The Fishmen

 In Mark 1:14-20 we read about the vocation of the first apostles and it is interesting to note that in some Biblical versions there is a subtitle before unfolding the text saying “the vocation of the first disciples.”This gives emphasis to the fact that those men already had a profession (they were fishmen) and now Jesus calls them for a vocation at a personal level. We make a lot of confusion on the difference between profession and vocation: the first one refers to the things we do for living and the later one refers to natural abilities we have to be or to do something. One can either, rely or unite with the other, or not. In the case of the first Jesus disciples, they were humbled fishmen which makes me ask myself: Wht is a fishman? How the society sees them?

The truth is that nobody gives to much credit to fishmen, not now and even less in Jesus’ time. What this people could add to the society? Maybe we could think that a judge or a lawyer could be more important to the society than a fishman. Don’t you think that we would say a professor would bring more to the table than them in the end of the day? Who would elect a fishman to be the prime-minister of a country? Who would trust on a fishman to represent a whole society at ONU or European Union for example? If nowadays we would not consider them for any of those positions, even worse – that would not happen in Jesus’ era. This would be impossible, out of question and normality.

Jesus is fascinating! It is not a coincidence that the Bible says that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things to shame the strong. That is why Jesus did not choose doctors of the law, people with status or, recognised profession and celebrities but instead He chose fishmen to become His disciples. Do you know what amazes me the most? The fact that doctors and academics since then, study the texts left by those fishmen like the Gospels of John for instance. There are masters that spend years and sometimes their whole life studying and analysing the work of those authors. How ironic: It is the great theologians and philosophers studying the works of fishmen. Their work survived the time like no other else did and almost the whole world recognises their writings like no other author ever had been. This is because they were inspired by God and that is why there so much zeal for their writings and for its persistence to survive the time in history. Nothing will prevail against His world.

All of us have dreams and in general one outstands the others, so what is yours? These first four men were fishmen and I believe their dreams were little; maybe too humble or even they did not have any dream at all. So why Jesus chose fishmen to take part of the grand commission? Why not a doctor, a Politian, a governor or a celebrity? What value can we give to the profession of a fishmen?

One of the answers that I believe that Jesus called these fishmen to a great work is because the fishman has some skills that other professionals do not have. Let us see some examples:

They are experienced in dealing with storm in the deep sea… – on a journey with Christ, we know that we will face trials, Acts 27:13-22;

Depend in order to survive, there were days of abundant fishing but other days would bring nothing home…the members of the great commission know that there will be many days they will have plenty but they will also have days living in a desert where we will solely rely and depend upon God’s provision, John 21:1-6

In the kingdom of Christ, we learn to invest a lot, throwing our nets in the Gospels of the kingdom and in the lives of people with God’s word, without waiting nothing back. Many times the investment will not bear fruit. We rely on offerings and donations from others so the church and the mission can survive, we make a lot with little, and here I am talking about the genuine ones and not about the opportunists.

The fishman need to be able to row long distances for fishing, Luke 5:4-7…With God is not different; we have to be prepared to God take us to places far away for the sake of His Word, Genesis 12:1-9.

Jesus said He came to the poor and for those in need so, it would not have made any sense Jesus if He had called other professionals from the society. The fishmen were humble men, part of common people and they did understand much better the people were crying out. Here there is a danger when we separate ourselves from the reality of the majority people and we become out of touch from reality of many.

What I am trying to say with all this is that there is a bond between our vocation and our profession and this can be well used for the benefit of what God called us to be or to do. So, do not let people stop your dreams or what you want to become or to do, in a box. Do not let the society discourage you of yourself and from what you want to achieve. Just remember that the greatest theologians and philosophers got their merits studying material and manuscripts from humble people such as the fishmen from the Bible.

There is here a good opportunity to ask ourselves what we would like to achieve in our own lives, homes, within the social life we are part of or inside our churches?

The contemporary society is asking us a lot of challenging questions, we on the other hand have failed to provide them wise and convincing answers, and that is why we do not get any credit or respect for our approaches. We forgot that the disciples are the salt of this earth and the light of this world, Matthew 5:13 – 16. Have we been this salt? Have we been the light or just another reason for mockery and prejudice? What has been the impact of the church in our community and what sort of image we have been displayed to the outsiders. What impact our believes have helped our society in the positive way that inspire and transform? Because that is our primary calling; to make a difference!

The children of God have perished for lack of knowledge and because of this sin we have been left with a bitter harvest in the past years. For far too long we did not understand the difference between doctrines and cultural customs, we allowed our hearts to be converted but no our minds. We were converted in the way we dress ourselves but not in our character. The good news is; there is still time to make right where we went wrong however, this will require a lot of dedication, which will enforce us to make many sacrifices. Let’s then starting by reflecting on the fishman we have within us and what represent.

Reference:

Photo:

Description: Fisherman landing his catch, Seychelles

Date: early 1970s

Scanned from the photo album: Maxime Fayon, Seychelles, Photo Eden, Victoria (Seychelles) 1977

Author: Photography by Dino Sassi – Marcel Fayon, Photo Eden LTD

Permission: Public domain according to the law of the Seychelles