Fish For Men (Two Ideas)

(written 1/24/20)

Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19)

Lord Jesus offered this invitation to the Galilean fisherman brothers. He offers the same invitation to us: Come, Christian! Come, child. Follow me, your teacher and Lord. Follow me, the one true Christ, into Whose mystery you have been baptized. And I will make you fishers of men. He says this to us, right here and now, like He said it to Peter and Andrew, James and John. [Spanish]

The fisherman made their living pulling up their large nets, full of fish. They labored in the hot sun. They rowed; they hunted; they spread their nets; they waited.  Then they acted quickly. They pulled up the nets and dumped everything in the hull; they paddled hard to the shore; they sorted; they salted; they organized and stored.

But: To fish for men…What does it mean? Two-part answer.

Part One: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. (Isaiah 8:23)

We can fish for men because God caught us first. Almighty God has done two equally amazing things. He has laid out the heavens and the earth; He has knit everything together according to His design. He has given us existence and life. He has given us everything as a gift—above all, our very own selves. He has formed us, equipped us, empowered us, and presented us to ourselves, saying, Behold, child! I give you yourself as a gift!

And into this vast cosmos which He has arrayed so wonderfully, and which He put us into; into the realm that we know: He Himself stepped, and He lived like us. He walked. He ate fried fish. He talked with His friends over a campfire.

He has touched our homeland Himself, Personally, as one of Mother Earth’s citizens. The light of the world, Jesus Christ—tender healer, demanding teacher, crucified for us, risen, and ascended to the heavenly Jerusalem, the divine-human High Priest of our religion.

We can fish for men because this Light of God has shone. The net we use? Nothing less than that same eternal and glorious light. Why would any human being toil and labor in vain, alone and friendless in a windswept universe arcing towards nothingness? No: our Maker made everything with a plan. He piled up the mountainsides for a reason. And Christ reveals the reason: everything Almighty God does, He does for friendship, for communion, for love. Orphans under a silent sky? No. When we pray, we pray to our Father. And He hears us, and loves us, and knows what we need a hundred times better than we do.

A human soul can pursue all kinds of things–like fleeting pleasures, or selfishness, or worldly power. Or a human soul can sink into slavish laziness. But the true reason why a human soul exists is: friendship with God in Christ. When we live in the friendship with God that Jesus offers us, then we know ourselves, and we are ourselves.

Part Two of what ‘fishers of men’ means. In the net, the fish come together. We fish for men because the light of God draws us together, together in Him.

How can we belong? How can we form a people? Lord Jesus has the answer. People, come together around Me! And He tells us Christians: fish with that net.

Jesus Christ, alive and well, pouring out His Holy Spirit through His Church—He can and does purify, elevate, and ennoble the minds of everyone Who lives in His friendship, so that we can live in fruitful harmony together. Gathered around Him, each of us can exercise every particular faculty of our own unique, individual selves–and it’s all for the good of everyone else. Jesus gives us that kind of communion. The life of God is perfect peace. And that peace fills the hearts of those who live in Christ, giving us a sacred bond of friendship.

Fish for men! He commands us. The Light of God has shone. Man can live free. Man can know and be himself. And mankind can live and flourish in common harmony. When we get caught up in the beautiful net that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Summer Project

Reading Sirach has given me an idea for a summer project.

How about if every day of the summer we do this: Pause to focus on one single item of our experience which shows the ineffably wonderful wisdom of God?

Could be: ‘Lord, how splendid that You designed our digestive systems to assimilate nutrients in such an efficient and yet delightful and dignified fashion!’

Or: ‘Lord, You keep the sun shining so I can go fishing in the evening!’

Or: ‘Listen to the music of the cicadas, the song of the living earth!’

Or: ‘Gosh, two minds separated by enormous distances of time and space can share the same mysteries, through the medium of a book—how awesome!’

Or: ‘Almighty Creator, You water our planet in such an elaborate manner that the pull of gravity produces waterfalls and other alluring spectacles which also offer a cool respite from the summer heat!’

Or: ‘God gives us all this, and baseball season, too? Come on!’

Every day of summer: Something. Anything. Could be really small, like: ‘Yes! There is such a thing as iced coffee!” Or big, like: ‘Because of the chemical system which God designed, fireworks are possible.’

One thing every day. A different one each day. All summer long.

Little Contribution, Big Contribution

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins. (I John 4:10)

If you want to catch a nice fish, you get up early, take your reel, bait the hook, and cast the line.

God provides: The fish, the water, the earth, the sky, the light, the motion of the water, the air you’re breathing, the motion of the earth on its axis, the nutritional value of the fish, the proper functioning of all your muscles, organs, and senses, etc., etc.

If you want to get to heaven, God provides: Heaven, earth, the atoning sacrifice, all the necessary graces, everyone He sends to help you on the way, all necessary teaching and sustenance, and, of course, yourself.

All we have to do is: get up, give thanks, and stand in the right place.

…Are you kidding me? The defending national champs got beat by the College of Charleston? Sweet!

…Will we miss Jim Zorn? No.

He did, in fact, follow our advice. But he followed it too much.

Everything unraveled under him because he instilled no fear. Without fear, there is no discipline. And to instill fear in those under your authority, you have to be a lot more in touch with reality than Coach Z ever was.

A Tale of Four Parts of the Metropolis

I have made quite a few local peregrinations, inside and outside the Beltway. In my travels across the metro area, I have made a few little observations.

There are distinct differences among the towns, the counties, and the states, all within 25 miles of the U.S. Capitol. I will try to synthesize my observations for your consideration and comment. Allow me to draw the following distinctions…

District of Columbia: heavy rush-hour traffic
Montgomery County: cruel rush-hour traffic
Prince George’s County: cruel and unusual rush-hour traffic
Northern Virginia: free parking on the roadways in the afternoon

P.G.: dysfunctional local government
Montgomery: over-functional local government
District: not-as-bad-as-it-used-to-be local government
NoVa: no local government

NoVa: Pentagon
P.G.: FedEx Field
District: White House
Montgomery: White Flint

Montgomery: golf
District: aggressive bicycling and/or art films
P.G.: creek fishing
NoVa: Civil War re-enactment

P.G.: megachurches
Montgomery: megaplexes
District: megaphones and/or megalomania
NoVa: meatloaf

NoVa: Virginia Beach
Montgomery: Cape Cod
District: Outer Banks
P.G.: Ocean City

Dist: Redskins
Mont.: Redskins
P.G.: REDSKINS
NoVa: Redskins

Montgomery: Never knowingly entered P.G. County
NoVa: “Where is Laurel? Never heard of it. Is it in America?”
P.G.: Germantown is near Germany
N.W. D.C.: Bethesda or bust
S.E. D.C.: Largo Town Center or bust

Montgomery: Major religion: Catholic
NoVa: Major religion: Catholic
P.G.: Major religion involving both black and white people: Catholic
District: Major religion: None

NoVa: Hooah!
P.G.: Go, girl!
Dist: Check, please.
Mont: Were you speaking to me?

Mont.: I-270
Dist: Metro
P.G.: Walking on the shoulder (in dark clothing at night)
NoVa: Slugging

Mont: Clyde’s
Dist: Chef Geoff’s
NoVa: Cheesecake Factory
P.G.:

P.G.: Obama
Dist.: Obama
Montgomery: Obama
NoVa: Obama

Dist: Ethiopians
Mont.: Jews
P.G.: Horse-farmers
NoVa: Schismatic conservative Episcopalians

Montgomery: Bertucci brownie
P.G.: Three Musketeers
District: dieting
NoVa: Dairy Queen

Montgomery: Saab or hybrid
District: Smart Car
P.G.: Chevy Impala
NoVa: Fuel-efficient S.U.V.

P.G.: Family room
Montgomery: Deck
NoVa: Finished basement
District: Sidewalk cafe or 7-11

Now, let me hasten to add that what we all have in common outweighs these minor differences. The good Lord makes his sun shine and his rain fall on both the bad and the good in all the jurisdictions. A Big Daddy is 25 ounces in all of them. We are really one big happy family of a metropolitan area. It just takes all day to get from one side of it to the other, because of the traffic.