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Known as Fishers
Known as Fishers: Called to Cast a Wide Net
Friday night I went into Philadelphia to have dinner with a friend. We met up at a restaurant off of South Street, one of the most eclectic meeting places in the city. You’ll find a little bit of everything on South Street – fine dining and hot dog carts, tattoo parlors and fine pastry shops, skateboarders, punk rockers, high-society dog walkers and high school tourists. You’ll also find, Hare Krishnas.
As I was leaving the restaurant, a loud and boisterous group of Hare Krishna practitioners were walking, dancing and drumming down the opposite sidewalk. Some members beat drums, some were dancing and some were handing out flowers. They were all chanting very loudly. Some had on modern dress and others had on saris, typical Indian dress. We walked along at the same pace on opposite sides of the street for several blocks. At one corner, while waiting for the light to change, they met up with several excited folks, who joined in their signing and dancing. When the light changed, they continued their walk, obviously filled with new energy from having shared with others.
I was struck by that traveling band of Hare Krishnas. On a Friday night, when everyone around them was eating or shopping or hanging out with friends, here they were, sharing their religious beliefs with others. All of them had turned away from the average, typical Western world. Their dress set them apart, their chants set them apart, their actions set them apart. They had turned their back on what they had grown up with and what society tells them is normal and adopted a completely different lifestyle.
Turning away from one’s surrounding culture isn’t unique to Hare Krishnas. It’s pretty commonplace for religious people. People who believe in God frequently adopt behaviors that set them apart. Jewish and Muslim believers do not eat pork. Hindus do not eat beef. Hassidic Jews wear distinctive dress – the women wear wigs and ankle-length skirts, the men wear black top hats and pesas, the long locks of hair beside their ears. Mormon young men give two years of their adulthood to serve as missionaries, traveling far from home, wearing the uniform of white shirts and blue suits and walking or biking everywhere.
When we look at religious folks who choose to separate themselves so radically from their families or the surrounding culture, we have to admire the resolve they have to dedicate themselves so completely to a cause, to give up what they may know and feel comfortable with to set off on a completely unknown journey. They are willing to take risks for their beliefs.
In the United States, a country that is so steeped in the Christianity, and that was founded on the principle of religious freedom, I think it can actually be harder rather easier to take risks for our faith. Being a Christian, or going to church, isn’t a novelty. It’s certainly not as common as it was two or three generations ago, but it also isn’t much of a stretch. We have church buildings on every corner, Christian pastors who give the invocation and benediction at the presidential inauguration and Christian groups in our schools. Being a Christian doesn’t set us apart at the grocery store in our food choices or at the mall in our clothing choices. It’s pretty easy to live our lives like our neighbors and friends, with the added activity of church on Sunday mornings.
So today, let’s ask ourselves, what does it mean to be a follower of Christ in the world today? What does it mean for me, for my family, to claim the name of Christian? What does it mean for me to become a fisher, to cast my nets for a grander purpose than everyday living? What does it mean for me to take a risk for God?
Taking a risk for God is a common theme throughout the Bible. Abraham and Sarah left their entire family and their country for an unknown land that God would show them. Moses agreed to lead God’s people to freedom, even through he had a speech impediment and he, a shepherd, would have to confront the leaders of the most powerful nation on earth. Jeremiah answered the call to become God’s prophet and speak truth to power even though he was just a boy. Esther risked her life to save the Jewish people from scheming political leaders. Jonah, in today’s Hebrew Bible Lesson, risked being stoned in Nineveh as he delivered God’s message for the entire nation to repent of its sin and be restored to God’s favor. In all of these situations, God called average, everyday people like me and you. They heard God call them, they left their sheep or their families or their royal thrones to be faithful to that call. They took a risk.
In the New Testament, risk-taking is everywhere. Jesus is God’s greatest gift and God’s greatest risk for humankind. God risked the very life of God’s son to show us how to live and how to love. Paul went from persecuting followers of Jesus as a religious leader to becoming a follower of Jesus, leaving behind his friends and family. And in our Gospel lesson, we have the story of two sets of brothers, Andrew and Peter and James and John, who leave behind everything they have worked for to follow a homeless, itinerant preacher, all because he asked them to.
These four brothers were fishermen, and had built up quite a nice life for themselves. They had boats and nets, they built homes for their families, they hired men to work with them. I imagine they were pillars in their communities, fine, upstanding citizens. But when this roaming preacher called to them, they dropped their nets, hopped out of their boats and set off to roam around the countryside and into Jerusalem following him. They were still fishermen, but Jesus called them to cast their nets now far and wide to, in the name of love.
Boy, can we relate to these four brothers – Andrew and Peter, James and John. We, too, have built up a nice life for ourselves. Sure, we have our problems, like any person and any family does. But by and large, we have it pretty good. Most of us have plenty of food to eat, clothes to wear and a dry and warm place to lay our heads at night. We have employment, we have skills, and we are good at what we do.
But sometimes, it’s so easy for us to get caught up in the day-to-day routine of life that we fail to hear Jesus calling us to take a risk in his name. Jesus didn’t ask these four brothers to give up fishing all together – he asked them to use the skills and talents they honed over the years to be even better fishermen for God, to risk it all in his service, spreading his good news. To paraphrase a Benedictine oblate, Genevieve Glen, “Perhaps following Jesus does not make us into impossibly different characters after all. Perhaps following him makes the very best of what we already are.”
So what would it be like for Jesus to call to us, to invite us to be fishers, but to cast our nets even farther than we can currently see? If you are a teacher, how is Christ calling you to teach even more in his name? If you are a health care worker, how is Jesus calling you to heal even more in his name? If you are retired, how is Jesus calling you to use your lived wisdom even more in his name? if you are a student, how is Jesus calling you to learn even more in his name? If you are a mother or father, how is Jesus calling you to parent even more in his name?
We are known as fishers who are called to cast a wide net, to take a risk for Christ. Where is God calling you to cast that net? What are you being asked to leave behind so you can take on even more in his name? How will you take a risk for Christ, show his love in a way that sets you apart, and shines his love to a hurting and wounded world? Amen.