“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

To be involved in following Jesus for Peter and Andrew,and for James and John, meant to become fisher’s of men and women. And thereby to include others in following Jesus:sharing the good news of God’s love.

The question for us is whether or not,as people who have responded to following Jesus,we bothered baiting our hooks or casting our nets?

I was reflecting on the rosters that exist in our congregations across the Kairos congregations and I was struggling to see any activity which bore a clear relationship with the imperative Jesus places upon these first disciples:
to fish for people.

Our rosters ask us to greet at the door,
to prepare morning tea,
to pray for one another,
to mow lawns,
to run garage sales,
to read the scriptures in worship,
to attend meetings and
to lead prayers – but who do send to fish for people.
Who is on that roster?

Maybe the closest we come is the Sunday School teachers.

Much of what we in our worship
is about preparing people to go out and fish,
or at least it should be.

It is a time for the mending of our nets
and the baiting of our hooks,
preparing each of you to venture
into both the familiar estuaries
and the unchartered waters,
to share the good news
which has touched you so deeply.

Inheriting from Jesus

The child in the manger grows into the teacher who eats with tax collectors and sinners; he includes the rich and the poor, the outcast and the perceived insiders. He makes all people relevant and asks of us who receive him and believe in his name that we share in his inheritance by sharing in his care and concern for the crowds. Jesus looked upon the crowds and had compassion for they were like sheep without a shepherd, so he taught them, and he healed them and he fed them. In John 17 Jesus prays for a unity amongst humanity which reflects the unity of the God head.

This is the hard work of being drawn into Jesus inheritance – to be born not of blood or of the will of the flesh of man but of God.

It means being committed to listening at our Master’s feet, like Mary. It means declaring the good news of Jesus identity with Thomas ‘My Lord, and my God’. It means acting in ways that early Christian communities breaking bread, praying with one another, sharing with widows and the oppressed. It means caring for all peoples for whom Christ came, even though they do not know him, and caring for the creation which God has given us.