Scripture: Luke 5:1-11
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn how Jesus called his first apostles from a life of fishing to a life of teaching about God.
- Students will learn basics for making a fishing net.
Guiding Question: How can you use basic knots to create a fishing net?
Materials: Choose one of the following:, bank line, jute, parachord, hemp, yucca chord, or any string for practice purposes.
Procedure: Review the story of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew to become disciples at the Sea of Galilee. Discuss how fisherman in Jesus’ time probably made their own nets. They often tied rocks to one end to make it sink down and light-weight wood to the other end to make it float. Show students the steps for creating a net. Have a long, thin piece of straight wood (or a piece of chord will work to). Cut several very long lengths of the chord. Each of the lengths will be spaced out along the wood. Tie each to the wood using a lark’s head knot: Take a length of string and fold it in half so that it makes a loop at one end. Place it behind the wood with the loop above and the two ends dangling below. Bring the loop over top of the wood. Pull the two ends together through the loop to secure it to the wood. Do this with the other lengths of chords evenly spaced along the wood. Once all of your chords are attached to the wood, each knot should have two loose ends of the chord dangling below. Now you begin to make your diamond pattern. Take the right loose end of the first knot and tie it to the left loose end of the knot next to it. This knot is made by holding the two ends together, making a loop and pulling both ends through the loop in a basic knot. Then continue this all the way across. Once you finish the first row, do the same with the second row. Tie the two loose ends from neighboring knots that are next to each other together. Make as many rows as you would like. (Here is a video example.) Students can work in pairs or individually on mini nets for practice.
Additional Questions:
- How can you make the “holes” in the net smaller or bigger?
- When would it be helpful to have bigger holes? When it would it be helpful to have smaller holes?
- What other tools would be helpful to have when you go fishing?
- What do you think it was like being a fisherman in Jesus’ time?
- What did Jesus mean by saying that the disciples would become fishers of men?
Supplemental Activity: Have students brainstorm a list of other uses for nets besides fishing. Examples: carrying things, holding goods, creating a barrier/wall.
Written by: Savannah Negas