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Weekly Devotional

January 26, 2009

God’s Peace be with you all.

Mark 1:16-21   ¹⁶ As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen.  ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people."  ¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.  ¹⁹ As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.  ²⁰ Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.  ²¹ They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.

                For our devotion today, I want you to think again about yesterday’s Gospel reading.  What does it mean to be fishers of people, and how does that work in our congregation?  Recently, I was joking with a fellow pastor that Lutherans love to sing the song “I love to tell the Story”, yet they don’t actually go out and tell the story.  Perhaps they just love the music.  Who knows?  For the last two weeks, our gospel lessons have been about the disciples inviting others to come and follow along.  It is a lesson that each of us can learn from and can use to help grow Christ’s church in the world.

                I am not sure if any of you read the ELCA blog-Faith Lens or not.  If you don’t, I encourage you to check it out sometime (http://blogs.elca.org/faithlens/).  The recent blog post contained some interesting thoughts on being fishers of people.  Below you will find those thoughts, contributed by Erik Ullestad of West Des Moines, IA.  After you read these notes, I hope you can better reflect on how you are a “fisher of people.”

“Jesus called these two sets of brothers to help him show the world that God is a God for everyone; not just the educated, wealthy, religious folk. He turned the word “fishermen” around into “fishers of men” (which we know includes ALL people, not just men).

            Imagine the confusion that Simon, Andrew, James, and John were experiencing. Not only were they leaving behind the familiar life of fishermen, but they were now going to have to fish for people. This is just the beginning though. Jesus would lead these men on a three-year journey where everything was turned upside-down. Swords would be turned into ploughshares, rough places made plain, lowly are exalted, sick made healthy, and dead were raised to new life.

            Though these young men were the same people, they had a new identity. There were no longer fishers of fish, they were fishers of people. In the same way, Jesus changes our identity from “lost, broken, sinner” to “child of God.” It’s amazing how one little name change can make a huge difference in our lives and view of the world.”

In our prayers this week: 

Alma, Ann, Marjorie, Joseph, Craig Lanford, Kathy Anderson, Shanna Sprouse and her baby, and the congregation of St. John’s Lutheran

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson