The Boys from Fish Town

Once upon a time in a town called Bethsaida, there were two brothers—Jonas and Zebedee. They were fishermen. The name Bethsaida means ‘place of fish” and it can refer either to a particular town or a part of a town where the fishermen live. There were more than one place called “fish town.” This was probably the one connected with Capernaum, the largest town on the Jewish side of the Galilean lake. These two men owned together a fishing business. Their business employed about a dozen men. They each had a boat/ Each boat was crewed by a half dozen men, though they could double that number when they needed to. They may have had more, but those two boats were the only ones we know about. They fished for three kinds of fish. The most important were tilapia, a fish resembling a crappie. They also fished for sardines and for the sturgeon. They would catch tilapia by spreading nets on the top of the water in a u-shaped pattern. As one boat did this, the other boat would locate school of fish and beat on the water, to scare the fish into the waiting nets. Then, they would take the fish over to Magdala, keep them in salt-water pits until ready for shipment to Jerusalem. Then they would take their fish to Jerusalem and sell them there. It had been going on that way for hundreds of years. The father passed the business on to his sons. That’s how Simon and Jonas got their boats. That’s how their children got them, too. The two brothers had four sons between them---Simon and Andrews, son of Jonas, and John and James, son of Zebedee. They eventually inherited the fishing business from their fathers. They had a crew of about a dozen. We know some of their names—Phillip, and possibly Nathaniel, Thomas, and Judas. Simon was the leader, and they all did fairly well. That is, until something happened that almost ruined the business. Two of the cousins—Andrew and John, the youngest, heard John the Baptist preach. They left their nets and followed him. This led Simon and James short-handed, which they probably resented greatly. Still, they continued catching fish while John and Andrew followed John the Baptist along the southern shored of the Jordan. One day, John the Baptist called James and Andrew to his side. “See that man?” He said. “That’s the Lamb of God. He’s going to take away the sins of the world. He’s much greater than I. Go follow him.” John and James were puzzled. Why would John call him a Lamb? Lambs went to the slaughter house or the shearing house. If you followed him, you would wind up dead or fleeced. But they obeyed their master, and followed. Jesus turned out to be nothing like they expected. He was strong, earthy—in every way a leader. They were very impressed, and decided to stay with him. They also decided their brothers had to meet him. Simon could not have been happy that they followed John the Baptist, especially when the fish were running. So John and Andrew decided to let Jesus handle Simon. When Jesus met Simon, he handled it beautifully. Simon was in Judea, probably selling fish. “You are Simon, son of Jonas. From now on you will be called Peter. Follow me!” Jesus did not ask Simon to be his disciple--he commanded. At first, Simon did not obey. It was not until later that he followed. Jesus was a lion with Simon. So why did they call him a lamb? With Jesus’ oversight and command, Andrew set out to dismantle their old fishing crew. First, he found Philip and introduced him to Jesus. Then Philip found Nathaniel, who was surely the most cynical and skeptical of the bunch, outside of Simon himself. Philip said. “We have found the Messiah—Jesus of Nazareth.” Nathaniel’s comment was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” This would have put off anyone else—but not Jesus! He said, “Here’s a guy who will not stand for anything false!” “How do you know me?” Nathaniel said. “I saw you sitting under the fig tree before Philip called you. You will see he heavens open, and the angels ascending and descending on the Son of man.” A bold statement! Once again, Jesus was a lion. So why did they call him a lamb? So, here’s what we’ve seen about Jesus. We saw Him shut up Simon. He was the only person who could make Simon run. He saw their future and their past. Cynical men, straightforward working-class good old boys were right at home with this man. He arms like tree branches, and legs like trunks He was a natural leader, confident and strong, and with superpowers. So why did they call him a lamb? People see in Jesus what they want to see. Usually Jesus comes out looking like the culture that imagines Him, with all their strengths and failing. But in truth, it did not matter who Jesus was, so much as what He did. It was his function in the world, not his personality, who made Jesus important to us. “Lamb” is what He did, not who He was. He came to take the place of the sacrificial lamb of the Passover. Once a year in the temple Jerusalem, the high priest would take a lamb and butcher him on the altar. I know it sounds barbarous, but is was no more barbarous than butchering a cow or dressing a deer. Before he butchered it, the priest would lay his hand on the lamb and pronounce the sins of the people. In the slaying of that lamb, the sins of the people were wiped out. That’s what the Lamb of God was. He was the recipient for our sins. He was the one who died to pay for our sins. Jesus was a big, powerful guy, but that did not matter. Jesus said many wise things, but that did not matter. Jesus performed many miracles, but they did not matter, either. Neither his wisdom nor his power made Jesus important to us today. It was what he did that made him important. He was our lamb who took away the sins of the world. Jesus picked his first disciples mostly from the same fishing crew. Peter eventually followed, and so did James. He also picked up some other unlikely disciples. Matthew, Peter’s tax collector (how Peter must have hated him!) Matthew brought his nephew—another James. There was Simon the Zealot. He was a terrorist, who belonged to a sect which killed tax collectors. Then there was Judas Iscariot. Judas, like Simon may have been a zealot, or he may have been from a priestly family from Jerusalem. Whoever he was, he did not belong in the group. But Jesus wanted him here. We have to be impressed by how ordinary these men were. They were nothing really. But what was important was who they became. They became Jesus’ disciples. They followed the Lamb of God—in most cases to their own slaughter. Then they were not just fishermen They were martyrs, apostles, saints, not for who the were, but for wht they did in following Jesus. Who we were before makes no difference—only what they became. This motley group was held together by the force of Jesus’ personality. They became saints and apostles because of what Jesus did for them. He became the lamb for God for them, who took away their sins. Are we any different from these men? Is Jesus any different for us? Jesus may or may not do miracles in your life. He may heal your diseases. He may or may not give you prosperity and riches. But one thing he is for you—the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is the sacrifice that transforms us. The power of God can redeem any man through the sacrifice of the man. Jesus can take a sow’s ear and make it into a silk purse. He can take a group of beer swilling, country music listening, cussing and fighting good ole’ boys who inhabited fish town and change them into saints and apostles. He can change you. He can blot out the sins of terrorist and greedy capitalists; he can blot out your sins as well. Jesus calls us today to follow Him. But why we follow is just as important as that we follow Him. If we think we are going to follow him to victory and prosperity, forget it. It’s just proof that we don’t understand. Him. If we follow because we are afraid of him, we don’t understand Him either. But if we follow Him because He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and that through Him we have eternal life, then we might have a real reason to make Him our LordJesus is not just the Lamb. He’s our Lamb. He’s not just the Lord, He’s our Lord. Down through the ages, the call goes out, to follow Him to the ends of the earth.