Wetting a Hook

Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.

Matthew 4:19

Martha will quickly tell you that I am obsessed with fishing, especially bass fishing. I am always looking through catalogs and perusing the internet for the latest and greatest thing to put a fish in the boat. I’ve got a fully rigged boat with depth finders, aerated livewells, power trim, etc.  Do they really help me put more fish in the boat? Maybe, but I want to have the necessary equipment at hand should I find the fish. 

But scaly creatures that swim in the deep are not what Jesus wants us to seek. First and foremost, this is what Jesus called his disciples to do.  And in some amorphous way, we recognize this as our calling, also. Jesus enjoins us to cast our nets for the catch. 

St. Patrick of Ireland took this calling earnestly; he saw himself doing what Jesus had commanded all his disciples to do.  In his writings, Patrick reported on his work and how the Lord had blessed them.  Patrick was firmly convinced he was called to fish for men. 

In today’s world, fishing for people looks more like a lot of waiting for the fish to swim into our pool. We normally don’t broach the subject of Jesus with others outside the walls of the church, and the “lures” that are being used to draw people in look more like entertainment rather than the hard but saving truths of the Word of God. 

Patrick, known as the “Apostle of Ireland”, preached God’s grace to the pagan Irish.  He taught them their idols could not save them or deliver them from God’s judgment. He taught them about the incomprehensible love of God, who called even the lowly to seek Him with all their being.  Thus, they could find God’s salvation through their faith in Christ. Patrick did not pull his punches as he told the Irish that following Jesus is difficult and challenging, and in order to follow Christ they would have to do away with their old beliefs, as well as their way of life.  They would have to be clothed with Christ for a life of self-denial and service.  

He warned them that they may suffer for their belief in Jesus, but he exhorted them to never be reluctant or doubtful. 

Patrick made it clear that God required complete obedience, heartfelt repentance, and intense devotion to prayer and the Scriptures. 

The Irish believed Patrick’s preaching by the thousands because he immersed himself in the profundity of Irish ungodliness, immoral behavior, ignorance, and disbelief. Patrick cast the net of God’s Word knowing that God would enable him to reap a host of people for Christ. 

Where are the people who think like this today – people who are serious about God’s Word and use it to equip other people to be fishers of people? If we each had Patrick’s faith we would cast our nets into the deepness of the world each and every day. Have we made the Christian faith too confusing and complicated: join our church, get involved in some ministry, join a small group, attend a seminar, or learn new songs?  “If our love were but more simple, we should take him at His Word as the old hymn goes, and that word is the same as it was to Patrick, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” People followed Patrick’s teaching and much of Europe was revitalized, so what would happen if we did likewise?

Curtis +