FISHERMEN ROCK & RULE

CASTING A WIDE NET: St. Mathew 4:18-23

Attending church on Sunday is always rewarding on so many levels but more often than not, for whatever reason, I don't make time for it finding an excuse or another. When I do go I often find myself distracted or zoning out completely. Today was different. I paid attention as the priest at St. Jude's read the Gospel, maybe because it had a sports theme, fishing, or maybe it was a message I needed to learn. Saint Mathew chronicles how Jesus walked along the banks of the Sea of Galilee until he  meets brothers Peter and Andrew who were casting their nets. He invites them to join him and become fishers of men presumably because he saw how good they were at netting the small fry. Anyone who's ever tried to catch fish with a net knows how tough that can be. Christ must have been a heck of a good salesman because, so the story goes, they dropped their nets and signed on to the program. I think what he really said was Hey, I'm Jesus, you guys want to catch some really big ones? A short time later he made the same offer to another pair of fishing brothers James and John with the same result. They probably thought Pinch me, I must have died and gone to fish tournament heaven! Jesus had a good day. He went out scouting and recruited four of the twelve members of his fishing team. And in Peter he saw real talent, someone he could build a franchise around, a future hall of famer. Who knew fishers had such potential? Wonder what a team of footballers might have produced?