Follow Me

Follow Me...

Jesus the local Carpenters boy had come of age, no doubt the fishermen knew him, perhaps he had worked on their boats, bought their fish and spoke with them

Jesus had just been baptised by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended on him from heaven and God pronounced "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Then was lead by the spirit into the desert for 40 days and nights and resisted the temptations of the devil as he came into his time of ministry

The Jewish custom was for teachers or Rabbi’s to have disciples who follow the Rabbi’s teachings

The definition of a Disciple (from the Latin discipulus, a pupil) is one who receives instruction from another; a scholar; a learner; especially, a follower who has learned to believe in the truth of the doctrine of his teacher, and implies that the pupil is under the discipline of, and "understands", his teacher; an adherent in doctrine

John the Baptist had disciples, till they left him to follow Jesus after John had said look the lamb of God indicating that Jesus was greater than he

Andrew brother of Simon to be renamed Cephas (which, when translated, is Peter), by Jesus was one of Johns followers

So Jesus would have been known as he made his way around the Galilean shore that day, he was not a total stranger, then he said “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men”, not one word did they utter in question, nets were dropped and they followed

But wait a minute who was this man Jesus, would you drop your nets and follow him, what was this fishing for men, was it legal, were was the career plan and what’s my package, I would ask these questions before changing jobs, they did not they went

Who would you follow?

Just imagine the scene, Simon and Andrew busy with the task of running a fishing business, mending nets, cleaning the catch, trying to make ends meet and just too far removed from the mainstream of society to worry about empires and kingdoms and social change

Wonder what Zebedee thought as his sons left him to follow this strange man, bet the hired hands had thoughts as well, already short staffed and then the sons and heirs to the business down tools and go off with that man, to set up another fishing business!

And yet look who came calling, look who came to seek the ones who would change the world in his name, as it said in the message translation "Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message."

He called out follow me and they dropped their nets, left their Father in charge, turn their backs on their business and their reasons for being for their whole life up till that point and followed a man

Like the one described in Isaiah 53:

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

Would you leave everything and follow one who was nothing in appearance, despised, rejected, stricken by God, smitten and afflicted

Does not sound like one that would win the X-factor, be a media darling and a sound bite king, not one who would be noticed or respected in our culture

Would you follow one such as this if he walked past you in Tesco’s, at the station, in the street, knocked on your door and just said follow me, like yeh mate you just have to be joking…

Follow Me..

The first time ever I set eyes on my wife Mena, I loved her, deeply and undyingly, I cannot explain it, it just was

It was at Reading Technical college, I remember it vividly and knew instantly, She did not see it that way though

She saw me as I truly looked, long hair, perhaps not recently washed, smelling of cigarette smoke and having a desperate and dazed look (something’s don’t change)

I just knew and knew I could not be without her, without her would be more than just a broken heart the pain would be unbearable, life would have no reason