“And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”” (Mark 1:17 ESV)

Can we all agree that “Fishers of men” is a strange phrase? Are we just fish to be caught by Jesus? Is Jesus calling his disciples to go around fishing for people? Isn’t Jesus being very crude?

1. To Be Fished Out of Water

The metaphor of fishing was not invented by Jesus, but by the prophets of YHWH.

Amos foretold that God will use “fishhooks” to drag them His People away into judgement (Amo 4:1-4). Ezekiel spoke about the day that YHWH will judge the King of Egypt by catching him with fishhooks and bringing him into the wilderness to be judged (Ezekiel 29:2-6). And Jeremiah prophesied that YHWH will one day “fish” and “hunt” his people from exilic judgement, and gather them once again to be His People (Jer 16:14-18).

From these are several other passages in the prophetic literature of Israel, we see the meaning of the fishing metaphor - God is the fisher of men. In the same way a fisherman captures the fish with fishhooks, removing them from the water onto the land; God fishes for men with fishhooks, and relocates them from one place to another.

And this is a powerful vision that Mark desires to present to us about Jesus’ ministry. Jesus was preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom (Mark 1:14-15), in order to fish men out of their lives, to a new way of life (Mark 1:16-18).

Responding to the Gospel of the Kingdom, is a matter of being relocated. We cannot live the old life we were living. Just like fish that were removed from water had to die - and live a new life, out of water, so too responding to the Gospel of Jesus is to be a “fished out of water” by God.

2. To be Fished by the Fisher of Men

The Old Testament envisions YHWH as the One who fishes for men. It is significant then that in the opening of the Gospel of Mark, we see a vision of Jesus Himself, as the Fisher of Men. This is why Jesus doesn’t just say like the Rabbis of his time… follow my teaching. Follow my way. But instead, “Follow Me”.

To Follow Jesus, is to become like Jesus. Interestingly, this is exactly what Jesus says to his first disciples - “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. Wait a second, I thought it was YHWH that the prophets of Israel prophesied was the “Fisher of Men”. Yes… but now, Jesus the Fisher of Men, is concerned to make others, just like Him.

To follow Jesus is to be ourselves “fished out of water”. To follow Him ‘out of the water’ is to be relocated out of the Rule of the world, into the Rule of God (Mark 1:15). And to do so, is to begin a journey of transformation.

3. To be Transformed from Fish to Fishers of Men

We were all born into Sin. We all begin our lives in the chaos of our watery existence. Living in water is not just tough, it’s impossible. We will die. As people created in the image and likeness of God, we were not meant to live in the watery chaos of a self-centered, self-dominated visions of life. We want to be happy, but we don’t know what makes us happy. We seek for peace, but cannot find it. We desire to feel secure, but we are constantly filled with fear.

Jesus has come to fish us out of water because we were not meant to live in the water. He has told us, those who seek for our life will lose it. But those who follow Him, will find Life. We might have grown used to living in the chaos of the waters, but something tells us, we were not created to live like this. That something, is not a something but a Someone. And that Someone is calling us today to “Follow Me...” that we too may become fishers of Men, just like Him.

Let us this year, renew our commitment to listen to the Voice of the One who has died, and has risen and follow Him - as the exalted LORD, that we may become just like Him.