I got the chance to go perch fishing up on lake Erie with my boyfriend and his parents over the holiday weekend. It was a blast. Ok, it was a little hot and I ended up getting slightly sea-sick; but I did thoroughly enjoy every minute of the time I was in Sandusky.
As I was on the boat relaxing and sipping on ginger-ale to calm my stomach, I got to thinking about fishing vs. deer or game hunting. My mind wandered to Jesus’ statement to his buddies imploring them to become ‘fishers of men’ and I wondered what it was about fishing that made it a suitable metaphor? Why not use game hunting?
Not surprisingly, I easily came up with several differences between the two sports/livelihoods that lend fishing to this metaphor over hunting. What was surprising was how those differences compared to today’s evangelism efforts by many Christians I know (myself included). I cringed.
What makes fishing fishing?
You arm yourself with a rod and reel, a pail full of juicy, squishy, tempting munchies, and a tiny little hook, and perhaps a net or two. You find yourself a nice spot on the lake and set anchor. Some people have favorite fishing locales they return to time after time. Others watch other fishermen, to see where the fish are biting the best that particular day. I’m sure the fishermen of Jesus’ time had their own tricks of the trade to find the best fishing spot.
Then what happens? You load up on that juicy, squishy, tempting bait, let out your line and hunker down for a long afternoon of… waiting. Sometimes the fish don’t bite at all. Sometimes they eat your bait and swim off, never to be seen again. Sometimes it seems like you’re giving a feast to the same fish over and over again, all the while they are able to evade your hook like a pro. And every once and a while, on a very fortunate day, it seems like the fish are virtually jumping into your boat. (Yeah right).
What makes fishing different than hunting?
So I’ve never been hunting, officially, but have several family members who do so on a regular basis and I get to hear all about their exploits. Hunting requires some crazy impressive weapons, be it gun or bow. Power-packed, adrenaline-filled, deadly weapons. For some reason, you just never get quite the same rush putting some juicy squishy bait on a teeny tiny little barb. I wonder why…? With hunting, you get your prey in your sights… track him, stalk him… take him down. It’s a very hunter-empowered sport. The ball seems to always be in the hunter’s court while the prey is unsuspectingly minding his own business munching on some nearby grass. Not so with fishing. It seems that the fish always have the upperhand. They get to decide if your juicy morsel is enticing enough to bother with. They decide if they just want a nibble, or if they want the whole meal – hook, line and sinker. (Granted, they probably don’t want the hook, but there’s always a catch, isn’t there?) Even when you think you’ve got them hooked, you need to woo and finesse them up to the surface – at any time, there’s the potential of them jumping off never to be seen again. And need I mention that more often than not, you bring your hook up, only to find the bait gone and no fish to show for it? Such a power difference is remarkable. Hunters focus in on one specific prey – they want the big 10-point buck, and nothing less. Fishermen can’t hardly even see who’s biting… and for amateurs like me, I’ll take anything that I can get… even if it’s seaweed. :D
Caveat to this parallel: I realize I am using my own fishing/hunting experience, not those of professional fisherman of today, nor those of Jesus’ time. While the methods may be different, I still think the whole essence of the sport and the inherent locus of power in hunting vs. fishing still holds true.
So what does that mean for the disciples of Jesus’ time, and the much-derided modern day evangelist?
In a nutshell: Jesus wanted us to be fishermen. Today’s evangelists prefer to be hunters.
Fishermen let out their line, offer up beneficial, wholesome benefits. Some people are drawn to it, others don’t want it. Some take the free food and disappear, some stick around to nibble a bit here and there, and some want it all. The decision is i the hands of the ‘fish’ – not the ‘fishermen.’ All us fishermen can do is continue to offer out God’s love, and hunker down and wait. And somedays, we empty our entire bucket of juicy squishy love, and have nothing to show for it. But if you come back to the same spot day after day, the fish return (and bring friends) for more of the squishy goodness, and eventually they will bite instead of nibble. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of generosity, and don’t you dare expect much in return, especially at first.
Today’s evangalists, unfortunately, gravitate towards the adrenaline-packed, power-thirsty sport of hunting. We catch sight of a big-old 10-pointer, decide – ‘yep, he’s the one’ and proceed to chase him down, stalk him, drag him to church, guilt him into coming to biblestudy, hound him with questions about his relationship with God, and if he were to die today where would he go? give him presents of bibles and christian books, and then WHAMMY! We load him up, and set off to smallgroup to gloat to all our friends about the adventure and the fact you got a 10-pointer (The poor sucker didn’t even see us coming!) or lament about the one that just keeps eluding you (I keep trying to get him to come to church, but he won’t ever commit). Many times, the poor things never see it coming – if they did, they would have taken off running, yelling at all their friends to watch out!
The Christian in me came to that thought and I stopped dead in my tracks. And I shuddered. No wonder the world loathes us ‘modern day evangalists’ – Yikes!
I was explaining all this to my boyfriend that evening, and he looked at me, and he was like… ‘OR… Jesus was just using a metaphor that his disciples (being fishermen) would understand.’
True. But in my experience, God never just has one level of understanding or reasons behind his actions. It always ends up having layers and layers of meanings and applications and lessons (to quote a large green ogre – it’s like onions). Somehow I don’t think it was a mistake or mere happenstance that he just happened upon a couple of random fishermen, or just randomly thought up the metaphor of fishing for men. If the hunting metaphor would have fit better, Jesus probably would have chosen a couple of hunters to be his disciples instead. Jesus can do that, you know. He is God, after all.
Reference: Matthew 4:18-22
