A couple of Sundays ago the gospel reading was the call of the fishermen. Many preachers focus on the fishermen (Andrew, Simon, James and John) immediate reaction of dropping their nets and and following Jesus. They saw something special in Jesus for them to turn their backs on their jobs and their families in order to become the first disciples of Jesus.
My question is: what did Jesus see in them? Jesus could have picked people with lots of money (to fund His ministry) or people with degrees from the best universities in first century Palestine. Why did he choose FISHERMEN to be his first disciples who would later be APOSTLES and one of which would become the first POPE???
I found this wonderful essay that may have the answer to that question. It can be found at Luna Sea, a store for fishing supplies. I've copied and pasted the essay below:
Fishing: What Makes a Good Fisherman?
The definition of a good fisherman may vary from one person to another. For some, it might be a person that can catch the most fish. For others, it may be a person that catches the biggest fish. Regardless of your definition, good fishermen tend to have several traits in common. This article will explore fishing and what makes a good fisherman.
Patience is Required in a Good Fisherman Above all else, patience is a virtue of good anglers. In most wild waters, even the best fishermen spend far more time not catching fish than catching fish. Dealing with failure and persevering through the unsuccessful times often is the main difference between average and good fishermen. A good fisherman has a patient, persistent attitude when fishing. He trusts his abilities and experiences from past outings and knows that impatience will hurt chances for success.
Good Fishermen Love Being Outdoors Being a good fisherman requires spending a lot of time honing your craft. Fishing is an outside sport that brings you close to nature. Some people just have a special bond with the outdoors. They can’t get enough of it! To be willing to dedicate a lot of time to become good at something means you must love what it offers. Being outdoors brings a mental peace, and good fisherman have learned to value time spent outdoors, not just the catching part. Good fisherman often express many characteristics that separate themselves from average fishermen, such as; patience, persistence, competitiveness, and an analytical mind, to name a few.
Anglers with Analytical Minds Have More Success Every good fisherman I know has an inquiring mind. If something happens, they like to know how or why it happened. They don’t assume things happen by chance. If a fish bit, there was probably a reason it bit. Was it the lure color? Lure size? Lure speed? Water temperature? Presentation? Barometric pressure? Moon phase? Time of day? Location? Good fisherman are always paying attention to conditions that make fish bite or not bite so they have a better chance of recognizing and replicating those circumstances for future success.
Persistent Fishermen Never Give Up All the patience in the world is helpful, but it’s not the only necessary trait for good anglers. Persistent fishermen tend to catch more & bigger fish because they simply don’t stop trying until they succeed! This might mean waiting all day in the same spot with the same setup, or it might mean switching spots and lures every 15 minutes. Persistent fishermen have a yearning for success, and they don’t give up until success comes their way.
Good Fishermen are Competitive by Nature Analytical, persistent, dedicated, and patient, tends to describe a competitive person. It’s no different with good fishermen. Competitive tournament fishermen are arguably the best there is in terms of anglers, and I think you’ll find the vast majority of them are highly competitive. They simply do not like to fail, and they are willing to do what it takes to have success. If that means fishing all day in the rain, staying longer than someone else, trying other techniques, or whatever, competitive anglers have a never-give-up attitude that tends to make them more successful than most.
Good Anglers Enjoy Solitude The above characteristics can often find an angler fishing more often than anyone else…to the point at which they often have to fish by themselves. Good fisherman tend to be more than okay with solitude. They enjoy time alone, outdoors, away from everyday worries of the world. Whether or not you have the above characteristics of many good fishermen, I hope you can get out and enjoy all that the sport of fishing has to offer!
Great article! And I think it shifts the focus on the call of the disciples from what the disciples saw in Jesus to what Jesus saw in them!
I think that the qualities that Jesus was looking for in his first disciples who would later become the leaders of His church were the qualities of a good fisherman. That's why it was no coincidence that Jesus went recruiting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee first before he went looking everywhere else.
What makes a good disciple? Well, what are the qualities of a good fisherman?
Do you have the qualities of a fisherman? What qualities does Jesus see in you that you can use to help him in his mission of building his kingdom on earth?