February 19, 2026

Matthew 4:19

19 He said to them, “Come, walk the road with me, and I will show you how to fish in a new way – for two leggeds.” (First Nations version)

All around us, so many of us are feeling fear and anxiety about what’s happening in the world. Family, friends, and neighbors live under real threat of persecution.

Jesus lived in a moment like this, too. And he responded by building a movement beginning with fishermen. Folks low on the social hierarchy, often poor, getting by day-by-day.

These fishermen did not work alone with a pole and lure. They worked cooperatively as a community. They dropped large nets into the Sea of Galilee from their boats and slowly pulled the nets toward land together, capturing as many fish as they could. Each night they laid the nets out to dry so they wouldn’t rot. They barely got by. The work was slow and steady, with ups and downs. Good days, okay days, bad days — and they rode those out together.

Jesus needed folks who knew how to work together like this.

It was more than a strategy.

It was a way of life.

That is what Jesus offered them:

Be fishers of people.

And their work was different.

They caught people when they fell.

Echoing the beautiful lyrics, "we get to carry each other."

While the empire controlled people with fear and manipulation, Jesus engaged people with love, hope, and informed consent. They gathered people into community.

In the midst of fear, threats, and intimidation, this is how Jesus built.

And this is still how we build — slow, steady, together.