Fishers of Men

Article for February 9, 2025

Luke 5:10b–11 And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

It must have been exciting to see Jesus speaking to the crowds.  Everyone there had a hunger to witness and see the savior they’d been waiting for.  The coming of the Lord was written in the books of the Torah and the books of the Prophets.  And these books were preached to the people through out the history of Israel.

The wait is over, and we can imagine that we are in the crowd, and we are listening as Jesus gives us the “Good News.”  What is this word from our Lord, and what does this good news He is telling us do?  The words Jesus uses seem different from the words and commands of the priests and high priests.  We are used to hearing the law, and Jesus is telling us about some sort of gospel.  What is this salvation, and what is this forgiveness of sin.  What did Jesus say, “I came for the sinner.”  What does that mean?

We can imagine watching Jesus get in a boat and preaching this good news.  How does this good news help us.  Then we can imagine Jesus miraculously guiding the fishermen to catch an enormous number of fish, enough to fill two fishing boats. 

Our savior appears to all as one who is giving, yet our blindness keeps us from seeing it as we don’t always have something to hold on to.  Jesus came to give the riches of life to all, but not everyone sees these gifts.  Jesus came for the sinner, rich and poor, but many think their self-righteousness will get them through.  Jesus came to let us all know we have a God that loves us all in rich and equal portions, but some think that some are more equal than others.

And what does Jesus say to these fishermen that makes them drop everything to follow Him?  Jesus seems to just use the words that one can easily understand.  These fishermen just caught fish in an abundance beyond belief.  And Jesus says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”  We can be sure that Peter, James, and John wanted to see more of what this our savior can do so, they dropped everything and followed Jesus.  What would you do?  What are you doing now?  Are you a disciple or are you a church goer?

1 Corinthians 14:12b & 20 Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

20Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

Fishers of men.  These fishers of men are the disciples of Jesus whom Jesus called.  Jesus handpicked them, not because they were smarter, braver, or more spiritual, but because they were just normal everyday people.  These fishermen were eager to go with Jesus and were eager to learn from Jesus.  Who wouldn’t be excited to be with and learn from the true God and Christ. 

This is the savior, and this savior is asking us to build the church up.  This is not Jesus asking His disciples to build a church building.  A building no matter how ornate it may look is not the church.  Rather the church is made up of disciples who are eager to learn “The Way” as it was called at that time.  The church is made up of many parts as it will become the body of Christ on earth.  Like the body, it takes its orders from the head and the church takes its orders from Jesus Christ who is the head of the church.

The church is made up of disciples who are growing their faith through the knowledge of God’s word.  And a true disciple is not one who just learns from the master but puts what they have learned into action as directed by the master.  A church then becomes an active body of Christ to call more disciples to follow “The Way” and grow the body, which is the church, which is the body of Christ.

Paul is saying to the Corinthians, have faith like a child, but give up childish ways.  Be an unmovable from your faith but move to put God’s word into action.  Let us not stay as children and let the adults do all the work for us.  Let us mature into adults so that the work to be done is not too heavy for anyone.  Our maturity lightens the load and prospers the church, the body of Christ, faster.

Isaiah 6:3b & 8 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

8And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Our God is holy through His means of serving His people.  How does God serve us, but through Jesus Christ His Son.  Jesus who grew the church from twelve to billions because He Himself is the “Good News.” 

Jesus came to us for the glory of God to be wrapped around us as everyone is chosen by God.  We are God’s children whom Jesus died for.  Jesus came to save the sinner, I’m sure we fit that bill, but the good news is we will all be clothed in the finest righteousness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for an eternity.  Amen.

Written by Pastor Curtis May