Fishers of Men
Fishers of Men
On the occasion of the Feast of the Apostles we speak about the Fathers the Apostles considering that they were:
The Lord chose them, and He said to them: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” (John 15:16). He chose them although they were occupied with matters other than the ministry, and none of them was thinking of consecration.
He passed by Matthew, who was at the tax office, and said to him, “Follow Me.” (Matt. 9:9). He passed by Saul of Tarsus, who was busy persecuting the Church, dragging men and women to prison (Acts 9:2), and He called him to His service as a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15).
He passed by Peter and Andrew, who were busy fishing, and they had stayed up all night and caught nothing. While they were busy with worldly matters and failing at them, He said to them, “Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men…” (Matt. 4:19).
Catching people means winning their souls to God and His kingdom…
The Lord knows the specimens of good souls fit for catching people, even if they are occupied with catching fish, or at the tax office… He knows them and calls them.
As the Apostle said: “For whom He foreknew He also predestined… whom He also called.” (Rom. 8:29–30) and He said to them, “Come after Me.”
They followed Him in faith, not knowing where…
Christ had no fixed dwelling place, nor even a place “where He might lay His head.” (Luke 9:58). Rather He roamed the cities and villages preaching. He had no known fixed finances… Yet they followed Him, and they said to Him, “We have left all and followed You.” (Matt. 19:27).
He said to them, “Come after Me” not only in regard to place, but also that they should follow Him in everything: in His manner, method, and teaching, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:6). Thus He makes them fishers of men.
You cannot make yourself a fisher of men; rather He makes you.
It is not your intelligence or experience that makes you, nor do people make you, but He who makes you a fisher. You may stay up all night and catch nothing, until the Lord comes and teaches you how to cast your net into the depths, and says to you, “Come after Me,” and thus He said to the apostles: “I will make you fishers of men.”
I am the one who will catch the people, but by you.
By my Spirit working in you, by the grace given to you. (1 Cor. 15:10).
I am “the one working in you both to will and to do.” (Phil. 2:13).
I will teach you the fishing, where to cast your nets; I am He who created the sea and the lake and the river, and I am He who created the fish, and I know where they are. I will guide them to your nets, and they will come to you.
Thus the Lord acted in the story of the hook and the fish and the tax.
He said to His disciple Peter: “Go to the sea, cast a hook, and the fish that first comes up take it; and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel (which equals four drachmas). Take that and give it to them for Me and you.” (Matt. 17:27). And so it was. He truly knew where that fish would be and when it would come near Peter’s hook, and He knew what was inside it… Truly, how marvelous is this Fisher…!
The same thing He says to the apostles about catching people.
“I have sent you to teach people, and you will open your mouths with the word of teaching: ‘For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.’ ” (Matt. 10:19–20). From your side you are the speakers, and from the listeners’ side my grace works in their ears to hear the word, and works in their hearts to be affected and act upon it.
We recall in this regard the words of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit… for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.” (Eph. 6:18–19).
You are the vessels that carry my Spirit in you and carry my teaching.
I am the Teacher, yet I teach from your mouths, and I am the Shepherd, yet I shepherd people through you; I am in you, I work with you and by you, and Saint Paul truly said: “…I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20).
He who lives in you is the Fisher who catches the fish and the Teacher who teaches people.
When the Lord chose these apostles they did not have the gift of speech…
Nor power able for the ministry; rather as the Apostle said: “God chose the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” (1 Cor. 1:27). Yet the psalm applied to them: those “who have neither speech nor language, and their voice is not heard… their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” (Ps. 19:3–4).
The important thing, therefore, is that God works in you and makes you a fisher of men…
Be discipled by His life and words, as the apostles were discipled, and take from Him what you will give to people, and say the same phrases He said to the Father: “I have manifested Your name to the people… the word which You gave Me I have given to them.” (John 17:6, 8).
How to fish:
The first characteristic is wisdom: “A calm tongue is a tree of life.” (Prov. 11:30).
See how in selecting the seven deacons the condition was: “men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.” (Acts 6:3). Although one filled with the Holy Spirit must also be filled with wisdom, because He is the “Spirit of wisdom and understanding” (Isa. 11:2), the apostles stressed the phrase (wisdom) because of its importance in catching people.
Thus we find Saint Paul the Apostle practicing this wisdom, saying: “I became all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Cor. 9:20–22).
Let the fisher of men be wise, but with a divine wisdom descending from above.
A human wisdom who has tested the spiritual way and walked in it, knows the natures of people, knows the devilish wars and the wiles of Satan, and knows to say the word that suits each person, at the proper time.
Every person you meet in ministry has his own psyche and rank and particular circumstances, and a nature that perhaps is not an image of you… Leave him in his path, guide him to pure truth, not to the path you believe in and choose for yourself. Perhaps you love solitude, and he loves service and life in society; perhaps the solitude suitable for you is not suitable for him.
A prominent attribute of the wise fisher is also patience:
He casts the net or hook and waits, perhaps a long time until the fish comes, without getting weary… Likewise the fisher of men…
He is like the farmer who sows the seed and waits until it grows and appears on the face of the earth. Do not be weary; do not be bored or anxious, and do not expect quick fruit in ministry, otherwise you will abandon it…!
If you offered advice and the hearer did not act upon it, do not be distressed, do not weary of admonishing, and do not say in your heart: there is no benefit!
Service needs long patience with sinners until they repent:
Especially if they suffer from a dominant habit or fixed temper… Therefore be patient with the rebellious student in your class — and be patient with the wayward young man, as the Lord was patient with Saint Augustine until he repented after many long years… and as He was patient with the Samaritan woman until she believed… and as He was patient with Saul of Tarsus the persecutor of the Church, until he became an apostle who labored more than all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:10). He was patient with Cyprian the sorcerer until he left sorcery and became a saint… The examples are many.
The wise fisher also offers bait that attracts the fish.
You too must offer in your ministry such bait: a beneficial word, a practical useful counsel, an affecting sermon, a deeply meaningful verse, a purposeful story in its moral. Information that seizes the minds of hearers and has an effect leading them to God.
If you cannot offer any of this, offer people a good example in your life, be a practical model showing the possibility of walking the ideal life…
Be a successful fisher everywhere you are planted:
Do not say I will fish only in the river and not in the lake, or in the lake and not in the sea… Rather cast your nets everywhere.
First in your home, among your family, to win all your relatives to the Lord. Then among your neighbors and friends, colleagues at work or study, or even in the club or the field — everyone you meet carry the message to them.
- Philip — as he was going along the road — met the Ethiopian eunuch, spoke to him, explained to him what he was reading, drew him to faith, baptized him that day, and went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:30–39).
- And Mark met Anianus while he was repairing his shoe. He picked up a word from his mouth, seized it to speak to him about God. Anianus believed through him and became the firstfruits of believers in Alexandria.
- And Paul the Apostle — while a prisoner with his companion Silas — was able to win over the jailer of Philippi to faith. And he said to him: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31). He baptized him and all who were his.
- And Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, while exiled by the persecutions of the Arians, spoke the word of God — even in exile — and taught people the right Orthodox faith until he returned from his exile.
- And Saint Verena — while serving with the Theban Legion — by her ministry among the women of Switzerland was able to attract many to the faith, until she was considered one of the champions of faith there, and many churches were built in her name.
- And likewise the great martyr Saint George, when they sent him to the king’s palace, he was able to convince the queen to the Christian faith, and she believed and became a martyr.
- So be you thus, a light wherever you are, illuminating for all, a skillful fisher who draws to his net everyone who approaches it.
The Fathers the Apostles were skillful fishers; they drew many to the faith.
On the day of Pentecost — by their hands — three thousand believed and were baptized all of them (Acts 2:41). After the miracle of the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate many believed: “and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4).
Then “believers were added to the Lord multitudes of both men and women.” (Acts 5:14). After the ordination of the seven deacons it is said: “And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7).
Then other nets were set up in the cities, and it is said: “Then the churches throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” (Acts 9:31).
And you, what is your catch — do you stand before God empty-handed?!
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