Not long ago my dad gave me his rifle he had when he was a boy. He got it from his father, who used it to hunt squirrels (among other things). I have never hunted myself, but it is a fairly popular activity in the town I grew up in. Some schools cancelled class on the first day of deer season. In 2022 there were 14.4 million (registered) hunters in the United States, and almost 40 million anglers. Every state has its hunters and fishermen.
Hunting is different from just searching for something. When you search you are looking for something. Hunting involves a more intense effort where you pursue something. That is why I think Easter Egg Hunts are misnamed. We aren’t really hunting eggs. We are searching for them. But I guess it is too late to argue we change the name to Easter Egg Searches.
What about fishing? Isn’t that just hunting in the water? Not quite. If you are spear fishing I would agree you are hunting fish. But if you use bait it is something different. And dragging nets through the water to catch fish seems more like a job than anything else. But that is of course when we fish for, well, fish. What does it mean to fish for people?
Are we intense? Are we determined? Do we bait people? Do we let people come to us, or do we cast a net of sorts?
Is it fishing for people when we go door to door. Some people do that. In the year 2001 about 60000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints did that. Is that what fishing for people is?
Did Jesus go door to door?
Let me show you a few translations of a well-known passage where Jesus talked about fishing. First the NIV translation:
Matthew 4:18-20 (NIV)
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
Now from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Matthew 4:18-20 (NRSV)
8 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.
Do you notice a difference between the two translations? The NIV talks about fishing for people. The NRSV says something different. Is the word fish a verb or a noun? If it is a verb then the passage may mean searching for people, to catch them and bring them to you (or the church). But if the word is a noun, what then? What if we are meant to be the fish for the people? That changes everything.
What if you were the fish for a person? What if you were their food? What if you fed people, cared for them, and met their needs? You would go out into the world and help others. You would provide for them. You would nourish them. Isn’t that what Jesus did in his ministry?
Jesus was a fish for people. Maybe he is asking you to be one too,
God Bless