fishing

In today's Sacred Space the passage was about the call of Simon (later called Peter by Jesus) and Andrew, who were fishing with a net at the time. Jesus told them to follow him and they would fish for people. What does it mean to fish for people? I wonder what Peter and Andrew thought of Jesus' use of the phrase?

It struck me that a good fisherman probably knows a lot about fish, can even "think like a fish" in a weird sort of way. Peter and Andrew knew where the fish were at that time of day and were going after them. They didn't try to fish from their house or some other place where they were comfortable. They knew they had to get wet and messy in order to fish.

And what's the goal? Peter and Andrew weren't fishing with rods and reels, they were using a net. They weren't after individual "converts", they were going to where the fish were and then casting their net. Here's where the metaphor breaks down for me: only Peter ended up as a mass evangelist, with 3000 becoming followers of Jesus after his sermon in Acts 2. But maybe that's the point. It's not up to us to do the converting, we're just supposed to cast the net.

Flash back to Darren's sermon title from last Sunday: outreach isn't reaching out. It's not staying where we're comfortable and hoping people will come to us. It's being like Jesus out where people are so that they can see something of God's hope and healing through us. Which is something else to note: Jesus didn't call Peter, he called Peter and Andrew (and James and John right afterward). Fishing for people isn't something we're expected to do alone. It takes several people to cast a net and haul it back in. It's something we do together.