There are God-given promises that have the ability to encourage and challenge us, promises apt to generate hope where doldrums has settled in. One of these promises is found in Matthew’s Gospel. It reads:
Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt. 4:19)
These words, directed to Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, carry in their bosom the potential to transmute a person’s life to the point of ennoblement, for they present a possible passage from the secular to the venerable, or perhaps more so, from the temporal to the eternal. In brief, they display a powerful opportunity to manifest God’s priority and love to a world on the brink of ruins.
A conditional promise
As many others divine promises, the one we are considering here is conditional, i.e., God is not saying He will make everybody a fisher of men. He is simply saying that all those who fulfill the condition will experience the noble making. Granted that Jesus was talking to Peter and Andrew exclusively, it doesn’t entail the promise was just for these two disciples, for time and again the Scriptures testify that many other followers of Jesus were made efficient fishers of men. Therefore I suggest the promise is made effective to all who meet the condition.
The condition
When Jesus told Peter and Andrew: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19), He was obviously implying they were not fishers of men yet. A “making” was necessary and the “making” was contingent on the “following”. No following, no making. But strangely enough, in our days, this simple truth seems to be called into question and challenged by other proposals. So we think we can become fishers of men through reading books, or maybe by going to a Bible school, or perhaps by focusing on our human capabilities in the attempt to succeed in the task. But sadly enough these substitutes have proved ineffective per se. Actually they were and are, in the present context, created to avoid what has been called “the cost of discipleship”, for to follow Jesus is not only a prerequisite to become fishers of men, it is a preliminary condition to enter the School of Christ, and this “following” can be actualized only by meeting some necessary conditions (see my post entitled: Two misconceptions about discipleship—part 2).
Following Jesus
So a person is required to follow Jesus if he wants to become a fisher of men. But it is precisely this precondition that creates a major difficulty, for the “following” implies an absolute surrender. Jesus expresses it in these words:
If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)
Now, who in the world will accept these demanding conditions? For to deny oneself can be at times extremely difficult and costly. It implies to hand over our ways and aspirations into Jesus’ hands at all times. This should not surprise anyone, for the one who follows must yield to the one who leads, and this, regardless of the circumstances. And what about taking up our cross daily? Such “taking up” entails a predisposition to follow Him even at the cost of life. The apostle Paul expresses it in these words: “nor do I count my life dear to myself” (Acts 20:24). These are the words of a follower, of one who had taken up his cross and was made a fisher of men.
The question
To the question: Who in the world will accept these demanding conditions? Jesus answers: “He who desires to come after Me”. That’s right! The desire to follow Him is here the impelling force.
Another motivating force is the privilege the promise entails. Peter and Andrew, understanding the honor attached to the promise, yielded at once and met the condition.
Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” (Matt, 4:19,20)
Here there was no delay. They seized the occasion on the spur of the moment and actualized the blessing.
The Pauline confirmation
The apostle Paul confirms what we have seen so far. He writes:
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor. 3:5,6)
Here again we have a divine “making” related to the fishing of men. But, in the passage above, who underwent the making? Who were they that were made sufficient ministers of the new covenant? Paul refers to them as “us”. So how many people are included in the word “us”? Well, here the “us” must by necessity refer to the same “us” found a few verses earlier, namely in 2 Cor. 3:3 “clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us”. Now we know Paul was staying at the house of Aquila and Priscilla while in Corinth (Acts 18:2,3) and that Silas and Timothy eventually joined him there (Acts 18:5). Therefore these scriptural evidences seem to suggest that these zealous disciples must be included in the word “us”. It must also be noticed that the Scriptures exhale the fact that all these people were active followers of Jesus. They had met the condition and were thus made fishers of men, i.e., able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The person who doesn’t follow Jesus in the warp and woof of daily living has only the letter to offer, but the genuine follower ministers the Spirit, and only the Spirit can impart life and saving faith:
… my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Cor. 2:4,5)
An exuberant thought
Before closing I would like to invite you to meditate on the opportunity the promise under consideration entails: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Think about it. Jesus is telling us there is a way for each one of us to become an effective fisher of men. Actually He is saying that if we follow Him He will make sure the promise actualizes. “Do not be afraid.” Jesus says, “From now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:10). These words are unshakable, and unshakable for all who follow Him.
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