The Third Sunday
After The Epiphany
January 23, 2011
Fishers and Fish
The Rev. Robert B. Wood, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Alpharetta, Ga.
Paul tells the Corinthians, “Be of one mind.” Those words were
difficult enough for a community of what was likely 30-40 people. But
what of a larger church? A denomination? All Christians? We are not of
the same mind. We don’t even read the Bible with one mind. As a matter
of fact, I’ve just returned from a conference about understanding the
Bible called “Reading Scripture Through Other Eyes,” which addressed
the differences we have when reading Scripture.
It was my first down-link conference, meaning the speakers were in New
York, but I could sit in the lecture hall at the School of Theology,
Sewanee, Tennessee, and listen in live. There were many listening in
from around the world, which is a good thing, and part of the point.
The Bible is read by so many eyes, which form so many interpretations.
Casting a wide net for the conference, including speakers from North
America and Africa, brought perspective. It was like a world-wide town
hall meeting on reading and interpreting the Bible. Pretty cool.
What the conference impressed upon me is the understanding that when
my eyes read the Bible, they will see things based on who I am, with a
bias: the culture in which I’ve been raised, my gender, my age, my
understanding of world history, and the experiences that I’ve had.
Some bias is true for anybody, anywhere. So, if I am open to “reading
it though someone else’s eyes” to seeing that my perspective is only
one of thousands…I can remain open to the Holy Spirit, working in the
community of believers, to understand not only the another’s walk of
faith but also of how God may be speaking to them or better, through
them.
Reading the Bible through other eyes also reminds me that my eyes are
not perfect interpreters either. So, after the first session, we sat
at lunch to discuss what we had heard. I sat at lunch with six other
participants, and the conversation turned to humor as we told stories
of people getting possessive of the Bible and its many translations:
the NIV, the King James, the New King James, the New Revised Standard
Version, and so on.
One joke about the King James version was that someone had called it
the St. James version…as if it were written by James, the Brother of
our Lord, and not the King James of Shakespeare’s time—hardly a saint.
Then I told the story of hearing a mountain preacher over the radio
say that if a church was not using the King James version, people
should run from it like it was a house on fire! We use the New Revised
Standard Version, if you were wondering. Please don’t knock each other
over as you run for the doors, ok?
Different Bible translations do say different things sometimes. Say
that, as a child in Sunday School, you heard the report of Jesus
saying these words (from the King James version): ‘In my fathers house
there are many mansions.” Beautiful words, comforting words. Big.
Grand. Mansion. And for me!
Then as an adult, you hear another translation, “In my father’s house
there are many rooms.” Still nice, but though it’s a more accurate
translation, you’re frustrated because your mansion in heaven has
become a studio apartment.
You see, your mind and soul, adopt the words of God that you hear. As
well they should…but with the understanding that no word perfectly
describes God or heaven in the first place, and that translations are
not perfect. God alone is perfect.
So even if you hear a translation of Genesis starting not with‘in the
beginning, but ‘at the start” (as a friend of my reported) you have my
permission to grimace and to say how flat that translation is, but you
are at that moment reading the Bible through a translator’s eyes, not
just another’s eyes.
Even this morning’s gospel might have hit your ears differently. You
heard Jesus say to his disciples, “I will make you fish for people,”
rather than the more poetic, King James version, “I will make you
fishers of men.” You know why that was changed, right? Disciples and
evangelist were not sent just to fish for males; they were are fishing
for female disciples too, as many Biblical stories clearly show. Thus,
fishing for people.
A few years ago, a priest with disdain for inclusive language said of
this translation, sarcastically, “I will make you fish…for people! Do
you get it? I will make you fish…for people (to eat)? ‘I will make you
fish!' he went on to repeat. Make us fish? I wonder (the sarcasm
growing thicker) if we’ll be made into tunafish or yellowfish!” Making
us fish. Ha! If he’s making us fish, all he’s doing is serving us up
as someone’s supper." [Don’t you love clergy humor.]
Later on, I thought, Jesus doesn’t have to make us fish, because we
already are. Think about it…We come in a variety of shapes, colors,
and sizes. We follow the tides of culture in and out. We live and swim
in schools and have to watch out for bigger fish or circling hawks who
try to eat us up. Some of us live on the bottom and are forced to eat
junk. Others are sold at high prices, displayed like trophies, or are
put in tanks for others to see.
We jump, play, and laugh like porpoises. We try to adapt to a polluted
world, but it really does disturb our living and our mating. We are
born. We grow up. We spawn. We die. Yes, we are, in many ways, fish
already.
Of course there are many different people tossing nets and trying to
catch us. There’s the net of consumerism cast by companies and
advertisers. The nets of agnosticism, scientism, nationalism, special
interest groups, or even network news. Computer networks gather us in.
The net of Islam in this country has five times more fish than the net
cast by Episcopalians. Maybe that’s because our fishing methods are
more like trolling off the back of a charted boat – when instead our
efforts could be more like the brave and determined men and women on
“The Deadliest Catch.”
Thanks to many good fishers of people, the net of Christianity caught
me and has caught, I suspect, almost all of us here today. Some of you
still may be struggling with that, of course, like the fish on the end
of a line, fighting back, sure that life is better when you are.
This, however, is what I’d like you to remember: Christians are
engaged in a different type of fishing. You see, there is actual
fishing and spiritual fishing that Jesus is talking about. Actual
fishing is predatory. Fish are caught to benefit of the fisher. A
Christian’s spiritual fishing doesn’t kill; it saves. It is as if the
water in which the fish live is not the right habitat after all, and
we need to be saved from it. In other words, the Kingdom of God, not
the world, is our true home.
Orienting ourselves to our real habitat is a fairly radical task—a
radical reorientation—for both heart and mind. That reorientation is
exactly what Jesus meant when he said, “Repent for the kingdom of God
is at hand." It is time for a new habitat. Jesus started that
reorientation the day he called Peter and Andrew and James and John.
"I will make you fishers of men—I will show you how to catch people.
Put your energy into catching them. That is your new 9-5 job. Use a
net that will actually save them. The net of compassion. The nets of
reconciliation. The nets of love.
Jesus may have gone on to say more, but I’m not sure any translation
has these words. “Let me tell you, you brothers, these people I’m
sending you to catch are still slippery, slimy, and wiggly. They will
fight back, try to break the line, get caught in the reeds; Some of
them will even swim toward the boat to fool you, and then duck under
the boat. Sometimes you’ll fish for an entire day—and NOTHING.
You see, they truly think that the water is their best and true home,
and they will fight for their life to stay in it. That’s why I’ve
chosen you. You already know all about fish. You know how patient a
fisher needs to be. You know how to search. You know the numerous
roles of fishing that call you day after day, good weather and bad,
large catch or small catch.
But that is not the end of this story. The next part is realizing that
once we are out of the water, we miraculously transform from fish to
fishers ourselves. Good fishing habits mean proclaiming by word and
example the good news of God and Christ…casting that word out there!
Good fishing means seeking and serving Christ in all persons, and
striving for justice and peace among all people while respecting the
dignity of every human being, every fish we encounter. That job
description is in the fishing manual we call the baptismal covenant.
Our boat is named St. Aidan’s, and this cove in Georgia is a great
fishing hole.
Be not mistaken. The clergy and their words from the pulpit or in the
classroom are not the only nets around. Each and every person here can
fish for people, sharing God’s love, proclaiming with thanksgiving the
blessings of your life. Prayer is a pretty darn good net too, as is
teaching Sunday school, leading EYC, telling people about the Dave
Ramsey course, our covenant groups, our Vacation Bible School, our
preschool.
As we fish for people, we take our place in the great tradition given
to the first apostles. Jesus invites you with the same words today.
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” It’s a simple
message, no matter what translation of the Bible you are reading. No
matter whose eyes are being used to read the words.
And please remember, we get more fish by doing that we do just
talking. It was the same for Jesus, who did not leave us written
words, he left us a life. (Sister Teresa Okuae)
How about it? Our net has room, and by the grace of God, our catch
will be bountiful and eternally thankful for their new habitat.
©
Fr. Robert B. Wood. All Rights
reserved.
