This Sunday's sermon is given by The Rev. Barbara Dyke, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Mertzon, TX (San Angelo). Pastor Barbara is part of Ecumenical Relations with the American Orthodox Catholic Church through the Diocese of Texas.
Fishers of Men
Matthew 4:12-23
What does it mean to meet the light of the world? When we meet Christ we are called to respond. The Wise Men followed the star to worship the Christ child. Andrew went and brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus. In this scripture, we read that when these fishermen met Jesus they immediately left their nets and followed him. As Christians we too are called to be followers of Christ. As followers of Christ we are to be fishers of men. We are called not only for ourselves, but so that others might also meet and follow Christ, so that they too might be freed from sin and death.Yet all too often we sit in our churches and think that it is all about us. We are afraid to share with someone we meet in our day to day lives what it means to meet Jesus. We keep it to ourselves. We say that our faith is a private matter. We watch the world around us and stay silent, afraid, and as a result our churches are shrinking. We wait for someone else to take the risk of sharing their faith.
But Jesus tells us “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” It is something we have to practice and prepare for so that we know how to best throw the net. We need to know how to make the mouth of the net come open so that it will actually form a circle around the fish.
When we sit quietly and hide the light of Christ, we never develop the skills to cast our line with accuracy to where the fish are. There may be fish on the right, but we know only how to cast the line to the left. There may be fish on the left, but we keep casting to the right. Casting, like discipleship, is an acquired skill. It rewards practice.
Fishing is noticing the weather, watching the wind and the clouds. Fishing, like the gospel, dear friends, is always practiced in context. It does no good to sit at one lake and wish to be on some other lake. It does no good to stand at the ocean and wish the weather were different. We are called to fish where we live, work, and play. God sends people into our lives sometimes for a moment, a day, or perhaps a lifetime. We are called to share the love of Christ with everyone we meet.
Let us learn from the first disciples that as followers of Christ we need to be ready to share the light of Christ. Let us practice our fishing with urgency, so that our catch may be bountiful for the Lord. Let us be faithful to responding to the light of the world and share the love of Christ with everyone we meet.
