Hunted by God

Gospel Reflection for Thursday, November 30, 2023

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.

-Mt 4:18-22

I have written so extensively on the allegories of fishing in the Bible that I will be very brief with this one. How innocuous on its face is the statement "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men"? Of course, we read it, and we realize that Jesus was offering to the Apostles a different vocation and a higher calling. But, do we consider that He was saying they would actually be combatants in the battle for souls?

The fisherman catches the fish with a hook or a net. It takes knowledge, skill, cunning, physical power and tenacity. This is not gentle persuasion but, “man, the hunter.” That is very foreign to our modern understanding, but it should not be. Saint Pio and several saints have explained that the forces of good and evil are in a constant battle for the souls of humanity. Angels and demons are locked in mortal combat with the soul of man as the prize. Jesus was enlisting His priests to fight on the side of angels. The devil and his legions offer the baited hook. God’s Holy Church, the angels and saints employ a net that that saves instead of kills, a net that is the outspread, open arms of Christ taking us into the ark or boat that is the Catholic Church, where the catch will be sorted, good from bad.

The fisherman always labors and the fish always fights and struggles, but the hook of the devil leads to the death of the soul while the net of God leads to both the death of self and eternal life. It is a painful process either way. Do not be deluded that the fish cannot be caught. He will either be caught by the bait of sin or the love of God. As I often explain to vegans, vegetarians and animal rights types who take offense the fact that I hunt and fish, “Nothing dies of old age in nature.” The most merciful death an animal or fish may have is at the hands of the hunter or fisherman, as only the human has the capacity to be humane. Anyone who has ever seen a deer with its guts ripped open and left to die a slow, painful death by coyotes who leave it to hunt down and devour its fawns will know just how cruel nature truly is…. but coyotes lack the malice of demons.

So, while many may be uncomfortable with the analogy of Jesus appointing His priests as something like predators, which is what fishermen are… and everything from an insect to a man truly is, we must look to the nature of their role. They snatch the soul from the jaws of Satan and give it to Jesus, from eternal death to eternal life, from suffering to joy. The priest is a fisherman and a hunter, a trapper and a tactician, but most importantly, a soldier. Do not fear being hunted by God. It is only our pride and sinful nature that will die. Both God and the devil, their hounds, gamekeepers and fishermen will pursue us to the end. As Bob Dylan sang, “It may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” You can take the baited hook or be enveloped in the structure of the net. It is far better to surrender to God and even become a fisherman yourself. To quote one of the few songwriters who was even better than Bob Dylan, Hank WIlliams, Sr. wrote, “No matter how I struggle and strive. I’ll never get out of this world alive.”

Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is Available in paperback on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic