Fishing's Hard
Mark 1:14-20
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
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In the reading, we hear a story about fishing, a story detailing actual fishermen and one of Jesus casting out a net while searching for the first disciples. It's a passage of scripture that resonates with the very core of our relationship to God. Jesus, a prophet, God with us, calls us to leave everything we know behind and follow him. It's more though than leaving what's familiar; it's about going and casting our rods or nets to fish for others as well, but the fishing that Jesus is encouraging his disciples to do goes much deeper than just recruiting others. The fishing that Jesus asks of his disciples is also subversive. It's meant to change who we are and change the course of the human condition.
I'm sure that when Jesus called the first disciples, they didn't fully understand what it meant to be fishers of people. I'm sure that they didn't understand what Jesus would ask them to do and what role they would play in reshaping our history. The Gospel of Mark continually stresses the importance of "time," kairos. Jesus' ministry on earth focused on the urgency of bringing the Kingdom of God to the world, the ushering in of God's reign or dominion to all of creation. This work of co-creation would start with the trades of those who fished for a living. A vocation that fits with the thematic arch of salvation that God has envisioned.
As a child, my father would sometimes take my sister and me out to go fishing. Every time we get excited at the prospect of catching a fish, yet thirty minutes in, we would start asking, "Can we go home now?" After trying to keep us interested, my sister and I would go back to concentrating, waiting to see the little bob at the end submerge under the water. I can remember the feeling of catching a fish, though, and the anticipation of seeing what was on the other end of the line. Truth be told, it was exhilarating until I had to take the fish off the hook. Then and now, that is the one part of fishing that I don't think I will ever be able to do without help. Fishing is a little more challenging than I imagined, but maybe that is what makes it appropriate to the imagery we find this morning.
In our contemporary reading of this passage, we often read this passage through rose-colored glasses. Yes, Jesus is calling the disciples to be fishers of people, isn't that nice? But have you thought about what's involved with fishing? As I stated in my previous story, fishing involves pulling live fish out of the water, water that they need to live, and often bringing them out of the water with barbed hooks, ouch! That isn't a pleasant thought, but this fishing image and the tools associated with the trade harkens back to other prophets, such as the prophets Jeremiah and Amos. In the words of these precursors to Jesus, the allusion to fishing and hooks is used to convey God's dissatisfaction with Israel. As the prophet, Amos, in his rebuke to the powerful and wealthy, states: "The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: The time is surely coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks." (Amos 4:2)
Perhaps then Jesus' invitation to be fishers of people is two-fold. First, Jesus is inviting us to be messengers of the good news that the gospel contains. Maybe this is a given. However, we shouldn't take for granted the relational aspect of Jesus' vision. The image of fishing calls us to remember the chaotic waters found at the beginning of scripture. Out of the waters of the deep void, God called us, and so Jesus asks the disciples, invites us, to lift others out of chaos and into light and love. Jesus tells us to be fishers of people. We don't get to be selective of who we invite into our community because bridging the gaps that divide us, Jesus calls us into a deep sense of commune with the Holy Spirit that transcends all things.
The second part of this two-fold invitation requires action on our part. Our faith is an ongoing cycle of call and response. Christ continually extends opportunities for us to embrace spiritual growth opportunities and then expects us to respond with action. In appearing to the first disciples who came from humble occupations, Jesus was not only welcoming them into a community but asking them to join in a collective movement. This movement sought to challenge the underpinnings of their time and culture, Jesus asked the disciples to overturn the privileged and the powerful. Jesus stood on the side of the oppressed, the dispossessed, the stranger, the poor, the victimized, the underpaid, the uninsured, and the forgotten. Jesus asks us to do the same. Jesus asks us to be not only fishers of people but fishers who cast our rods and hook and pull out the pollution that has tainted our communities.
Fishing for people is dangerous yet liberating work. Dangerous because we open ourselves to criticism and are vulnerable. Liberating because if we manage to be vulnerable, we are free to lean hard into the promises of God's Kin(g)dom. We are all sinners, wrapped in the grace of God. We have no right to say who is and isn't welcome at the table of God or who comes into our community simply because we don't like their culture, race, creed, or other forms of identity. Jesus calls us to be fishers of people, and we can't be picky; we can only be welcoming. And Jesus calls us to be fishers who hook and pull out the toxicity that plagues us, to turn things upside down. As I said in the beginning, the fishing that Jesus asks of his disciples is also subversive. It's meant to change who we are and change the course of the human condition. So will we follow? Amen.