Manual. The meeting would usually end with the scholar dramatically casting his net into the large tank in the center of the hall and the members rushing excitedly to its edges to see if any fish would bite. None ever did, of course, since there were no fish in the tank. Which brings up the reason for the controversy. Why? The temperature of the tank was carefully regulated to be just right for ocean perch. Indeed, oceanography experts had been consulted to make the environment of the tank nearly indistinguishable from the ocean. But still no fish. Some blamed it on poor attendance to the Society’s meetings. Others were convinced that specialization was the answer: perhaps several smaller tanks geared especially for different fish age groups. There was even division over which was more important: casting or providing optimum tank conditions. Eventually a solution was reached. A few members of the Society were commissioned to become professional fishermen and were sent to live a few blocks away on the edge of the sea and do nothing but catch fish. It was a lonely existence because most other members of the Society were terrified of the ocean. So the professions would send back pictures of themselves holding some of their catches and letters describing the joys and tribulations of real live fishing and periodically they would return to Aquarium Hall to show slides. After such meetings, people of the Society would return to their homes thankful that their Hall had not been built in vain.”5

Here's another version of it:

Fishers of Persons

“Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishers. And lo, there were many fish in the waters all around. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish. And the fish were hungry.
“Week after week, month after month, and year after year, these who called themselves fishers, met in meetings and talked about their call to go fishing. Continually, they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better definitions of fishing. They sponsored costly nationwide and worldwide congresses to discuss fishing and to promote fishing and hear about all the ways of fishing, such as new fishing equipment, fish calls, and whether any new bait was discovered.
“These fishers built large, beautiful buildings called ‘Fishing Headquarters.’ The plea was that everyone should be a fisher and every fisher should fish. However, there was one thing they didn’t do. They didn’t fish!
“All of the fishers seemed to agree that what was needed was a committee which could challenge fishers to be faithful in fishing, to define fishing, and to promote the idea of fishing in far-away streams and lakes where many other fish of difference colors lived.
“Large, elaborate, and expensive training centers were built whose purpose was to teach fishers how to fish.  Those who taught fishing had doctorates in fishology. But the teachers did not fish. They only taught fishing.
“Some spent much study and travel to learn the history of fishing and to go to far away places where the founding mothers and fathers did great fishing in centuries past. They lauded the faithful fishers of years before who handed down the idea of fishing.
“Many who felt the call to be fishers responded. They were commissioned and sent to fish. And they went off to foreign lands . . . to teach fishing.
“Now it’s true that many of the fishers sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishing clubs. They anguished over those who were not committed enough to attend weekly meetings to talk about fishing. After all, weren’t they following the Master who said, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of persons?’
“Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who don’t catch fish were really not fishers, no matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it did sound correct.
“Is a person a fisher if year after year he/she never catches a fish? Is one following if he/she isn’t fishing?"  (5)