Fish under the ice

Jesus, help me to have as much faith as a fisherman! Amen.

Walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw Simon Peter and Andrew catching fish in nets. "Come with me," Jesus called, "and I'll make you fishers of people." Then He saw James and John, and called them. All the men left their nets and followed Jesus.

Ice fishing is a favorite winter sport for some people. If you pass by a frozen lake, you'll probably see people huddled next to holes chopped in the ice, dangling fishing lines into the water below.

If you're not into that, you might wonder why someone fishes when it must be so hard to catch anything! But fishing can be a frustrating pastime no matter what season it is. One reason is that the person who's fishing never really knows if the fish are there!

The first Apostles, whom Jesus calls to follow Him in this week's Gospel (Mark 1:14-20), were fishermen. They probably had lots of days when they got discouraged because the fish weren't biting, and they had to learn to be very patient if they hoped to catch any.

When Jesus came along and invited them to "fish" for people instead of fish, they knew just what they were getting into. They would have to spend a lot of time throwing out "nets" -- teaching people about God and reminding them how much God loved them -- and patiently waiting to see if anyone got "hooked" on those ideas.

Ice fishermen must be well-prepared in order to fish. They have to bundle up against the cold, have faith that there are fish they can't see under the ice and trust that they can lure in those fish.

Fishermen, then, were the best people Jesus could have chosen as Apostles. To do their jobs, they had to have faith. No wonder they had enough faith in Jesus to drop their nets and follow Him!