“As he went along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people!’ They left their nets immediately and followed him. Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in their boat mending nets. Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.” —Mark 1:16–20
Two things stand out to me in these verses—Jesus called and those He called followed. Leaving work and family and friends behind, these four fishermen began to follow Jesus at His invitation—they believed in Him at once. Our Lord begins His selection process of His twelve disciples, His core group of comrades, His intimate circle of friends and followers, with the call of four fishermen. How perfect—they had a transferable skill set—switching from being fishers of fish to fishers of men. Jesus’ words must have resonated with them. How interesting that Jesus did not go to the “religious” Pharisees and Sanhedrin of His day to gather His inner circle, rather He picked common men from among the nets by the Galilean seashore. Jesus so often chooses to demonstrate His power through the weak and foolish things of this world so that there will be no question about where the power comes from.
Paul tells us:
“Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence.” —1 Corinthians 1:26–29
At the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the pupils were the ones to choose the Rabbis they would follow rather than vice versa. But Jesus came with a different authority—one where He does the calling. Jesus was constantly shaking up the tradition of man! There was and is no relationship with Christ apart from His call, and it was and is no ordinary call. What He invited those twelve men to was a relationship with Him that was totally radical in its nature. And He invites each one of us into that same relationship. He wants priority—priority over our friends and families, priority over our careers, priority over our stuff, priority over our very selves. He wants first place—all else is to be second. He will share His throne with no other. Our Lord wants us loosely attached to this world and the things of it—forsaking what is inconsistent to our duty of following after Him. We find Jesus’ words in Luke’s Gospel emphasizing this priority:
“Now large crowds were accompanying Jesus, and turning to them he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” —Luke 14:25–27
Jesus is to be our passion, our goal, our priority. He is to be our sufficiency and strength. The Gospel is all about following the King!
Become More
“The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day evangelist. He announces a Saviour from Hell rather than a Saviour from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived … there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness.” —A.W. Pink
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angel in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.’” —Matthew 16:24–27
Further Reflection
The word followed is translated from the Greek word akoloutheo meaning attendant, accompany. “The individual calling to follow Jesus involved abiding fellowship with Him, not only for the sake of learning as a student from his teacher, but also for the sake of the salvation known or looked for, which presented itself in this fellowship. The first thing involved in following Jesus is a cleaving to Him in believing trust and obedience, those cleaving to Him also following His leading and acting according to His example. Hence the constant stress laid by the Lord Jesus upon the need of self-denial and fellowship with Himself in the cross. Thus following Jesus denotes a fellowship of faith as well as a fellowship of life, sharing in His sufferings not only inwardly but outwardly if necessary.” —Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible New Testament Lexical Aids