Fishers of People

(Mark 1:14-20 ESV)

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

What we see in the gospel today is Jesus ushering in the Kingdom of God by proclaiming the Good news.

There is a story of a man made of salt, who lived in the desert, and he wondered who he really was.  So the Salt man decided to take a Journey to find out.  He come across different creatures in the dessert like the scorpion  and he  ask, “Who are you?”  The scorpion would replay, “I am a deadly Scorpion.  Don’t come to close to me or I will sting you to death.”

Next he came upon a rattle snake, and asked, “Who are you?”  The Rattle snake replied, “I am a deadly rattle snake, don’t come to close or my bite will kill you.”  As he walked and walked, and walked, he came in contact with some very dangerous situations.  He finally came upon a vast ocean and was startled by the tremendous body of water which he never saw before.

The Salt Man said to the ocean, “Who are you?”   The ocean replied back, “Come and see.”  So the salt man started to walk into the ocean and as he did he began to dissolve into the ocean.  Finally, just before the salt man was completely dissolved he said, “I know now...who I am,”  and then he became one with the ocean.  The salt was made for the ocean and he knew who he was by dying to himself, and letting himself become what he was called to be.

In scripture today is the beginning of the journey for the disciples who have an encounter with Christ who says to them, “Come follow me.”  They let go of what was familiar to them.  They turned and followed Christ and embraced who they were called to be - Apostles.

It is in that relationship with Christ that we came to know who we are, and learn what it is that we are meant to be, but we have to let go of what we are about and let ourselves be dissolved by surrendering to Christ’s call in our lives.

When we empty ourselves, letting go of all the things we think are going to make us happy; all the things we think will bring meaning to our life, we find that when we embrace Christ’s call we discover, in the end, who we really are, and what we are called to be.

Letting ourselves be dissolved into the will of God is much like the doctrine of the cross, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his own cross and follow in my steps.”  There are a lot of instances in the gospel where people were called, but didn't follow.  The rich young man who couldn't give up his wealth.  The disciples who couldn't accept the teachings of the Eucharist and turned away.

So we need to look into our own lives and ask what is it that I cling too, that I can’t let go of, which keeps me from following Christ.  Sometimes we follow, but look back like the person who put’s their hand to the blow, but looks back saying, 'Well…I had these career plans or I had this plan or this project.'

And Jesus says, ‘Let go, you put your hand to the blow, don’t look back,” but the things we had in the past nag at us, and we turn, and lose sight of God’s kingdom.

If we lose sight of God's Kingdom then we put ourselves in danger of all the traps of this world.  The sing of addiction to drugs and alcohol, the dangerous bit of temptation, the surging waves of depression and meaninglessness, the loss of God and the endless wanderings in hopeless night.

We will never find ourselves in these things, we can only lose ourselves in them.  What Christ offers us are His nets of mercy and as we fall deeper, and deeper into them we will find who we really are and what we are called to be.

The gospel is the bait. The hook is His church, and the catch is eternal life.  Only we can decide if we are going to allow ourselves to be caught by the gospel message, but if we do we will find not only ourselves but the very meaning of our existence.