Fishing for People

"Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!"

Matthew 4:19

There I was, sitting in the sand.  I can't honestly say that I was just "minding my own business, " but like Peter and Andrew in the passage referenced above, I was by the sea that day, wondering what I was doing there, when Jesus seriously interrupted and permanently redirected my life.  A third year Citadel cadet, I had actually had other plans that weekend than to be at a religious retreat.  But a friend had told me I'd be doing him a favor by going to the retreat in his place, since military duties had prevented his attending.  Since he offered me a paid reservation, and since my company commander had, inexplicably, granted a late-notice request for weekend leave, I sensed maybe God was nudging me to go.  Besides, it was mid-April, it was at the beach, and mid-April in South Carolina is a great time to be at the beach.

Saturday  morning of the retreat, the first event following breakfast was "quiet time," a phrase that, for this sophisticated college junior, only conjured up memories of kindergarten.  My first thought was that these folk seriously intended to lie down while their food digested.  However, still hopeful, I asked the guy sitting next to me what "quiet time" meant.  He said simply that I should take my Bible, go sit on the beach, and meet with God.  At first relieved, I suddenly realized I had a problem. Never having been to a retreat, it had never occurred to me to bring a Bible.  However, I discovered there were extras lying about, and taking one, sauntered out to the beach to find a place for God and me to have a little talk.

As I sat there, taking in the beauty of the morning, I quietly - and honestly - asked God what He wanted.  Further, I asked Him to show me through this book, with which I was only marginally familiar. Then, at a loss where to read in my borrowed Bible, I did exactly the same thing that I did this morning, and on many mornings since - I looked to the gospels.  Still not knowing which book to choose, I sought familiar territory. Eventually landing in the gospel of John, I began reading. 

It was in chapter 6 that Jesus seemed to grab me by the shirt collar and push verse 27 right up in my face.  In a remarkable way, I had the unmistakable assurance that this verse was his message for me.  In one verse, he answered my simple prayer, which explained why he had led me to this retreat.  "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him God, the Father, has set His seal."

As I read these words, it dawned on me as clearly as the sun's morning rays lit up that Carolina beach, that Jesus was calling me to live my life for his priorities rather than my own.  He wanted me to follow him, and learn what it meant to work for eternal "food."  For me, I knew this meant a redirection as well as a redefining of my purposes.  To take Jesus up on this call was fraught with uncertainties, but I couldn't deny it was he who called.  What else was there to do but follow?  And that, as Robert Frost would say, has made all the difference.

In Matthew 4, Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John in a very similar way - devastating the Zebedee and Sons Seafood business in half an hour.  There they were, by the sea, literally minding their own business, when he interrupted their lives with an opportunity and a simple promise, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to catch people."  Now people are much more important than fish.  People have eternal souls that will be saved or lost.  And, as Jesus pointed out to me so clearly that other morning by the sea, it is the eternal about which he is concerned, and the eternal  about which those who follow him are to concern themselves.

"I will show you how to catch people."  This promise reveals what Jesus is about.  It also offers a priority against which I may measure my own activities.  Since Jesus is always good for his promises, I can be sure that he will show me how to fish for people - if it is truly Jesus whom I follow.  Conversely, I may ask, "If I am not about the work of "fishing" for people, then who is it I am actually following?"