Passage
As
Jesus was walking beside the sea, Jesus finds Andrew and Peter. They were fishing – after all, they were
fishermen. Jesus calls to them and says,
“Follow me, I will make you fishers of men.”
Immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus. Going a little further, Jesus sees James and
John, the sons of Zebedee. They were
fixing their nets. Jesus calls to them
and they immediately start to follow Jesus. They left their father with his hired
servants.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
Simon
(Peter) and Andrew were fishing. Jesus
calls them to be fishers of men. I love
the way that Jesus ties the call to their vocation and their gifts. Jesus didn’t call them to be
“evangelists.” No, that would have
probably scared them away. Rather, Jesus
called them to do what they already knew how to do. Jesus calls them to fish. But rather than casting their physical nets
into the sea for fish, Jesus would teach them how to cast their verbal nets
into the crowd in hopes of catching a disciple or two.
I
think this is really a new way of thinking about ministry for me today. Rather than calling people to be
“evangelists,” we should call people to do what they already know how to
do. Jesus called me to teach – but to
teach Him among people rather than mathematics.
Jesus can call a mother to become a mother over many disciples, thus
increasing her spiritual children. Jesus can call a wood-worker to shape a
people (raw material) into a useful part of God’s house. The call to discipleship is not a call to
something foreign. It is a call to take
your expertise and apply it in a new direction.
What
is your expertise? How can you use it in
a new way?
Second Thought:
Immediately. This is a word that we will hear often in
Mark. Andrew and Simon (Peter)
immediately leave their nets and follow Jesus.
James and John immediately leave their work and follow Jesus. The response to the Lord’s call is
immediate. Either we hear His call and
listen, or we choose to ignore. Now,
this doesn’t mean that Andrew, Simon (Peter), James, and John were
perfect. No, they learned along the way
and their skill as a disciple improved in time under Jesus. But their response – their willingness to
take their trade in a new direction – that was immediate.
Are
you willing to immediately follow God where He leads? Are you willing to listen when He bids you to
come and follow Him? Are you willing to
do it right now?
Third Thought:
James
and John leave their father – and his hired hands. Don’t lose that small detail in the midst of
this. Zebedee was wealthy enough to have
hired hands. In today’s terminology,
that made him a business owner. James
and John weren’t some poor fishermen who left Jesus because they had no better
alternative. No, James and John were
probably sitting fairly well off compared to the rest of the people in Galilee. Their family had enough resources to own
their own business. James and John
walked away from the family business completely. That takes guts. They walked away from a sure thing the rest
of their life to follow this Jesus.
What
does this passage have to say about choosing between the physical and the
worldly? What does this passage teach us
about the cost of discipleship?
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