Jeremiah 5

The Skillful Angler

They set a trap, they catch men. Jeremiah 5:26.

Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Luke 5:10.

There is an unusual fish which inhabits the waters near our coasts. It is called the angler fish, and it has received this name because of the strange way in which it attracts its prey.

The angler fish is generally about three feet in length, and the greater part of its body is made up of its head! Its mouth is a huge chasm containing two long rows of very sharp teeth. But the extraordinary bit about this creature is its back fin. Three of the rays or spines belonging to this fin have grown into long tentacles and have removed from the back to the head. These tentacles the angler fish uses as baits to catch the smaller fishes. When it is ready for a meal it hides its head in the mud or among the seaweed and waves the tentacles about in the water. They look exactly like three nice tempting worms, and the front ray, which is clubbed at the end, appears specially attractive. Very soon up swims a small fish expecting a nice dinner. Of course it never sees the huge mouth, for not even the silliest of silly little fishes would walk open-eyed into that trap. But just when it is upon the point of seizing the supposed worm there is a vicious snap, and the poor little victim is engulfed in the vast cavern.

The sailors sometimes call the angler fish the “sea-devil,” and don't you think it is a good name? For when the devil wants to get hold of a man or a woman, when he wants to capture a boy or a girl, he doesn't do it openly; he sets a trap. He knows that if his intended victims saw what an ugly, cruel, horrible old wretch he was he would never catch them at all, so he hides himself and dangles an attractive bait in front of their eyes.

That is why the things that lead us astray often seem so nice. We are so taken up looking at the attractive side of them that we forget where they are leading us until we find that we have wandered far away from the things that we knew to be right and true.

It is well for us that the devil is not the only angler. There is another greater than he, and He draws us, not with any deceitful bait but with the cords of infinite love. Christ is the great Master Fisher and He seeks to catch us, not that He may destroy us, but that He may fill us fuller with life.

There is one other thing I want you to think about. You and I, boys and girls, whether we know it or not, are angling either on the side of Jesus or on the side of the devil.

Our first text was addressed to the people of Judah and Israel. They were told that among them were wicked men who set a trap and caught men. These wicked men were really servants of Satan. They caught others to destroy them.

Our second text is taken from the story of the miraculous draught of fishes. You remember how Jesus stood one morning by the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, and He saw two fishing-boats lying there, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets a little distance off. He entered one of the boats and told the owners to launch out into the deep and let down their net for a draught. The skipper, Simon Peter, replied that they had worked all night and caught nothing, but nevertheless because Jesus told them to do it they would let down the net. And when they obeyed they enclosed such a multitude of fishes that their net broke and they had to call in the help of their partners in the other ship. Not only that, but so great was the weight of their catch that both ships began to sink.

When Peter saw it he fell down at Jesus' feet and cried, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” And Jesus said, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.”

If you looked up that word “catch” in the Greek New Testament you would see that it means “take alive” or “save alive.” That is what Jesus is doing, and that is what His true followers are doing too by His help.

For, boys and girls, if you are not on Jesus' side, if you are not on the side of the things that are noble and right, then, consciously or unconsciously, you are helping to draw others into the devils trap. But if you are faithfully trying to follow Jesus and to do what He would have you do, then by your influence and example, by your kind words and your loving deeds, you are helping to catch men alive that they may be filled with fuller life.