Fishers of People
Fishers of People
The Lord chose them and said to them: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). He chose them even though they were occupied with matters other than service, and none of them was thinking of consecration.
He passed by Matthew while he was at the tax office and said to him, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9). He passed by Saul of Tarsus while he was busy persecuting the Church, dragging men and women to prison (Acts 9:2), and called him to His service as a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15).
He passed by Peter and Andrew while they were busy fishing. They had stayed up all night and caught nothing. While they were occupied with worldly matters and failing in them, He said to them: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people” (Matthew 4:19).
Fishing for people means winning their souls to God and His Kingdom…
The Lord knows the kinds of souls suitable for fishing for people, even if they are busy fishing for fish or working at a tax office… He knows them and calls them.
As the Apostle said: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined… moreover whom He predestined, these He also called” (Romans 8:29–30). He said to them, “Follow Me.” They followed Him in faith, not knowing where they were going…
Christ had no place to stay; He did not even have “where to lay His head” (Luke 9:58). He went about cities and villages preaching. He had no fixed or known financial resources. Yet they followed Him and said to Him: “We have left all and followed You” (Matthew 19:27).
He said to them, “Follow Me,” not only in terms of place, but also to follow Him in everything—in His way, His method, and His 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 people.
You cannot make yourself a fisher of people; He makes you so.
It is not your intelligence or experience that makes you so, nor do people make you so. He is the One who makes you a fisher. You may toil all night and catch nothing until the Lord comes and teaches you how to cast your nets into the deep and says to you, “Follow Me.” Thus He said to the apostles: “I will make you fishers of people.”
I am the One who will catch people—but through you.
By My Spirit working in you, by My grace given to you (1 Corinthians 15:10).
“For it is God who works in you both to will and to do” (Philippians 2:13).
I will teach you how to fish and where to cast the nets. I am the One who created the sea, the lake, and the river. I am the One who created the fish and know where they are, and I am the One who will guide them to your nets so that they come to you.
This is what the Lord did in the story of the hook, the fish, and the stater.
He said to His disciple Peter: “Go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you have opened its mouth, you will find a stater” equal to four drachmas. “Take that and give it to them for Me and you” (Matthew 17:27). And so it was. He knew where the fish was, when it would approach Peter’s hook, and what was inside it… Truly, how wondrous is this Fisher!
This same thing is what He says to the apostles regarding fishing for people.
“I have sent you to teach people. You will open your mouths with the word of teaching, but you will be given in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matthew 10:19–20). This is with regard to you as speakers. As for the listeners, it is My grace that works in their ears to hear the word and works in their hearts to be affected by it and to act upon it.
In this context, we recall 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” (Ephesians 6:18–19).
You are the vessels that carry My Spirit within you and carry My teaching.
I am the Teacher, but I teach through your mouths. I am the Shepherd, but I shepherd people through you. I work in you, with you, and through you. Saint Paul spoke truly when he said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). He who lives in him is the Fisher who catches fish and the Teacher who teaches people.
When the Lord chose the apostles, they did not have eloquence, nor strength for service. As the Apostle said: “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27). Yet the words of the Psalm were fulfilled in them: “There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Psalm 19:3–4).
What matters, then, is that God works in you and makes you a fisher of people.
Become a disciple of His life and His words, as the apostles did. Take from Him what you give to people, and say to Him the same words He said to the Father: “I have manifested Your name to the people… the words which You gave Me I have given them” (John 17:6, 8).
How to fish:
The first quality is wisdom. “He who wins souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30).
See how, in choosing the seven deacons, the condition was that they be “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3). Although one who is full of the Holy Spirit must necessarily be full of wisdom—because “the Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding” (Isaiah 11:2)—the apostolic fathers emphasized the word “wisdom” because of its importance in fishing for people.
Thus we find Saint Paul the Apostle practicing this wisdom when he says: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law… that I might win those under the law; to those who are without law, as without law… that I might win those without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:20–22).
Let the fisher of people be wise, but with divine wisdom from above.
The wisdom of a person who has experienced the spiritual path, walked in it, knows human natures, understands demonic wars and the schemes of the devil, and knows how to say the word suitable for each person at the right time.
Every person you meet in service has his own psychology and level, his own circumstances and nature that may not resemble yours. Leave him on his path. Guide him to the pure truth, not to the path you personally choose for yourself. Perhaps you love solitude, while he loves service and life in society. The solitude that suits you may not suit him.
Another prominent quality of the wise fisher is patience.
He casts the net or the hook and waits patiently—perhaps for a long time—until the fish comes. He does not tire. So also is the fisher of people…
He is like the sower who casts the seed and waits until it grows and appears on the surface of the earth. He does not tire. So you too—do not be weary, anxious, or expect quick fruit in service, lest you abandon it!
If you offer advice and the listener does not act on it, do not be distressed or weary of advising, and do not say to yourself, “There is no benefit!”
Service requires long-suffering with sinners until they repent, especially those who suffer from a dominating habit or a fixed disposition. Be patient with the contentious student in your class, and be patient with the wayward youth, as the Lord was patient with Saint Augustine until he repented after many years; as He was patient with the Samaritan woman until she believed; 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 Corinthians 15:10); and as He was patient with Cyprian the magician until he left magic and became a saint… The examples are many.
The wise fisher also presents bait that attracts the fish.
Likewise, in your service you must present such bait: a beneficial word, practical advice, a moving sermon, a verse deep in meaning, a purposeful story, or information that captures the listeners’ minds and has an effect that leads to God.
If you cannot present any of these, then present to people a good example in your life—a practical model of the possibility of walking in the ideal life.
Be a successful fisher wherever you are.
Do not say, “I fish only in the river and not in the lake,” or “in the lake and not in the sea.” Rather, in every place cast your nets.
First in your home, within your family, to win all your relatives to the Lord; then among your neighbors and friends, your colleagues at work or study, even in the club or the field. Everyone you meet, carry to him a message.
• Philip, while walking along the road, met the Ethiopian eunuch, spoke with him, explained what he was reading, drew him to faith, baptized him that very day, and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:30–39).
• Saint Mark with Anianus: while repairing his sandal, he seized upon a word from his mouth and used it to speak to him about God. Anianus believed through him and became the firstfruits of believers in Alexandria.
• Paul the Apostle, while a prisoner with Silas, was able to draw the Philippian jailer to faith and 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 his household.
• Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, while being exiled during the Arian persecutions, continued to speak the word of God in exile and teach the sound Orthodox faith until he returned from exile.
• Saint Verena, while serving with the Theban Legion, through her service to the women of Switzerland was able to draw many to faith, so that she was considered one of the heroes of faith there, and many churches were built in her name.
• Likewise, the great martyr Saint George, when they sent him to the royal palace, was able to convince the queen of the Christian faith, and she believed and became a martyr.
So be a light wherever you are, enlightening all—a skilled fisher who draws to his net all who approach it.
The apostolic fathers were skillful fishers and drew great multitudes to the faith.
On the day of Pentecost, through their hands, three thousand believed and were baptized (Acts 2:41). After the miracle of healing the lame man at the Beautiful Gate, many believed, and “the number of the men came to be about five thousand” (Acts 4:4). Then, “believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:14). After the ordination of the seven deacons it was said: “The word of God spread, 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 fishing grounds were established in cities, and it was said: “The churches throughout all Judea, 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? Will you stand before God empty-handed?!
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