Matthew 4:18-22
Introduction
Today we look in more detail at the calling of the first four disciples - Andrew and Peter, James and John. Michael Cohen had some interesting things to say about Jesus' actions in calling these disciples. He spoke about the insight that Christ possesses and His ability to understand someone's motives very quickly indeed. What Jesus saw when he looked at Peter and John, in particular was potential, and a willingness to serve God. Indeed only the second quality is needed, as we are well aware God can provide people with whatever gifting suits His purpose. Liz, at last month's family service, took us through all the disciples and told us one or two things about each one. Some of the information she dug up was new to me, which made her talk even more interesting. So what more is there to say? Well lots, as always. Today I will take a closer look at the call from the point of view of Peter, Andrew, James and John.
They were all fishermen, fishing was hard work. Lots of physical effort with sometimes very little gain. A really good catch would have seen them set up for a week, but rarely did a really good catch occur. Most nights they would cast their nets over the side of the boat and haul in empty nets. Nothing .. again and again. By the end of the night they would be tired, then they would have to repair the nets if there was any damage and store them for the next night. If they'd caught enough they would have to take it to the market and sell it. As soon as it was dusk, it was back to the boats for another nights fishing.
Disciples expectations
So there's this bloke wanders up to them one morning and says “follow me”. Hardly! Of course, Jesus wasn't a total stranger. He had chosen to settle in Capernaum. A village of no more than twenty families. It's pretty certain then, in such a small village, that everyone knew that a prophet had come to live with them, or perhaps they called him a Holy man, or Rabbi. There's no sense of a delay between verse 17 where Jesus begins to preach, and verse 18 where he calls the first two disciples, but neither is there any reason to assume that one thing follows immediately after the other. It didn't happen overnight, I'm sure, but it also didn't take long. As Jesus started his ministry he would have been on the lookout for people to join him, and Jesus could size people up pretty quickly. We know from John 1:35-40 that Peter and Andrew had already been introduced to Jesus by John the Baptist. Indeed Andrew, at least, had spent a day with him.
So there are Peter and Andrew, abandoning their boats and nets for a new life. Now we know from the end of John, that 3 years later Peter could consider returning to his old way of making a living Jn21:3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.. So the boats must have been secured, and stored, and even maintained. There are also many stories of their use.
These fishermen were undoubtedly expecting a new life, but what sort of life could they expect? I was watching “Extreme Pilgrim” the other day, have any of you seen it? Reverend Peter Owen Jones makes three pilgrimages. When he's in India with the Hindus there's one point where he's talking about the way the groups are organized and he says “This is what it must have been like in Jesus time”. The wandering Holy man has a group of friends around him – his disciples. They are the ones who decide who gets to see the Guru. May be that's the role the disciples would have expected to play, it certainly part of the role that they played.
Mt 19:13. Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
It was a part of the role they didn't play very well. That's OK, of course, because Jesus is there to teach them, just as the Guru's are in India. Guru means from Dark to Light, and Jesus is described as the light of the world. In the prophesy that Jesus is fulfilling (4:16) it talks about the people living in darkness seeing a great light. The prophesy is in Isaiah 9:2.
In their new life there was much they would have to give up – certainly regular fishing trips would be out of the question, but occasional ones would be allowed. They would also be separated from their families, and in the case of James and John would be unable to take over the family business. So their future security was gone. They had to rely on this prophet for everything. If he was a failure, they would have a very difficult life indeed. That too is how the Guru's seem to work in India. There are however some significant differences.
Follow me
Have you ever had anyone say “Follow me”? - The thought that immediately came to mind was a friend whose car I had to follow on the way to a Badminton match many years ago. It was the first time I'd tried to follow another car. My dad, who'd driven in convoys many years before, gave me lots of advice – most of it irrelevant. On the journey I had to pay careful attention to the car in front, change lanes when he did. Speed up and slow down when he did, and even take a few risks to keep him in sight, and to make sure I knew where he'd gone. If I hadn't I'd have lost him, and in the days before mobile phones, and GPS navigation I would have been completely lost. I had put my trust in the person I was following, and did just as he did. I didn't know why he did what he did, but I knew that the only way to the destination was to follow that car.
Another example of people following someone, and perhaps this give a better flavour of what is really going on, is a tour guide. My example of this was on an island - St Mary's in the Scillies to be exact – and the guide was taking us around a nature trail. Now on St Mary's there is no chance of getting lost – the island is just too small. Still there is lots to see, and lots to learn. Even here though, if we are to get the best from the tour guide, we have to keep up with him on the trail. We have to trust in his judgement about where the best places are to see certain birds, or certain types of flower, we have to trust him when he says smell or taste a seed of something. We have to trust also that his history is good, although it is obvious that history is not his strong point. At first meeting we didn't even know for certain who he was. There are plenty of people on St. Mary's on any summer day dressed for hiking and holding a bird viewing telescope – it just isn't a unique feature. So we followed him around the island, listening to birds, hearing about the plants that are not native and have escaped from the gardens on Tresco, and the ones that are, and survive here because of the very gentle climate. All the way round there's conversation, he even finds us somewhere good to eat, and asks if we want to do the second half of the tour in the afternoon. None of our party dropped out, it was too good an opportunity to miss.
Both of these illustrations tell us something about what it is to be called to follow.
Knowing who to follow
The first thing is knowing who to follow, if I'd started of on my island tour following the first person who fitted the profile – dressed for hiking and holding a telescope – I probably wouldn't have found out much about the island. Similarly the disciples wouldn't have just followed anyone, as we've already seen they had some knowledge about who they were to follow. John the Baptist had already announced Jesus as the Lamb of God to Andrew and Peter. We too have to know who to follow, one of my concerns with Peter Jones and his trip to visit the Hindu holy men was that he seemed just to choose any one of the them, the first one that would speak to him.
Follow Jesus. Its a simple statement, but not a simple solution. Its a simple statement because its the summary of what the Bible tells us, and the Bible tells us that Jesus knows the way because he came from there, and has been back there also. Much like the friend I followed to the Badminton match – he's been there before.
Pay careful attention
Following another car is one thing, following a person is quite another. Certainly we will have to pay careful attention to the person we are following. We will have to speed up when He does and also to slow down when he does, or there's a danger of going past, and the what do you do at the next junction? We will certainly have to change lanes too – at least and most definitely once. Then there's the risk taking. Its going to be a risk from the start, as soon as you decide to follow, and change lanes you are going to be on unfamiliar territory. The people around you who think you're going the same way as them will suddenly see that you not – and that can lead to confusion at best, and hostile reactions at worst.
Trust
You will have to decide to trust in Jesus, without that you will be constantly looking at signs along the way that are designed for other people going in other directions. They will not take you where you want to go. Those signs will take you where you have already decided to come from.
We must remember that we are there to learn.
Following Spiritually
None of us have been asked to give up our livelihoods, abandon our homes and join a band of travelling holy men (or people). We have to follow spiritually rather than physically. We have to be a disciple in our world, not try to re-create the world that Jesus lived in. That can be harder. The world stays around us, distracting our attention. We are expected to take our place in the society we are living in. That places limitations on what we can do, and how we can behave. To get to know Jesus, and to learn the lessons He has for us takes a considerable amount of effort on out part. We must find time to read the Bible, we must find time to reflect on what it says, we must make the effort to meet with other Christians, for worship, and to learn together more of what the Christian faith is about. We must spend time in prayer, so that we can communicate with God. Then we have to make some conscious decisions about what we do. We must decide to take Jesus' way whenever we are presented with a choice. When Peter Jones was being admitted to the presence of the Guru, he was told by one of the Guru's followers that the Guru was so far ahead spiritually that he should not attempt to do what the Guru does, but that he should be satisfied to do what the Guru says.
This is where Christianity is so different. The Apostle Paul say “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1). The ESV translates the passage as “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. “. The literal translation of the Greek word here is “Mimic me”. Jesus came to show us how to live, and His followers and their followers have been called to do the same since the very beginning.
Being a Disciple
That is what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus. That is what it means to be someone who is Walking with Christ. When Jesus said he would make the disciple fishers of men, that's what he meant, because that's exactly what he was doing as he spoke the words – fishing for these men.
As we learn, as we make the choices day by day to be more like Christ, to improve our imitation of Him, we will want to move on from the simple things to the more difficult things. I doubt that the disciples expected their life to get any easier when they decided to follow Jesus. I hope that none of you expected your lives to get easier when you decided to follow Jesus, you may have expected your live to be better, but not easier, indeed it may become harder and harder, especially if you are called to somewhere you are unfamiliar with.
Jesus promised to make the disciples fishers of men, those who will go out and catch men for the Kingdom of God. They followed him faithfully in the end, as did their successors right down to the present day – otherwise we would not be here. The disciple's imitation of Jesus was good enough to help others improve their imitation of Him, and that has always been the case.
So let me leave you with a question:
How's your imitation doing?
