<p>4:19&nbsp;And<i> he said to them: Follow me, and I will make you</i>- One intention of our calling to the Gospel is to bring others to the Kingdom. Evangelism isn&rsquo;t therefore something intended for only some within the body of Christ. And the Lord has a personal training program for each of us- &quot;I will make you...&quot;.</p>
<p><i>Fishers of men</i>- The Greek&nbsp;<i>halieus</i>&nbsp;is literally &lsquo;a salty one&rsquo;, from&nbsp;<i>hals</i>, salt. The Lord invites all in Him to see themselves as the salty ones of the earth (Mt. 5:13). The call to be fishers, salty ones, is therefore not only for those men on the shore of Galilee, nor for just some of us- but for us all. The Qumran documents spoke of &lsquo;the fishers of men&rsquo; as being those who would condemn Israel in the last day; and yet the Lord clearly had the idea that they were to &lsquo;catch&rsquo; people out of the &lsquo;sea&rsquo; of the nations and bring them to salvation. So the preachers as &lsquo;fishers of men&rsquo; actually have a double role- as Paul put it, to some our preaching is the savour of death, to others, the savour of life (2 Cor. 2:16). Not only does this encourage us as the preachers to&nbsp;<i>plead</i>&nbsp;with men to choose life rather than death; but it is a sober reminder that we too face the impact of the very Gospel which we ourselves preach, and must likewise live lives of ongoing response. We preach, therefore, aimed at a decision- not merely &lsquo;witnessing&rsquo;, nor simply imparting helpful information.</p>