Mark 1:17

“Come and follow me,” Jesus said,  “and I will teach you to fish for people.”


life skills blossom and shine
in strange places and time
knowledge in where to cast
a broad net or thin line
can assist a seed broadcaster
to better direct their hand and eye
toward fertile soil or hungry bird
whether on solid water or liquid land
simple rhythms are looked for
in every evoked vocation
theoretical mathematician
sous chef
money manager
prostitute or priest
master plumber
child minder
and all between friend and foe

we come with more abundance
than a livelihood can hold
previously resigned
invitations fruit and seed
our own small world
not for its benefit alone
but to bind a broken hologram
into another new whole
holographic kaleidoscope
internally lit
revealing tetragrammatical pegs
and uncertain holes
where we’ve all gone fishin’
ahh — so


Being hooked or netted by G*D is traditionally not a good thing (Jeremiah 16, Ezekiel 29; Amos 4, Habakkuk 1). It is prelude to punishment or exile.

I’m going to send hordes of fishermen to catch them, declares the Lord. Afterward I will send out a party of hunters to hunt them down on every mountain, hill, and cave. [Jeremiah 16:16]

A first hearing of this call will appeal to creedalists everywhere. To follow Jesus is to enforce purity internally and overthrow oppressors.

It will only be later that teaching and preaching and exorcizing and healing will be for the saving of both friend and enemy, not their destruction.

Will it be hedging-in others or releasing them that would lead you to no longer live for family, for market resources, for place in community, or any other individual-based activity?

Remember later how these first will become last (fearful and running away). Only after a Great Silence will they come to own that there is no longer female and male, slave and free, but a cleanliness and purity in simply being. Only then will they redeem the fishing image to a grand and generous welcome.

3 thoughts on “Mark 1:17”

  1. Welcome to the world of “not wanting to . . .”. Mark records the disciples/apostles/followers as finally ending up at that same spot and running away for a season. Fortunately “today” is not a “final solution/answer”.

    I have found it helpful to remember there is not only an immobilized state in the face of wilderness’ wild, but a wilderness retreat space available to test calls that were not anticipated. “Broken holograms” needs a wide variety of translations into everyday lives and languages. Blessings on clarifying your assessment of the state of the world you are in and responding with one or more of the gifts you recognize as yours. Leave any binding be until you are the binding.

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