Matthew 4:19, “Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people.”
Matthew records that the first four disciples of Jesus were fisherman. Jesus saw them when He was teaching by the Sea of Galilee. He called His first set of brothers, Peter and Andrew, and said the words recorded above. He then immediately called the next set of brothers, James and John, and most likely repeated what He said or they overheard His previous call.
When Jesus called these four fishermen to be His disciples He was making a direct comparison to their lifestyle of fishing to what He was going to do with them. Both sets of brothers were probably trained from a small child by their fathers to be successful fisherman by being able to read the weather patterns, cast a net, safely be in a boat, know the right seasons to catch each kind of fish, how to clean fish, and bring them to market.
Jesus understood this same principle of mentorship because he was probably raised by Joseph to be a carpenter in the same way, Matthew 13:55. Plus, during Jesus’ early years he most likely went by the sea and saw people fishing all the time. And would’ve seen fishermen at the markets and might have even gone fishing with His friends on occasion.
As a result, when Jesus wanted to pick His first disciples He purposely chose hard working fishermen that would understand the value of mentorship- for their very lives depended on it. Thus, I believe He chose them because He knew they would be zealous to teach others all that He was going to teach them.
Now imagine what most “Christians” would say if their pastor would tell them this Sunday, “Everything I teach you here today, I expect you to go out and teach others.” I believe many “Christians” would say, “But I’m not ‘called’ to do that, that’s the pastor’s job!” How sad! Most churches today have forgotten the lesson Jesus taught His first disciples- “what I do ‘to’ you, must go ‘through” you!’
Decide today, that you will be a disciple like the first disciples in the Bible- trained fishers of men!
Reflection
Action
- Think about what would be your response if Jesus asked you to fish for men.
- Make a decision and pray for God to make you a fisher of men.
- Everything God does “to” you let Him do it “through” you to others.
