Now often times when we read this story we hear Jesus saying "I will make you fishers of men" just like in our lives we hear the call to come back to Christ as "I will make you happy," "I will make all of your problems disappear," "I will make you get the job of your dreams," etc. We think it's all about what Jesus is immediately going to do in our lives; it's like a cause and effect thing: you come to follow Jesus, and everything goes well. If Christ asks you to do something, you will automatically do it well, without ever really having to do any work at it. We buy into this notion of the health and wealth Gospel telling us that once we accept Christ into our life everything automatically works out.
Now, don't get me wrong; some of this might be true. Jeremiah 29:11 says: "For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for woe" and this might actually be literal welfare He is talking about-for many of us, things might turn around and get better in a temporal way when we start to live for Christ. There is, however, another viable option for us: John 16:33-"I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
It is very possible, and in fact it seems much more likely when we read the Gospels (see: Luke 9:23, Matthew 10:38, etc.) that we are going to be called to suffer, to sacrifice, to die to ourselves in order worthily follow Christ. And while that seems said, it's why He said what He did above in John: "but be of good cheer (also translated: take courage! take heart! have no fear! etc.), I have overcome the world;" He conquered death and sin and trouble, so we have nothing to fear! This doesn't mean, however, that everything will work out-quite possibly it means something very different, and yet it means that we can have hope because we are not made for this world. I believe it was G.K. Chesterton (and perhaps in Orthodoxy) who wrote that our questioning of time ("why does time go so fast?" "where has the time gone?" "why can't we just have a little bit more time?") shows that we were not made for time, for you don't see a fish desiring to be out of water, since it was made for water. Our constant desire not to be bound by time shows that we were not meant for time, but rather we were made for eternity; therefore, even if do experience trouble in this world, it doesn't matter! The best is yet to come.
So, back to the beginning, what does this all have to do with that pesky word 'become' that caused me to pause on a passage in Mark that I have heard many times previously? It was the fact that I had seen things always with the false worldview of "when I choose to follow Christ, He will immediately make things better." When He says become, He is making a very important point to them-they will become fishers of men, they will do amazing things through His lead and example, but this is something that they will not simply be, but rather have to become. They will have to move forward, through His grace and through His inspiration, and they will have to be willing to change and to grow in order to become what He wants them to be.
Many times, I think this concept of growing over time scares us. We want to live our faith on the surface, and hope everything is just fine without ever really diving into it (watch this video because it's funny, but also because they talk about spiritual growth being painful and therefore avoiding it); we want Jesus to call us to do something great for Him and then just do it in us so that we never have to fail or feel any sort of growing pains. Christ, however, is very specific here, and the Disciples come with Him; He says He will make them to become Fishers of men; He is going to do the brunt work, but we still have to cooperate, and it's still going to take time.
So go ahead, drop your nets like the Disciples. Carpe Diem, seize today, live for Christ in a way you haven't before; it might hurt a little, and it won't be easy, but you will receive joy and peace that pass all human understanding (Philippians 4:7) as you begin to live for what you were made for-eternity.
And to conclude, just cause it's awesome:
And that is precisely what Christianity is about. The world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going around the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life. ---C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
