Red Letters

Matthew 4:17 Early preaching theme:
“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”

The kingdom of heaven is introduced, and described much more throughout the gospels, along with a call to repentance. The message is initially very similar to John’s, though preached in a different region, generally.

***

Matthew 4:19 Call to Peter & Andrew
“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Fishers of men has been used as a description of evangelization ever since this was said. The means and results of evangelization are not as analogous to fishing as the experience. We do not, for example, fry converts in butter. However the experience of casting out nets into the unknown and pulling in an unknown number of fish and trusting in God to get the fish into the net is analogous to evangelism. We don’t fight against unbelievers, we fight our own shortcomings and the non-human opponents of weather and wear.