Matthew 4:12-23 Fishing for Men

Fishing for people is an odd sort of job description that Jesus offers.  Often we associate this with the sort of proselytizing that stands on street corners and proclaims hell fire and damnation to all who stray from a certain vision of the straight and narrow.  But suppose we think of fishing for people as more like catching them under the arms and lifting them up out of whatever sea of troubles they may be in?  Then fishing for people would be more like what the gospel says that Jesus does – proclaiming good news of the kingdom and curing people of their ailments.  Fishing for people might still happen in places like streetcorners and community centers  as well as our workplaces and coffee shops, in fact anywhere where we encounter people awash with difficulties, drowning in sorrow, cast adrift from relationships that had sustained them.  And what are we to do with these people? Jesus says “catch them”: reach out a hand, or even extend both hands, to offer support for them in troubles we can’t alleviate and do what we can to pull them out of those heavy seas. Offer good news that is directly connected, as Jesus’s words were, to the heavy lifting involved to cure what ails them.  Jesus doesn’t just give us fish and meet our own ongoing need for his curing power, he also shows us how to fish.