Why Jesus Chose Fishermen

by Van Robison

fishermen When Jesus Christ asked some local fishermen to follow Him (Matthew 4:18-19), there had to be good reasons that He did so. There are a number of reasons that we could suggest:

  • They were teachable.
  • They were not formally educated.
  • They believed Jesus and His teachings.
  • They had no credentials such as "pastor", "senior pastor", "reverend" or some other self-flattering title.
  • They were not full of the vanity of the "educated" religious leaders.
  • They had no financial motive to follow Jesus.
  • They were picked by Jesus to become fishers of men.
  • God chooses the seeming foolish things of this world, to confound those who are wise in their own eyes.
  • Jesus selected His disciples based upon knowing their hearts and minds were moldable by the Holy Spirit.
The types that Jesus Christ did not choose to be His disciples, we could suggest would be the following:
  • Jesus did not choose professional religious leaders.
  • Jesus did not choose ordained priests, pastors, reverends or clergy types.
  • Jesus did not choose college educated PhD's (doctors of theology).
  • Jesus did not choose scholars, scribes or theologians.
  • Jesus did not choose celebrity religious leaders.
  • Jesus did not choose the established, high profile priests of His day.
  • Jesus did not choose those in power positions.
  • Jesus did not choose those who in the eyes of the world are wise in their own eyes.
  • Jesus did not choose His disciples because they were "experts" in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic.
Is there not a great lesson to be learned from Jesus Christ? If Jesus Christ walked our streets today in search of personal disciples to represent Him, would He again select uneducated fishermen? Or would Jesus select celebrity television preachers, credentialed pastors, senior pastors, reverends, bishops and professionally educated religious leaders? Remember "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Do we actually have it all wrong in our church world today? Are we to have a special regard for the "professional" theologians and pastors, even though Jesus Christ did not choose these types as His personal disciples? Based upon some of Paul's teachings, Christians are led to believe that Jesus appointed a professional clergy class of people to rule over the followers of Jesus Christ, but is that not a contradiction to the teachings of Christ in the four Gospels?

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