Called to Catch Fish - Rev Roger Hibbard

Can you remember a time when you were a bit younger and you were playing with your friends and your mother called out “time for tea” but you were having so much fun you pretended not to hear the call or maybe when your mother called you remembered what you were having for tea – your favourite meal so you stopped playing and ran inside. You heard your mother’s call and you knew what was waiting for you

Today we have heard about Jesus calling his first disciples – that group that were to follow Jesus and how they responded. But what were they doing when Jesus came along – casting a net into the lake, preparing their nets which seems they were doing what fishermen do – they were fishing – going about the ordinary activities of life. Then Jesus comes along and calls the fishermen but what will mean to follow and what are they leaving behind ?

Jesus comes along and begins his public ministry by proclaiming the good news of the gospel that “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near” The time of waiting is over and God’s sovereign rule has begun… Come to your senses, turn to God, reorient your life and believe. Jesus has a clear focus about his task, about his mission. It is now time for action and he needs to get his team together.

Jesus brings this urgent call – to turn away from your old life and turn to God. This is an urgent message and there is no time for delay – one must act now . We see this sense of urgency in the actions of the fishermen who drop everything and follow Jesus Jesus calls and the fishermen follow

I wonder how the other fishermen felt being left holding the nets. It would seem quite irresponsible yet the call of Jesus must take priority over the expectations of the world

This call to discipleship that Jesus makes can be a costly one. The call to follow Jesus is a call to share the good news with others, to call people into the life of the new age found in Jesus. In calling the fishermen, in calling everyday people to serve in different ways Jesus commits himself to accomplish his mission with most unlikely vessels, vessels that would not get a place in a team picked on talent

Fishing may have been away of living, of earning money to pay the bills but when Jesus comes and calls , one kind of work – fishing will be transfigured into another – sharing the good news of Jesus and offering a new way of living

But why fishermen – because they were ordinary people. It has been said that God likes ordinary people because he made more of them than any other. There is a need or academics who can converse with other academics but ordinary people need to relate to other ordinary people

So who are today’s fishermen ? Today’s reading calls us to reflect upon the strange and wonderful nature of God’s kingdom that takes its form through the call of people like us so that Jesus does not work alone

Jesus calls people of all ranks of society ,calling them to a life of following the way of Jesus, serving him in many different ministries. Every job, every activity is an opportunity to serve Jesus, to bring the good news close to a person, without leaving your current situation in life. Jesus has an area of opportunity designed just for you