Whiteboard: Gone Fishing

It is a pun.

We miss those sometimes, particularly when we are translating from one language to another.

Scripture gives us a pun in Matthew 4:12-23.

He is calling his first disciples, who happen to be fishermen, and so scripture tells us:

He said to the fishermen, "I will make you fish for men."

It is a pun. Fishermen and fish-for-men sound similar in Koine Greek (the original language of Matthew and the rest of the New Testament) just like they sound similar in English.

But here is the thing: Jesus wasn't just talking men in a gender-identity kind of way. He wasn't saying to his earliest disciples, "I only want you to preach the good news to guys. Forget about the ladies entirely." So now we have a double dilemma. Do you keep the pun and exclude the women? Or do you include everybody, but goof up the wordplay? Or is there, miracle of all linguistic miracles, some way to do both?

The New Revised Standard Version (which we use in worship) went with Option #2 (Include Everybody, but Goof up the Wordplay). They translate the passage as:

...for they were fishermen. And he said to them,
"Follow me, and I will make you fish for people."

That has always driven me crazy! The playfulness of the text, the power of the pun completely vanishes. It all becomes so, well, clunky when fishermen is followed by the completely indeciperable fish for people.

It is why I've always preferred the third option -- a fresher translation that reads:

...for they were fishermen. And he said to them,
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men and women."

See how easy that was! The pun is still there. The Universality of the message is still there. And in church this Sunday I'll share with you why all of that is so important!

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Matthew 4:12-23 Jesus Begins His Ministry

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 

‘Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,

on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 

the people who sat in darkness

have seen a great light,

and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death

light has dawned.’ 

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.