Mk 1:14-20
14After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: 15“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
16As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. 17Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 18Then they left their nets and followed him. 19He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. 20Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.
FISHERS OF MEN: People usually catch fish or fowl for food. In ordinary parlance, to be “fishers of men” or to “catch men” is oftentimes used disapprovingly, just as when we speak of “trapping” or “hooking” a person. The prophets use the expression for the judgment of God. The Lord warns those who profane the land with their detestable idols: “Look! I will send many fishermen, says the Lord, to catch them” (Jer 16:16). Paralleled by hunters ferreting them out from the cleft of the rocks, the expression conjures a terrible fate.
But as used by Jesus, the expression carries no nuance of threat. It means gathering human beings for the kingdom of God. Luke uses the verb zogreo, which literally means “to catch alive” or “to take alive.” This suggests a rescue operation. Peter and his companions will leave behind their livelihood of catching fish in the Lake of Gennesaret and enter into the business of rescuing human beings through the preaching of the Gospel. At the great commissioning just before the ascension of Jesus, they who have left behind their boats at the lake will venture to other vaster shores of the world (Lk 24:47-48).