Fishers of men

I never was much of a fisherman, in fact, I would consider myself a poor fisherman. When you don’t ever catch anything, you soon reach this conclusion. Jesus, most likely would not have chosen me to be one of his 12 disciples as I would not have been out there in the fishing business. It is ironic that he called these fishermen and then used the analogy that he was going to make them fishers of men and not just fishers of fish.

Look at the verse closely. Follow me…I will make…you…fishers of men. And he did just that. I might add here that the Greek word for men is both men and women. At that time you primarily used a large net if you were in the commercial fishing business. Over the New Year’s weekend some of our family went to Bass Pro Shop and viewed every form of fishing gear. Didn’t see any nets.

Making disciples

He was training them for three years and today we all are a result of their obedience to his command. God has caught a lot of fish, billions and billions, since then. But what I find very interesting and compelling is the last time he went fishing with them. He had been resurrected and was on the shore where they had not caught anything all night. ‘He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”’ (Jn. 21.6a) They did, and a large quantity of fish were pulled into the boat, 153 to be exact, an overflowing blessing from God.

If we are going to make disciples of all nations, we as ordinary men and women will come up empty like the disciples that night. But when we do it in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit, disciples will be made from all the nations. Overflowing!!!

So, grab your nets and let’s go fishing!