It’s a story for the books, maybe a movie (ok, yeah, that’s been done already), but really, who does this sort of thing? You’ve got to be miserably desperate just to take off, leave your job and family, and literally get behind a guy who says get on board with him, and he’ll show you how to fish for people. Think about it. People can stink worse than fish. I don’t know. What did they think they were getting into?

It was another long night with nothing to show for it. He likely was a strong man, arms bulging with defined muscles, a complexion browner than his natural skin tone from a lifetime on the water. Not one of those chosen from Hebrew school to further his study, he’d had just enough religious education to make him a good Jew, one who kept the laws, participated in the festivals, and made sacrifices in the Temple. He’d been trained but not given a choice in life to be who he wanted.

He learned from his father how to fish, not because it was his passion, but because that’s how they made a living. To his breed, hard manual labor was his lot in life, but every penny he earned was stained with strain and sweat. Though others were fed by his toil, he could easily be replaced with another brute of man who would slave his life away on the waters with late nights and heavy nets. Life was no more than hard work, limited choices, and death.

This morning was just another slap in the face. The cruel mercy of the sea had dealt him an empty hand that night, and now there was nothing to bring home to make life any easier for his family. Not a single fish. Simon and his partners knew their women would be disappointed; others would not be surprised. They never would amount to anything. Empty nets meant an empty soul sooner or later.

On the shore, that new rabbi was getting ready to speak to the crowds. OH, Great.  Now everyone for miles would know their failure. But Jesus motioned for them to come closer and asked for a boat. From a floating pulpit, his voice carried across the water with his message of good news for those gathered on the shore. But what kind of good news could there be for losers like him and his friends? Better to keep your distance.

Dangerous Man

Be forewarned. Jesus preached Good News. Due to that, millions support him. Even so, like these nobody watermen, you may sense there is something about him that could be dangerous.

Well, that’s a different take. So you’re being up front about what’s behind all of this? Uh huh, where you going with this? I’m just as leery about you as I’ve ever been about him. Usually your kind is either pie-in-the-sky or predicting the end of the world. Why should I be careful approaching this dude?

That’s the point. It’s not so much about people looking for him as it is about how he finds them. Often, they’re just living life as it’s supposed to be, and Jesus interrupts it. That’s when he is most dangerous.

Jesus made a bold request of Simon. “What? (Obviously this former carpenter didn’t know much about fishing.) You want us to go out now and drop the nets again? Don’t you know that fish feed at night, not in the middle of a hot morning?” Even so, Simon did call him “Master” and out of respect for this popular preacher, he and his men push off in two boats again. Suddenly, the weight and pull on the ropes get stronger. Simon held tight, realizing the nets could tear. With the strength of years between them, they pull and raise so many fish, the boats nearly sunk from the weight.

Simon quickly realized Jesus is not one of those ordinary teachers who go around the country preaching and collecting money. He innately understood this great catch was a reversal, what the prophets called a “sign.” Simon with his partners James and John, men also not considered very intelligent, were at least smart enough to read this “sign” and be  amazed. Falling to his knees, he begged, “Lord, leave me. I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.”

It had been beaten in him from both the synagogue and life circumstances that he wasn’t anything of worth, meant to be noticed or considered special. Beyond what little he could bring home on a good catch, no one would have given him any kind of recognition. That’s how the world was made; some got it all, the rest got what’s left over.

Jesus leaned in. “Don’t be afraid. From now on you’ll be fishing for people.” With those words, Simon, James and John were granted a reversal greater than a boat load full of fish. They were chosen for a new kind of life with a leader who would reverse their status and make them into what they never could be, men who spoke words from God that changed lives. No longer would they be considered the losers, the bottom-feeders, the ones lower than underdogs. Immediately, they dropped their lines and followed Jesus.

But what was life changing good news for them meant trouble for those who always looked down upon them, those of status and power.

To understand what Jesus was calling them to do, you can’t ignore the changing political, economic and social scene.

Taxes, Tolls and Tariffs

When Caesar Augustus died, Tiberius became ruler of Rome. Herod Antipas knew what side of the bread the butter needed to be, so he built a new city on the Sea of Galilee and smartly named it, Tiberius. He had big plans for this new urban center, specifically the fishing industry. Doing what despots do, he saw to it that all fishing was controlled by the Romans. Taxes bit into everybody’s profits by required fishing permits, a sales tax on the product and its processing, and even enforcing toll taxes, similar to a tariff, on its transport.

Don’t think this revenue was funneled back for the promotion and benefit of the people who did the hard work. Keeping these Jews marginalized and poor held the lid on them, so Rome was happy with that. Government infrastructure got a great boost from the project with building good roads and fantastic palaces. All in all, Herod had a good thing going here.

In the eyes of Rome, it’s what you do when there are dissonate voices against your reign. In reality, Herod’s agenda only heated the simmer against Rome. Add in the oppression against the fishing industry, and you easily could find people who were ready to make a stand. All they needed was a leader.

The Making of a Revolution

So are you saying Jesus really recruited these guys to a call to arms, so to speak? They thought they were signing into God’s army to overthrow the Romans and get their lives back? That’s not the usual narrative.

There’s the narrative, and then there’s the context of that narrative. People pull the details that enhance their own platforms. These men did not have a real clue as to the specifics of the plan. If they had, would they have gotten behind Jesus and the movement he was starting?

Who knows, but it does explain why for the next three years they seemed to be mistaken as to where this mission was leading. They had learned from their own history as God’s chosen people only by a mighty warrior could invaders be turned away. The ancient writings had said a Messiah was promised. More than ever, the people wanted that time to be now, and Jesus’ message made him a good candidate.

Radicalization

What gets wrapped in this story is the change Jesus would preach. Radical change, certainly, but not change brought about as before. Time and again, he tangled with the religious authorities who more often than not cow-towed to the political rule. What infuriated him was how they leveraged God to oppress the people as much as the Romans did with their heavy taxing.

But instead of raising an army and storming the Roman centers of power, Jesus preached loving neighbor and enemy turning the other cheek, walking an extra mile, and being light in the darkness. (Matthew 5:38-45)  In doing so, the prisoner would be released, the blind will see, and the oppressed freed from what chains them.

Such a movement would effect change, change greater than any charismatic leader, governmental edicts, or religious laws could bring. Inherent in it is revolution that ascends above what no protest, demonstration, march, or rally could ever accomplish. Fishing for people involves a radicalization which reverses one’s relationships so as to honor God and care for others. By this, the rancor and divisions between people would lower, maybe even be removed, and bring about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus preached this because it is so much within all realms of possibility, and if this change is embraced, it is Good News.

Luke 5:1-11 

The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

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