|
Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Participate in
the Harvest
by Karl J. Forehand
And Jesus was going about
all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and
proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and
every kind of sickness. And seeing
the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and
downcast like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the
workers are few. "Therefore
beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."
(Matt. 9:35-38)
A Plea for Fishing
Now it came
to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there
were many fish in the waters all around. In fact, the whole area was
surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish. And the fish were hungry.
Week after week,
month after month, and year after year, these who called themselves fishermen
met in meetings and talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish,
and how they might go about fishing. Year after year they carefully defined
what fishing means, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that
fishing is always to be a primary task of fishermen.
Continually,
they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better
definitions of fishing. Further they said, “The fishing industry exists by
fishing as fire exists by burning.” They loved slogans such as “Fishing is
the task of every fisherman.” They sponsored special meetings called
“Fishermen’s Campaigns” and “The Month for Fishermen to Fish.” They sponsored
costly nationwide and world-wide congresses to discuss fishing and to promote
fishing and hear about all the ways of fishing such as the new fishing
equipment, fish calls, and whether any new bait had been discovered.
These
fishermen built large, beautiful buildings called “Fishing Headquarters.” The
plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman should fish.
One thing they didn’t do, however: They didn’t fish.
In addition
to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other
places where there were many fish. The board hired staffs and appointed
committees and held many meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and
to decide what new streams should be thought about. But the staff and
committee members did not fish.
Large,
elaborate, and expensive training centers were built whose original and
primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. Over the years courses
were offered on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, where to find fish,
the psychological reactions of fish, and how to approach and feed fish. Those
who taught had doctorates in fishology, but the teachers did not fish. They
only taught fishing. Year after year, after tedious training, many were
graduated and were given fishing licenses. They were sent to do full-time fishing,
some to distant waters which were filled with fish.
Many who
felt the call to be fishermen responded. They were commissioned and sent to
fish. But like the fishermen back home, they never fished. Like the fishermen
back home, they engaged in all kinds of other occupations. They built power
plants to pump water for fish and tractors to plow new waterways. They made
all kinds of equipment to travel here and there to look at fish hatcheries.
Some also said that they wanted to be part of the fishing party, but they
felt called to furnish fishing equipment. Others felt their job was to relate
to the fish in a good way so the fish would know the difference between good
and bad fishermen. Others felt that simply letting the fish know they were
nice, land-loving neighbors and how loving and kind they were was enough.
After one
stirring meeting on “The Necessity for Fishing,” one young fellow left the
meeting and went fishing. The next day he reported that he had caught two
outstanding fish. He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled to
visit all the big meetings possible to tell how he did it. So he quit his
fishing in order to have time to tell about the experience to the other
fishermen. He was also placed on the Fishermen’s General Board as a person
having considerable experience.
Now it’s
true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of
difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every
day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen’s
clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen yet never fished. They
wondered about those who felt it was of little use to attend the weekly
meetings to talk about fishing. After all, were they not following the Master
who said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men?”
Imagine how
hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who don’t catch
fish were really not fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it
did sound correct. Is a person a fisherman if, year after year, he never
catches a fish? Is one following if he isn’t fishing?
Darrell W. Robinson, People Sharing Jesus,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), pp. 21-23
|