Listen to Sermon
Pastor Tom Johnson, January 22, 2017
Fishermen did not use poles and reels to catch their fish. They used nets. And they were not the little nets you find on the ends of a pole to grab one fish struggling to get away. They were very large nets. So large it took a team of fishermen. They would take out several boats with several people in each boat. They would lower the net into the water. They would spread the net as wide and as deep as possible. All sorts of fish would be caught. And the larger the catch, the more muscle it would take. Think about how much strength and balance it would take to pull a wet and heavy net. The water itself provides resistance as the net is pulled in. And the boat is hardly a steady and stabilizing place.
I imagine Peter, Zebedee, and his sons James and John all were great physical condition. Their arms must have been tanned by the sun and swollen by their strain all day in the Sea of Galilee. They were likely great communicators and team players to draw in a net together to maximize their catch. These are all great skills for ministry. The carpenter turned teacher and healer Jesus comes through the region. He is in an area that is partly occupied by Israelites and partly by Gentiles—non Jews. It frontier. And Jesus is fulfilling Scripture by taking the good news across the Jordan River.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” Jesus says. Repent means to expect that our lives will change. There will be a transformation of thinking, attitude, behavior, and direction. “Repentance is not merely a change of mind, one preacher said (Charles Spurgeon), it is a change of the mind itself.” The Kingdom has come. The Kingdom is near. The reign of Messiah has finally reached Israel, Galilee, and now it is about to cross all sorts of boundaries. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light!” Light is a wonderful way of explaining what the Kingdom does. When the love of God is revealed, it brightens up our world. God’s loving light takes away the darkness. That is where the metaphor of a net is also helpful.
The Kingdom of God is also like a fisherman’s net. Like a net, Jesus throws out his hopeful words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” And his words don’t just describe what he is doing—his words don’t just illuminate what he does—his words accomplish what he promises. To say it as Scripture itself does, his Word “is living and active.” His words transforms minds, hears, and lives. It is like a net woven and tied together with words of promise and hope. And God uses it to draw us into his Kingdom. Jesus casts out his Word to draw in Peter, James, and John into his net. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” His Word not only calls them to be his disciples, it equips them—“I will make you into fishers of people.”
Theologians call this “effectual calling.” It is a fancy way of saying that when God invites us to follow him, he also gives us the wisdom, strength, and grace to do so. His Word goes out like a net. It takes hold of our hearts and lives. Being a part of the Kingdom is not just taught, it is caught. And God does the catching. It cannot be any other way. Otherwise we would just be in the deep darkness of this world. Like fish in the Sea of Galilee, we need help from above. We need the light of God’s grace to shine in our cold darkness. Our sin, disease, and the forces of evil keep us under. The truth is we need someone above all this to throw us the net as well as some light. He will have us for supper—not as the meal but as guests—as sons and daughters at the table.
Jesus goes by the road and the water teaching and healing. But his teaching and healing go far deeper than Bible stories and illness of the body. His teaching is the Word that transforms lives, heals the broken-hearted, and revives the soul. And Jesus’ example of fishing for people is a vision of multiplication. Jesus, the Fisher of people, transforms those people into more fishers of people. And those fishers of people teach and equip even more fishers of people. This is the way Jesus begins his ministry in Matthew. And he ends it the same way: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And look! I am with you to the end of the age.”
Jesus makes us into fishers of people. He makes us into disciples and sons and daughters of the Kingdom. He makes us partners in ministry. We are fishers who serve under the master Fisher of human souls. And he catches to multiply his Kingdom. And he equips us to globalize his reign. It is multiplication and globalization. The net of Jesus grace is first cast in the frontier of Galilee and it is now cast out to all nations.
This is how the King expands his Kingdom. This is how the Son equips us to be ambassadors to the whole world. This is how the Holy Spirit unites people who may have many differences but one Lord and Savior.
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