Fishers of Men
AM Psalm 34 • Jeremiah 16:14-21 • Mark 1:14-20
PM Psalm 33 • Jeremiah 26:1-15 • Matthew 10:16-32
This Reflection is being published on the Feast Day of St. James, the Apostle. There was some confusion about what day to celebrate as it is usually on July 25, but the church powers-that-be decided to make it July 26 this year. Since James has the distinction?? of being the first disciple martyred (losing his head in 44 A.D.), a day either way is not a deal-breaker.
When I read the passage in Mark 14: 8: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” I am left to wonder how I would have responded to this invitation from Jesus. James was in the boat with his father Zebedee and brother, John, mending their nets. “Immediately he called them and they left their father in the boat with the hired men and followed him.” WOW!
As I read the account of James and his brother making this life-changing decision in the blink of an eye, I am blown away. Return with me to a night in the Spring of 1963—I was in my dorm room at T.C.U. in Fort Worth, Texas, with my roommate Chris Suit. A friend burst into the room at around 10pm and said, “Do you want to go with me to Mississippi and register voters?” Say what??? I’ll never forget (although I hope I have forgiven myself) saying to Joey Jeter, “I’d like to but I have a test tomorrow.”
I now realize that there have been many, many other invitations to “follow me” in my life. I have said “Yes!” to a number of those opportunities. We have all probably had Jesus beckon us many times to follow, and we have been unable/unwilling to go. But the Good News is that there have been a number of times we have RSVPed a resounding, “Yes!”
If you have raised a child; if you have committed to a lifetime work (whether or not the “work” was for renumeration); if you have loved an animal; if you have loved someone so much that you thought you would die if you lost them; if you are dying to your small self; if you have put someone else’s needs before your own…you have followed Him—you have become “fishers of people.” Cowabunga!
Written by Nicholas Cole
...who is grateful for the never-ending invitations to “follow me.”