09/08/2021
Last Week's Episode of "the Lectures on Mark" on CTN
Episode 7: Fishers of Men
After Jesus was tempted for forty days and fasted, he began the ministry of the gospel. He preaches the gospel. He selects the disciples. I will read from Mark chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, "Now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting the net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men. And they straight away they forsook their nets and followed him. And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. Straight away he called them and they left their father Zebedee and the ship with the hired servants and went after him."
The Bible is telling us about this aspect. Jesus talks about forsaking yourself and following him. This is very hard for people. For example, when you bring out a product. Suppose there's a product called Jesus and the product of you. When people see that no one's going to look at you, everyone will look at Jesus. When people think of themselves as great and kind. A lot of people think of themselves as better than Jesus. When people think of themselves as great and kind. A lot of people think of themselves as better than Jesus. Jesus did not come to the kings or governors or captains of thousands. But he went to go meet the lowly fishermen. Especially when Peter met Jesus, do you know what it was like? He said he toiled all night long casting the net but caught nothing.
Recently, we watched the Easter Cantata movie. There are many scenes of Peter casting the net. The way he was tossing the net was very different from how real fishermen do it. I don't think they knew how they were doing it; they were just throwing the net. Even though he tossed for a long time and was tired, he caught no fish. That's when Peter got to meet Jesus. Recently, many people are going through hardship all around the world because of the corona pandemic. Especially in Brazil, the people love to be very free. But the corona was very bad in Brazil. Also, in India, there were assemblies and gatherings of some events by the Hindus. Many people got infected. Anyways, there are many economic hardships, and people are going through many difficulties worldwide due to coronavirus.
In the history of mankind, when there were plagues like the pest, people's hearts became very humble. In the case of Korea, there was a big war in Korea in 1950. After the Korean War, the economy of Korea began to develop very fast. Now everyone lives very well. In Korea, it's tough to find people who drive old cars. Would such people want to follow Jesus, who was slept by the Sea of Galilee? Who doesn't have an extra set of clothes? I've talked about this earlier when the governor or the king saw Paul, they said to him, "You are mad." But when we read the Bible, Jesus begins to meet the fishermen at the Sea of Galilee. He met Simon Peter. Here Simon Peter gets to meet Jesus. Amazingly, he says, "Come ye after me." It says that Peter toiled all night long but caught nothing. Jesus told him to go into the deep and cast the net.
Of course, this is not mentioned in the book of Mark but in the other gospels. Through this, Peter caught lots of fish. He said to Jesus, "Jesus depart from me, for I am a sinner." Jesus says to him, "Come follow me." "I will make you become a fisher of men." Through this, Peter and Andrew started to follow Jesus. Then after a bit, there is James and John. They were mending their nets on the ship. I don't think they caught much fish. They're just preparing the net so that they can catch fish next time. So when we look at ourselves and at Jesus clearly, nobody would put any hope in themselves. Everybody would look at Jesus. But even though we are weak and lacking, some people have good positions. Even though they're sinners, some people have become kings or governors. Some people fish; there are such people. Then when they have an excellent position, they take Jesus lightly.