Fishers of Men

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

January 21, 2024

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012124.cfm

Jon 3:1-5, 10    Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

1 Cor 7:29-31   Mk 1:14-20

Follow me and I will make you fishers of men - boy have I been waiting to preach on this Gospel for a long time so let’s get right into our first reading. Jonah was called to be fishers of the entire city of Nineveh.  We all know that story, he refused to fish for people so a large fish fished for him instead!  Ultimately he he did go to Nineveh, prophesied about the destruction of Nineveh and they all repented and lived happily ever after…well, they weren’t destroyed immediately, not yet, that happened in 612 B.C. by the Medes around 140 years after Jonah.

We now go to today’s Gospel, John has recently been arrested and Jesus is about to bring John’s preaching to the next level, it’s time to proclaim the gospel of the Son of God, the Evangelium, the words of the very Son of God.  Jesus sees Simon and Andrew and speaks to them one of my favorite lines in scripture:

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

They immediately do just that!  God bless them for that, I probably wouldn't have been so quick to drop what I was doing to follow Jesus to become fishers of men, especially if the bass were hitting that day.  I probably would have said, “Be right there Jesus, just one more cast”! 

Our first reading from Jonah foreshadows the eventual successful preaching and teaching of Jesus and his apostles to sinners and Gentiles.  This preaching is just beginning in today’s Gospel.  They were indeed to become fishers of many men, women, and children.

By our Baptism, we are reborn as members of Christ’s Church.  As members of this Church, the Catechism tells us (1267):

Its mission is to be the salt of the earth and light of the world. This people is “a sure seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human race”.

Further along, when talking of Baptism the Catechism states (785):

 "The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy … when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world.

It is a difficult world to do that in but think back to Jesus, Peter, and the Apostles, it was even tougher back then, all but one of them were put to death for preaching the Good News!

Now about that whole fishers of men/people thing.  How does one go about that and what does that have to do with today?  I want to talk a bit about a fly fishing phrase: “Matching the hatch” and a day I was fishing the Battenkill River in Vermont.  The phrase matching the hatch means the fake fly you tie to your line should look like whatever the trout are eating that day, whatever bug is hatching.  Most bugs spend their infancy living in the water, come to the top of the river, and “hatch” by sprouting their wings and flying about for a bit to mate and die within a day or two.  What a life!

Several years ago one of my employees was an avid and experienced fly fisher.  He taught me a lot about the sport (yes, fishing IS a sport, so therefore I’m an athlete).  He had booked a trip to Vermont to fish the Battenkill and invited me to go.  I got there a day earlier than everyone else to scout out the area.  My first stop was a local fly shop to get my license.  I also asked the man working there what the trout would be eating for the weekend.  He showed me two hand-tied flies that should do the trick.  I bought 10 of each and excitedly hit the river.  The first fly I tried seemed to do the trick and I was quickly getting hits (and lots of misses) and even managed to land a few.  Suddenly around three pm, I got to witness a massive hatch.  The fly I was using matched perfectly to what was suddenly buzzing all around me by the thousands!  The fish were going crazy!  Thanks to that guy at the shop I had a great night fly fishing and indeed matched the hatch!

Ok, back to God and Jesus and all that again (however I could talk about fishing all day)!  We too are all called to be fishers of men and women by our baptism.  We are grafted on to Christ and His Church and must participate in its mission.  From the Catechism 849:

The missionary mandate. "Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be 'the universal sacrament of salvation,' the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the Gospel to all men"

To catch men and women we must match the hatch!  What lures do we have to do this?  The first lure we should use must be our joy in the message and hope of Jesus Christ.  The joy and hope of our salvation.  This lure of joy, sadly, I tend to leave in my fly box far too much!  We should be so joyful that people want what it is we have, they want to have what Catholics have.  

The second fly in the box we must use is the truth.  We need to always teach and speak the truth to others, the truth of how Jesus Christ is our salvation.  The truth of what Jesus Christ taught in the Gospels. Put the lures of truth and joy together and it’s a winning combination for sure!

Don’t be afraid to talk about the truth and joy of our faith. Remember, none of us are all-knowing experts.  We are all walking the road to our salvation together, share that journey with as many people as you can and share it joyfully!

Mother Teresa of Calcutta tells us:

"Joy is prayer–Joy is strength–Joy is love–Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls…. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the Christ risen.”