February 15: Of Roads Not Taken, Of Nets Not Cast

Exodus 39:1-40:38

Mark 1:1-28

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 9:11-12

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

   I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 - Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"

  As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people/". At once they left their nets and followed Him.

- Mark 1:16-18

In his poem, Frost talks about a traveler in a wood who, when faced with a choice between paths, chooses the one less traveled, and finds it has made "all the difference".  Simon was faced with that choice - he was, in fact, already on the well traveled path, the one that took him to work each day, that strove to put food on his family's table.  Jesus came and offered him another path, that would make him a "fisher of men" instead. He took Jesus up on His offer, setting aside his nets.  

There's a TV show called "The Deadliest Catch", which documents the work of crab fishermen in the Bering Sea, working under some of the harshest conditions.  These are tough guys, hardened men struggling against the elements.  Can you imagine how they might have responded had Jesus approached them at the dock, calling them to be "fishers of men"?  I suspect they would have thought Jesus crazy, laughed Him off the dock.  

But are we any less guilty then those men would have been?  Each day, Jesus calls us to a closer relationship with Him - one that requires us to give up the obvious road, the road life in this world has taught us to take - the one that makes money and work and education and power the objective, the purpose, the source of our security.  He asks us to give up the preparation in the kitchen - but Lord, what about all these guests? - and sit at His feet instead.  How do we respond? 

For reasons perhaps unclear to him even then, Simon took the road less traveled.  Father, when faced with the choice - You or this well-trod world - give us the wisdom to choose as Simon did, perhaps not even knowing why; help us to choose You.