Several of the disciples were fishermen. The tools of their trade included boats and fishing nets. When the nets were let down to catch fish, they also scooped up whatever else was in the water with the fish – sticks, plants, broken baskets, whatever trash or debris might be there. Because the nets were made of rope, it would have been easy for the weight of the fish to also drive some of the debris into the rope itself.
And going on a little further, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending the nets.
Mark 1:19
The first step in mending nets would have been to clean the nets – removing the debris, disentangling and dislodging. Only then could the nets be mended or repaired where perhaps the debris had sliced through or in some weakened the nets. While this was not actually productive work in that no fish were being caught by these activities, it was absolutely necessary work. If the nets were not prepared to catch fish – if they were not cleaned and repaired and strengthened – then the nets would fail when faced with the heavy weight of a catch of fish. They would also fail if other forces increased the impact of a catch of fish – heavy winds whipping the water around for example.
Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Matthew 4:19
As we follow Jesus and He makes us “fishers of men”, we need to remember to mend our nets – to remove the debris and to repair the tears: to engage in the preparation with the same focus and attention to detail that we give to actually “fishing”.
Just Sayin' 