Matthew 4:18-22
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
One of the things that strikes me each time I read this familiar story is Jesus’ invitation to fish for people. We typically think about the kingdom of God in grand and glorious ways. And on one level that’s appropriate. We’re talking, after all, about the in-breaking of God into the world to inaugurate a reign of justice and peace. At the same time, however, we’re also talking about people. That all of this in-breaking and inaugurating is about people. People like James and John and Peter and Andrew and their families and neighbors. Just people – ordinary, run of the mill people. People, that is, like us.
Jesus’ invitation to the disciples is to enter into their everyday relationships with a sense that it is here – in the mundane, ordinary relationships that make up our life – that God’s in-breaking realm takes shape.
What does that do to the way we look at the people we work with, play with, study with, talk with, and run into day in and day out? It means, at the very least, that in our relationships with them – and I mean the ups and down and nitty-gritty that is part and parcel of all human relationships – God is present, calling them and us into God’s kingdom of mercy, grace and peace.
So as you buy a cup of coffee, or wave to a neighbor, or greet a friend, or send your children off to school, or stand in line to renew your driver’s license, or any of the other million things that constitute our everyday life, think on this: God has called us to see and treat these persons as members of God’s family, persons deserving of our love and respect. For in our relationships with them, God in Jesus is still at work. For just as those first disciples were called to fish for people, so also are we, imagining that through our everyday relationships God continues to draw people out of the world of dog-eat-dog and what-have-you-done-for-me-lately and into a world of love, mercy, and respect.
Prayer: Dear God, grant us eyes to see the people around us as your beloved children, our relationships as arenas of grace, and our everyday encounters as opportunities to invite people into your embrace of love by extending our own. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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