While walking by the Sea of Galilee at the inception of his brief ministry, Jesus saw two fishermen, Simon Peter and Andrew, casting a net into the sea. Without ceremony or explanation Jesus called to them (Matt. 4:19), "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." And they, without hesitation, followed him.
Jesus patiently and carefully taught them and other followers so that they might be good fishers of men. As his disciples gained in their understanding of the Master's unusual doctrine, they saw it heal the sick, save the sinner, and raise the dead. Little by little these early followers practiced it themselves with considerable success. From one journey of healing they returned and exuberantly reported to Jesus (Luke 10:17), "Even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."
Yes, the power of the Christ, Truth, which revealed perfect God, Spirit, and perfect man as His spiritual idea was sufficient to cast out every devil. This new-found truth gave the disciples a zeal which they had never experienced before. But even though they saw the greatness and power of Truth, yet they were not always faithful. During Jesus' ordeal in the garden of Gethsemane his disciples slept. Jesus awakened them with the plea (Matt. 26:40), "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" But even then they returned to their slumber. They needed further rousing.
After the crucifixion, Peter said to the other disciples (John 21:3), "I go a fishing." But he did not mean for men. He was returning to his former occupation instead of preaching the Christ and healing according to the instructions given to him by the Master. But Peter and his companions caught no fish during the night. In the morning, Jesus appeared on the shore. He told Peter and the others (verse 6), "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find." And they found fish, but more important still, as subsequent reports show, they were so aroused by the Christ, Truth, that they never again departed from their ordained duty as fishers of men.
The injunction to Jesus' followers is applicable to Christian Scientists, who name the name of Christ today. Each one is a fisher of men and has the obligation to remain awake, alert, spiritually informed, so that he may effectively arouse others to the true joys of spirituality. Those today who are helping to guard the world in Christ's name need a constant awareness of God both in affirming the truth that heals and in destroying the error that would, had it the power to do so, consume humanity.
In her illustrated poem "Christ and Christmas" Mary Baker Eddy speaks of the mission of the Christ, Truth, as follows (p. 11):
"In tender mercy, Spirit sped
A loyal ray
To rouse the living, wake the dead,
And point the Way—
"The Christ-idea, God anoints—
Of Truth and Life."
As fishers of men we have the duty of forwarding the scientific Christianity which is already in great measure accomplishing those results.
In rousing ourselves and others, we must clearly understand that there is only one enlivening Principle, God, divine Life, the life and being of all His ideas. Our comprehension of the Comforter, divine Science, must be constantly enlarged so that we may demonstrate the spiritual teaching of our Master, Christ Jesus. We must receive more and more of the Holy Ghost, or the spirit of Truth, that spiritual influx from God which was so evident on the Day of Pentecost. This improved understanding is not gained by slumber, by apathy or lack of interest, but by an aroused zeal for a deeper comprehension of Truth born of a sincere desire to help others.
There are multitudes today who are working earnestly on behalf of the Christ, Truth. They may be tempted at times to believe that they are doing their utmost. But Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 89), "We are all capable of more than we do." As we work from the standpoint that God is supreme and that we are in reality His ever-alert, ever-active, incorporeal ideas, we shall feel the influence of that truth in our human affairs and do more and become better fishers of men, better healers.
Nothing can interfere with true activity, with spiritual communion with God, or with the application of spirituality to the solution of world problems. We must know that there is no opposition to the Christ, Truth, in its mission of awakening the slumbering thought from the dream of materiality to an understanding of true spiritual being. Nothing can hinder us in the divinely inspired purpose of arousing ourselves and others to a practical comprehension of God, of His Christ, and of the Holy Comforter, through which we are able to heal the sick, save the sinner, and overcome discord.
It should be emphasized, as Mrs. Eddy stated in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 (p. 30), "No man or woman is roused to the establishment of a new-old religion by the hope of ease, pleasure, or recompense, or by the stress of the appetites and passions." Our purpose in waking ourselves and humanity should be entirely impersonal, unselfish, and loving. God has entrusted us with a responsibility to help humanity through the great message of divine Science.
Can we do otherwise than accept our responsibility to all mankind? To do so, we must continue to arouse ourselves, to acquaint ourselves more thoroughly with the Christ, Truth, with the Comforter, and to practice what we learn with increasing expertness, ability, zeal, and expectancy. Then we shall be not only in name but in fact, fishers of men.
