After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. (Mark 1:14-20 NIV)
Jesus was a fisherman. Did you know that? Actually, we assume that Jesus was a carpenter, because his step-father Joseph was a carpenter. But Jesus was also a fisherman. An expert fisherman. What did Jesus fish for? Not catfish or walleyes. People. Like an avid fisherman who goes out every day with his tackle box and lures and casts his lines out into the water, Jesus was an expert fisherman at fishing for people. Jesus drew people to himself to follow him and believe in him and be saved. That’s what we get to see in God’s Word today: Jesus the fisherman.
So, how does Jesus fish? Well, if you wanted to fish for people to follow you, what would you use? TikTok. Right? Or X or Instagram. Surprisingly, Jesus didn’t have any social media accounts. Can you believe that? At the least, you’d expect Jesus to promise great things for his followers. Today people would say, “If you follow me, you’ll be rich!” Or, “If you follow me, you’ll be popular.” Or, “If you follow me, I’ll give you power… or at least a lot of free stuff.” Because people still fish for people today. It’s an election year. People are fishing for people right now, aren’t they? What do they say? “Follow me, and I’ll make things great for you!”
Not Jesus. Jesus had a strange way of trying to attract followers. Did you hear what he preached? “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Jesus didn’t promise wealth. He didn’t promise social change or equality or freedom from the Romans. Instead, he said, “Repent!” Isn’t that strange? Jesus didn’t focus on the big city—Jerusalem. He went to Galilee. The unimportant part of Israel. Jesus didn’t promise success. His biggest supporter—John the Baptist—had just been put in prison. Jesus called people to repent.
You kind of want to gently pull Jesus aside and say, “That’s not how you do it, Jesus! I’m sorry, but if you want people to like you, you can’t say that! Sin and repentance? That’s never going to work. You need a feel-good message. Jesus, talk about happy stuff. Tell people how good they are. Then they’ll follow you!” But Jesus didn’t. He’s a lot different than leaders today, isn’t he? Here’s why: Jesus didn’t come to win an election. He came to save souls from hell. If people’s souls are going to be saved, what does every soul need? “Repent and believe the good news!”
I guess this repentance thing is pretty important, huh? If we want to follow Jesus, we need to know what repentance is. It’s helpful that in the Bible there are two different words for repentance. The Greek word for repentance in the New Testament means to “change your mind.” To repent is to change your mind about sin. What you once thought was good, you now admit is bad. What you used to give excuses for, you now confess that it’s all your fault. The Hebrew word for repentance in the Old Testament means to “turn around.” To repent is to turn around from sin and turn to Jesus. Like you’re going this direction, and you do a U-turn back this way.
Both words make clear that repentance is all about sin. The sin in our lives needs to be confronted and confessed. If you’re going to follow Jesus, you need to change your mind about sin. You can’t love Jesus and love sin at the same time. If you’re going to follow Jesus, you need to turn away from sin. It’s like sin is that direction, and Jesus is that direction. You can’t go both directions. This is the very first thing Jesus preached: “Repent and believe the good news.”
When Lutherans talk about repentance, we teach from the Bible that repentance has two parts: Contrition and faith. The first part of repentance is a contrite heart. A heart that’s sorry for its sin. A heart that says, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It’s God’s Law in the Bible that convicts us of our sin and works in us a contrite heart. But repentance isn’t just feeling sorry for our sins. It’s also faith in Jesus. Repentance believes that Jesus died on the cross to forgive all our sins. That’s actually the very best reason to turn away from your sins. It’s knowing that Jesus died to forgive every sin. The Gospel creates faith in our hearts. This is repentance: Contrition and faith.
If you or I are missing one or the other, it’s a big deal. It’s easy to go through life without contrition. You’ve done that. Know what that looks like? Shrugging your shoulders at sin. “So I said… So I got angry… So I did… Everybody does. It’s not a big deal.” Sound familiar? A heart that’s not contrite is proud and on the path to hell. But it’s also easy to go through life without faith in Jesus’ forgiveness. You know what that’s like too. To constantly feel bad for what you’ve done. To tell yourself that you’re the worst person ever. A heart without faith is always despairing and is also on the path to hell. We need both: Contrition and faith. Can you see why?
So, it’s interesting to see the words Jesus uses. He uses verbs in the present tense. Oh boy, a grammar lesson. This is important! You could translate what Jesus says like this: “Be repenting and be believing…” Too often we think that we need to repent one time and then we’re all set. Or we need to repent and believe in Jesus, and then we can move on to bigger and better things. But Jesus isn’t describing a one-time thing. “Be repenting and be believing.” When? All the time. Every day. This is the life of a Christian. Want to follow Jesus? Each day, follow Jesus’ very first sermon: Repent and believe the good news today. And again tomorrow. And the next day.
What good news? Our second lesson today beautifully shared the good news of Jesus. “He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). What’s the good news? Jesus died for our sins. When he did, he reconciled us to God. God loves you! God forgives you. This is why Jesus came to fish for people. To reconcile people to God.
Jesus was a fisherman! Can you see that now? In our lesson, we get to see Jesus fish for the first time. “As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’” Who were the first people Jesus fished for? Simon and Andrew. Ironically, what was their job? They were fishermen! When Jesus called those fishermen to start fishing for people, what did they do? “At once they left their nets and followed him.”
So, Jesus cast again. He kept fishing! “When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them…” Who were the next two fish Jesus caught? James and John. When Jesus called those fishermen to start fishing for people, what did they do? “They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.” Jesus first four disciples were two pairs of brothers who were all fishermen: Peter and Andrew and James and John. They were Jesus’ first catches.
I want you to notice two things in this story. First, who called whom? Who chose whom? American Christianity loves to emphasize our choices and our decisions and our commitment… But who chose whom? On the night before he died, Jesus reminded his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Isn’t that the truth? It wasn’t Peter’s decision that led him to follow Christ. It was Jesus’ gracious call. It wasn’t John’s commitment that led him to follow Christ. It was the Holy Spirit’s work in his heart. Jesus chooses. Jesus calls. All by grace.
But notice something else: When God calls people, when God works contrition and faith in people’s hearts, it always changes their lives. When Jesus called those pairs of brothers, what did they do? They said, “We’re kind of busy right now, come back next week.” No! They said, “How much do you pay your followers?” No! What was their response? They immediately left everything and followed Jesus. The gospel always produces fruit in our hearts and lives. See how this works? Jesus calls Christians to be constantly repenting, believing, and fishing with him.
I think fishing is a great analogy for sharing the gospel with other people. Know why? Because fishing is hard! Fishing is frustrating. Fishing takes patience and love. Isn’t that true? Fishing can be the most rewarding thing. Or fishing can be the most frustrating thing. You can cast out your line and catch something on the very first cast. Or, you can sit there all day and not have a single bite. You can reel in a fish bigger than you ever imagined. Or, you can reel in a piece of seaweed bigger than you ever imagined. Fishing is terribly frustrating and rewarding at the same time.
Isn’t that like sharing the gospel? Jesus said, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” Evangelism—sharing your faith in Jesus—can be the most frustrating and rewarding thing in the world. When you fish for people, you miss a whole lot more than you catch. You get disappointed a whole lot more than you find success. You share the gospel and nothing happens. You cast invitations without any bites. You think it’s hopeless. But then, when you least expect it, God uses you to connect someone with Jesus, and it’s the most rewarding thing in the world. Would you agree? Like the most patient fisherman, don’t give up. Keep fishing for people!
You have good news that people need to hear. A member of our church shared a commercial with me this week. It was a commercial from Canada. Know what the commercial was advertising? Euthanasia. Know what that is? It’s when elderly or sick people end their own lives. That’s what the commercial was for. “We want to help you end your life!” Know what that means? There are a lot of people who don’t think life is worth living. There are a lot of people who feel worthless and useless. And what do you get to do? Go fishing! Tell them the truth from Jesus. “There is Someone who loves you so much that he died for you. There is Someone who has forgiven all your guilt and planned out your life and prepared a place in heaven.” Go fishing!
We all want our church to grow. More than that, we all want God’s kingdom to grow. What’s the best way for that to happen? One fish at a time. One person at a time. Whom could you fish for this year? Notice that I didn’t say, “This week.” I said, “This year.” It doesn’t work that fast. It takes time to strengthen relationships. It takes time to build trust. Whom could you fish for this year? Whom could you work to connect with Jesus? Why? You follow a Fisherman! He fished for you. Now he invites you to fish with him. Jesus is calling all of us to get out of the boat. To follow him. Be repenting of your sins. Be believing the good news. Be fishing for people.
Silhouette of fishermen using nets to catch fish at the lake in the morning
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