Mending Nets
Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a net used to catch fish. A large net has to be kept in good repair; so, mending the holes that inevitably appear is a primary responsibility of fishermen.
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:18-22 (ESV)
The English word “mending” is a translation of the Greek word katartidzos, which can mean to mend, restore, equip, or to prepare. These fishermen were mending and preparing their nets to bring in a huge catch. It was how they earned a living for their families.
Paul the apostle used this same word in his letter to the church at Ephesus.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, Ephesians 4:11-13 (ESV)
In this passage the Greek word is translated “equip.” It is the same idea as preparing, with the implication that people need to be restored, taught, and equipped in order to properly function as a giant net which the Holy Spirit can use bring a great multitude of people into God’s eternal family.
Jesus told those fishermen who became his first disciples that he would make them into “fishers of men,” if they would follow him. He would call, equip, mend, prepare, and send them out to fish for people, gather them into God’s kingdom through the gospel, and teach them to replicate themselves in others, which is discipleship. The Lord will do that for anyone who makes Jesus and his kingdom his or her priority.
Jesus is fashioning his people into a mighty net to gather in his end time harvest.
Rebuilding Walls
Changing metaphors, in the Old Testament, Nehemiah returned to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem, which the Babylonians had demolished and whose walls were still in ruins. Rebuilding walls is not as disconnected from mending nets as one might think. In those days, city walls offered the residents a measure of security from hostile forces. Our neighborhoods can be viewed as a type of city. Our spiritual enemy, the devil, wants to run roughshod over people. Our disobedience to God and lack of community has effectually removed our protection from the devil’s activity. Many in our neighborhoods are experiencing oppression under Satan’s thumb because they have no advocate or Savior, no one to love them and show them the way to safety through faith in Christ.
Nehemiah organized the Jews to contribute to the rebuilding effort by asking them to commit to labor on a particular portion of the wall, quite often right next to their own house. (Nehemiah 3:28) This is a good strategy for us today. Just as Nehemiah took personal responsibility for restoring Jerusalem and asked the people to “own” rebuilding the part of the wall close to them, I believe Jesus asks each of his disciples to look upon his or her own neighborhood with a heart of compassion, realizing that if we do not rise to the occasion, many in our own community will spend eternity away from God’s presence.
Our Lord wants us to build the kingdom of God right next to our own home.
Application
Jesus told his followers to pray to the Lord of harvest to send forth laborers into the masses of harassed and helpless people all around them. (Matthew 9:35-38) In context, Jesus spoke about people needing shepherds, which can be understood as those who care about other people enough to watch out for them, provide for them, go after them, and protect them.
Any follower of Christ who cares about people can be used by God in his or her neighborhood to be a fisher of men and a restorer of the wall.
Our neighborhoods should be better places to live because of us. This will happen when we take responsibility and start being what Jesus called “salt” and “light.”
How will this happen? We can pray in secret for our neighbors, pray for them personally and publicly when they share some need with us, visit them, have them over, and do loving acts of service for them.
God wants us to learn to be a good neighbor as a lifestyle, not something we occasionally check off on our “to do” list.
We often earn the right and privilege to share Jesus with people by first loving them and building a genuine relationship with them. Our ultimate goal is to introduce people to a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus. That is the most loving thing imaginable!
The world is weary of people who only tell them about Jesus, but otherwise seem to take no personal interest in them. Jesus was quickly able to convey an enormous amount of love for those he met. It generally takes us a while to make a breakthrough into people’s lives.
The old saying is true that people usually don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.
Let’s make it our goal to destroy the commonly held assumption that Christians are judgmental know-it-alls, who don’t really care about people. Instead, let’s be menders of nets, re-builders of community, lovers of people, and proper representatives of the kingdom of God.
Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes. Isaiah 58:12 (NLT)
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