December 20th Advent Reflection

Mark 1: 16-18

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.   And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”   And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Coming from a generation of Alaskan commercial fishermen, what I can tell you is that they worked hard, and they played hard. They were a determined bunch that knew how to read nature, could calculate the odds, understood the value of the catch of the nets, and spread the nets as far as they could.  There was not a hint of refinement, scholarship, or reticence. And yet, in spite of, or because of, those qualities Jesus chose fishermen to be the first of a band that He expected would bring men into the knowledge of the Kingdom, charging them with the Holy Spirit, and changing the World forever.

Lord Jesus, help us to give You our strengths and weaknesses to use, enabled by Your Spirit, to cast our nets wide, inviting those lives we touch to join us in the Kingdom, “on earth, as it is inHeaven.” Amen

LB