It’s Time to Go Fishing

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. [Matthew 4:18 – 22 – NIV] Questions abound as to why the fishermen (and others) decided “at once” and “immediately” to follow Jesus. Did Jesus use a Jedi-mind trick on them? Did they desire to learn how to be rabbis? Did they simply hate their jobs of being fishermen and decided they would enjoy what Jesus had in store for them?

We can speculate on their motivations, but we should not miss the challenge being offered by these events that Matthew reports. The lesson we need to learn and do is to follow the fishermen’s example. They followed Jesus without hesitation! They left their familiar life, even their family at times, and followed Jesus without hesitation. What might your life be like if you did that? Would following Jesus without hesitating be scary? Would it be exciting? What would our friends and neighbors think of us? But more important, what might God think of us?

Friends, Jesus calls out to us in our difficult times and in the best times of our lives. Consider how the world might be transformed if even just a FEW of us followed Jesus’s teachings and decided to be like him. Then consider what the world and Glen Burnie might be like if ALL of us followed him without hesitation! The world would be transformed! Glen Burnie United Methodist Church would grow! We would be changed in a powerful and Godly way! Jesus is saying to us, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” Let’s go fishing, friends! Let us follow him at once and immediately!

Pastor Martin