Today, we hear about Jesus doing something strange, of capturing people, of hauling them in by His words. That’s what happened to Jesus’ first disciples–they were “captured” by His Word and His call for them to be His disciples.
Jesus’ first disciples lived by the Sea of Galilee. They were fishermen who were mending their nets when Jesus found them. Two brothers, Peter and Andrew, were casting a net into the sea. Then they heard a voice calling to them from the shore. “Follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” After that, Jesus called James and John, who were mending their nets in their father’s boat.
Those words of Jesus, “follow me,” are like His word “repent.” They are action, doing words, power-packed words from the Son of God. They do what they say. And so the fishermen left their nets and followed Jesus. They had no idea what they were getting into that day. But the words “follow me” from the mouth of Jesus into the ears of the fishermen turned them in a new direction. And they followed.
Repenting and believing are like that. They are not realities that we create within ourselves. They are what the Word, Jesus, does as the Spirit He has sent works through the Word of God. Think back to creation. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The Word does what it says. The Word says “repent,” and stubborn, stony hearts of sinners turn from sin toward God. The Word says “believe,” and unbelieving hearts trust that Jesus died to save them from their sins.
The Apostle Paul tells us, “God… made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in [our] trespasses” (Ephesians 2:4-5). The spiritually dead can’t spiritually decide, repent, believe, turn, or even twitch. The Small Catechism describes it this way: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.”
Jesus comes to you, breathing His life into you, speaking His Word to you, enlivening you, turning you toward Him, and putting the gift of faith within you. He meets you in the darkness and deadness of unbelief, sin, self-centeredness, and the idolatries of self. “Repent. Be turned from yourself to Christ, for God has forgiven you. Believe it!”
Jesus told His first disciples-made-apostles to speak such words. “Fishing for men” sounded like crazy talk to them. And it was. But that’s what Jesus would teach and sanction them to do. “Disciple all the nations by baptizing them into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). That’s how they would bring others into the kingdom, by casting wide the net of baptism, hauling in the catch, and teaching them the truths of Christ.
You know what happens to fish caught in a net, don’t you? They die! And so it is in baptism. In baptism, you died and were buried in Christ’s death. But that was a good death, all so you may be raised with Him in His resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). Death and resurrection to life is the way of Jesus–and of all who follow Him!
If we look at ourselves, we know that we aren’t qualified to be disciples of Jesus! No one is. As it was with the first disciples, so it is with us. But thank God: Being Jesus’ disciple has nothing to do with your qualifications, any more than it has to do with a fish being qualified to be caught in a net. But it does have everything to do with Jesus. As it was with the first disciples, so it is today.
Think of Jesus’ first disciples. Did they choose Jesus or did Jesus choose them? Jesus chose them. The fishermen didn’t choose Jesus. And it’s the same with us. The Word, Jesus Himself, has to capture us so we can be His disciples.
Why is this so? Because of our fallen nature, something else has already captured us: Our sin, the power of death, and the devil’s enslaving ways. That’s the reality of being born in this fallen world. And that’s why our Lord Jesus has to capture us by His Word. He seeks to capture us to rescue us from the tyranny of the devil and the punishment we deserve because of our sin.
How then did the Lord’s Word capture you? It was when God the Holy Spirit combined our Lord’s Word with water in your baptism. There, the Holy Spirit brought you into your Lord’s kingdom. There, the net of Jesus’ life-giving death did its life-saving work.
This net of the Word, of Baptism, saves you (1 Peter 3:21). This net of baptism gives eternal life to you. And the Lord’s Word continues to capture you, drawing you near to Him, even right here and right now. Today, the Lord has already come to you in the words of Holy Absolution, in the Scriptures read during this Divine Service, and He is coming to you right now in His preached Word. And soon He will come to you when you receive Jesus’ body and blood in His own Supper.
Today, Jesus’ Word for you is still “follow Me,” for Jesus has defeated eternal death and still gives you His victory of life. Yes, Jesus says “follow Me” into death, but it’s not death as the world would know it. Jesus says “follow Me” into death to sin, to everything that would lead away from Jesus to the road back to God the Father.
That means that, although we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we can fear no evil. Why? It’s because Jesus is with us. We can walk into that gloomy valley without fear because we follow our Shepherd into it. And we know that He not only went into death, but came out of it, defeating death forever. And we know that He will never leave us because He tells us so.
Yes, Jesus has chosen you to follow Him: Your baptism tells you so. And Jesus is still calling you here, today, through His Word. But He’s not calling you to leave your work and your family. No, He’s calling you to follow Him where you are, to live in the freedom of His forgiveness. And He’s calling you to show the world what it means to live under the umbrella of His grace.
For you are born anew from above as a child of God. Christ has freed you from the slavery of sin and death–but not from the responsibilities of life. Jesus’ death and resurrection give you freedom to work–not freedom from work. That’s because, in Christ, you know that life is more than the stuff of this world. Because of Christ, you are “in the world but not of the world.”
For you are a chosen one of God, seasoning the earth with the life of Christ (Colossians 4:6). You are a light, reflecting the light of salvation into all the places where you live out your life. God has made you His own possession, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).
Today, Jesus still says to you, “Follow Me.” For each of us, both you and me, we who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, are put on the path that leads to the Father’s house, where the joys are unending, and the homecoming is eternal.
It is through lives that are given to such following that Jesus still uses to “catch others.” Evangelism isn’t just delivering information–as if the matters of faith could be so easily parsed. No, evangelism is calling others to come along and walk with you the way home, the way to the Father that Jesus has opened for us all.
Besides serving others where God has placed you, you simply confess Christ in your everyday life. All Christians are to do that, pastor and layperson alike. But you might be thinking, “How do I confess Christ?” Jesus tells us.
Jesus says, “Let your light shine before others, so they may see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The Apostle Peter also tells us. He says, “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you about the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). That’s how you confess Christ to others in your everyday life–through your words and deeds.
You don’t have to change jobs or leave your family to be a light for Christ in this world. Just live your life in such a way that others see God through you, that others hear you tell them of Jesus. There is no greater calling than that, than by word and deed, to be the shining light of Christ to others.
For the Gospel of God conquers the darkness of death. And when you confess Christ to others, some will even believe and thank you for it, if not now, then in eternity. God has loved us all in His Son. Proclaim that. Let others know that they can come home. For God loves them and has sent His Son to be the eternal cure for what ails us all.
But before we can be doers of God’s Word, we must be hearers of His Word. Before we can be followers of Jesus, we must be hearers of Jesus. Before we can be fishers of men, we must be caught in the net of Jesus’ death and resurrection. His Word must have its way with us.
And Jesus’ Word is no empty, human word; it is the Word of God come in the flesh. And when Jesus speaks, lives are changed: The demons flee and those born in the death of their trespasses and sins now live.
We, too, were once dead in our trespasses and sins. But now we are alive, secure within Christ’s liberating grace. So sing the Savior’s freedom song. Let others know of the loving Father and His gracious Son; sing to the living Spirit and the freedom won, for now and through all the ages. For in Christ, we can do no other. Amen.
