Photo by Jenny Venturo
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him (Matthew 4:18-22).
The command seemed easy enough. “Wherever I go, you go; whatever I do, you do.” Just like a small child playing Follow the Leader, Jesus’ command to His first four disciples was “Follow me.”
The first step was to leave their profession—or rather, to change the object of their profession. Instead of fishing for fish, Jesus He said He would make them fishers of men.
Having only fished for fish, I’m not sure those first disciples quite knew what it meant to fish for men. Nor did they know exactly what following Him would entail.
One thing they knew was that Jesus was the Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). As such, they knew that He was the one to follow. Even when others stopped following Jesus, they understood that Jesus has the words of eternal life (John 6:68-69), and thus they would not—could not—stop following Him.
Over time, the disciples learned that fishing for men was what Jesus was doing while he was here on earth. Jesus said that He came "to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10). Just like a sheep wanders from the shepherd and gets lost, we have wandered away from God and lost our way. We constantly rebel against God by breaking His law. We lie, steal, hate, covet, and look at others with lust. As a just Judge, God must punish lawbreakers. But Jesus stepped in to take our punishment for us by dying on the cross. We broke God’s law, but Jesus paid our fine. He defeated death by rising from the dead. Now, He offers eternal life to all who turn from their sin and trust Him as their Savior.
At the end of Jesus’ time on earth, He decided that the disciples were ready to continue His ministry and fish for men. Before ascending back into heaven, He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19a; cf. 19b-20). For the rest of their lives, the disciples took the Gospel to the ends of the earth to seek and save the lost—fishing for men. Not only that, they taught others also to be fishers of men.
So, here we are 2,000 years later, and nothing has changed. Culture and customs may be different, but Jesus’ command rings true. “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
How about you? Are you a follower of Jesus? I’m not asking if you go to church regularly, if you believe in God, if you’re a religious person, or if you used to be a follower. Right now, are you following Jesus by fighting sin and trusting Him daily?
If you are a follower of Jesus, how is your fishing? Are you making the best use of your time and talents to seek and save lost family members, friends, and even strangers?
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission. All rights reserved.