Casting Our Nets

It didn’t work. Writing about the word cast didn’t release me from thinking about it. If anything, it’s been on my mind even more than it was before my previous post. So here are a few more thoughts about casting…

The Old Testament was all about casting. Casting idols, casting pieces for the temple, and even casting spells are commonplace in the first few books of the Bible. But those examples don’t fit the definition I wrote about in my last post—throwing forcefully and with purpose.

This instance of casting does work:

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men. ~ Mark 1:16-17 (NIV)

A friend of mine tried her hand at casting a net while on vacation at the beach one summer, and she told me it was hard...

“Trust me. It only looks easy,” she said. “First you have to loop it around your wrist and arrange it just so, or you’ll end up tangled up in it yourself. Then you have to take aim with your feet a certain distance apart and turn your arm at the exact moment you’re flinging the net into the water.”

Not that I didn’t believe her, but I did a little internet research on my own and found this handy 9-step guide to throwing a cast net, should you ever need it. Personally, I’m pretty sure I’d starve to death before I ever caught any fish using this method.

My point is this: When Jesus called Simon and Andrew from their ordinary lives as fishermen to join him on the extraordinary adventure of a lifetime, I think he expected them cast their nets for souls with as much fervor and enthusiasm. And even if our technique isn’t perfect, we should be fishing with the same sense of urgency.