Then He said to them, «Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.» MATTHEW 4:19, NKJV
Chile is a couple of hundred miles wide at the most, but it is more than two thousand six hundred miles long! Because it is oriented vertically, the country has almost every imaginable type of landscape. In the north, there are some of the hottest and driest deserts in the world. In the middle, there are lush agricultural areas. In the south, there are thousands of islands, lakes, and fjords, and in the very southern tip—Tierra del Fuego—the closest landmass to Antarctica. The west coast has thousands of miles of coast, while the eastern border has thousands of miles of mountains. During one of my trips to Chile, I decided to spend a few days with my uncle in a city called La Serena. It’s a beach town with miles and miles of untouched beaches. When a country has thousands of miles of beaches, it’s easy to find beaches that are rarely visited.
My uncle knew where to find some of these, so we jumped in his four-wheel-drive vehicle and cruised for miles on the sand down the totally empty beaches. Eventually we stopped because we had arrived at one of his favorite fishing spots. He kept his fishing gear in his trunk, ready to go, and even a spare in case someone came with him. I had never fished directly from the sandy beach into the ocean, so he had to give me a few pointers. Over the next hour or so, we caught a handful of fish and enjoyed standing around and talking about life on such a beautiful beach. It was one of the most memorable and relaxing moments of my visit to Chile.
The Bible talks about fishermen, except that in today’s verse JESUS is calling fishermen to be fishers of men. Followers of CHRIST have been given the job of being fishers of men, of women, and of children. JESUS has asked us to go out and invite the world to follow HIM.