I’m beginning to come round to the idea that there’s no such thing as a shallow person. I think that we all have depth; we all have significant, meaningful needs. What we think of as a ‘shallow person’ is just someone who hasn’t realised just how deep their identity goes, and tries to meet profound needs with shallow, disposable things. Comfort Eating, Retail Therapy and Binge Watching all work, but not for long.
When Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee and meets Simon and Andrew he tells them that if they come with him, he will make them ‘fishers of men’. It’s a strange offer, but I believe that it connected with something deep in the two men. Maybe it harmonised with something they didn’t even know about themselves? It must have done something powerful – “At once they left their nets and followed him.”
Maybe Simon and Andrew wanted more than just fishing? Perhaps they wanted to make their lives count for something more than the marketplace? That’s what Jesus offered them, and I believe that – if we’ll listen – he makes a similar call to each of us, something unique that meets a deep hunger within our souls.
That encounter on the banks of the Sea of Galilee was once suggested to me as a mediation. Spend some time in silence, calming your heart and mind. Then picture the seashore, the waves flapping nearby, the sound and smells of the breeze, the hustle and bustle of fishermen coming and going, engaging in their life’s work. Imagine that you are there, just minding your own business, and then suddenly you look up. Jesus is standing there. He looks at you and says, “Come, follow me, and I will…”
Well? What does he say? How does he finish that sentence? “Come, follow me, and I will…” What is it that he offers you that resonates with your soul, makes your heart burn within you and gives you no choice but to walk away from your nets?
Thanks James. I hadn’t seen it that way but you have a valuable point.