A Calling Story:
two fishermen brothers-Peter and Andrew-are casting nets. Called by Jesus, "Follow
me, and I will make you fish for people," their response is unflinching and
immediate. A further encounter with two other brothers who are fishermen-James and
John-are called and once again their response is the same: "Immediately they left the
boat . . . and followed him."
• Key word: opisso -
"come, follow me!" Occurs three times in this short passage (Matthew here is
following Mark); the first appearance is in the imperative-"[You] Come, follow
me!" In the other two cases, opisso is in the aorist tense which describes the
response of the disciples to Jesus’ invitation.
• Key word: euthus, "immediately." Though a Marcan favorite, here
Matthew employs the word to convey a sense of urgency and immediacy to Jesus’ call.
• Key word: katartizo, "mending" [their nets] (vs. 21). This word means
to mend or restore to its former condition; also, the word is used by Paul in 1
Thessalonians 3:10-"make you complete in every good thing." The word, katartizo,
also carries the idea "to clean, mend, fold together;" and "to make
something complete; used by Paul in Ephesians 4:12: "to equip the saints for the work
of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity.
Do you have any early memories of
fishing with the family? Or with this passage?
• Remember that
Sunday School song that enjoyed popularity during the flannel board era: I will make you
fishers of men . . . if you follow me?
• Question: Were these guys foolish, ignorant, overly impressionable,
irresponsible in their immediate response to follow Jesus?
• Images of the disciples unusual immediate response-a sergeant snapping privates
to attention; mom raising the dead on Saturday morning after the sleepover is done.
• Are we convinced that God’s good news is Great News?
Fishing stories. Why
not begin with what is already familiar to listeners-how we’ve heard, imagined, and
thought about this passage; (you may have your own great fishing story to begin with!)
• Retell the story of the four men who follow Jesus
immediately. Two are fishing and two brothers are mending their nets. Both leave
everything to follow Jesus.
• Create tension-are such knee-jerk responses to follow at someone’s beck and
call a responsible action? Most of us encourage reflection, research, and investigation in
order to come to our best decisions. This seems to defy such practices.
• Provide concrete vignettes or scenarios in which short, snap decisions of such
magnitude could lead to disastrous results. (I have included several in my homily for this
week as examples.)
• Move toward resolution-no such decisions are not warranted by commonsense or
even by Scripture; context and prophecy will help to solve the tension by suggesting that
the fishermen had heard enough good news to satisfy them that God’s Kingdom had come
in Jesus.
•
Closure-provide a closing story or
personal account to reflect our call to mend nets.
