Matthew 4:18-23
Follow Me
Today we’re talking about fishermen. Anyone here like to fish? Two avid fishermen go on a fishing trip. They rent all the equipment: the reels, the rods, the wading suits, the rowboat, the car, and even a cabin in the woods. They spend a fortune. The first day they go fishing, but they don't catch anything. The same thing happens on the second day, and on the third day. It goes on like this until finally, on the last day of their vacation, one of the men catches a fish. As they're driving home they're really depressed. One guy turns to the other and says, “Do you realize that this one lousy fish we caught cost us fifteen hundred dollars?” The other guy says, “Wow! It's a good thing we didn't catch anymore!” (Marina del Rey Anglers, Fishing Jokes & Entertainment, http://www.mdranglers.com/fishingjokes.html, Internet Accessed 25 January 2009).
I overheard a mother giving her daughter this advice: Cook a man a fish and you feed him for a day. But teach a man to fish and you get rid of him for the whole weekend. (http://www.jokes4us.com/sportsjokes/fishingjokes.html)
True story: In 1986 the remains of a 2,000-year-old fisherman’s boat were found off the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Its discoverers named it the “Jesus Boat,” and it is now on display in a museum near Magdala in Israel. The boat is about 27 feet long, 7 ½ feet wide, and a little over 4 feet high. Fishermen in Jesus’ day would cast large nets with weights attached that would trap the fish on the bottom of the lake. They would either dive down to put the fish individually in satchels or carefully pull up the edges of the large nets so that the fish were collected into the boat. When they weren’t fishing, they were washing, mending, and hanging the nets up to dry in preparation for the next day’s work. It was hard work but a good living. This was the life of Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
Today’s story sounds amazing! It sounds like Jesus just throws out an offer and these fellows leave everything to follow him. And that is essentially true. Matthew doesn’t tell us everything, though. John in his gospel tells of an earlier encounter of Peter and Andrew with Jesus (see John 1:35–42). So, this is not the first time they’ve met. Yet, they do take a huge step in leaving all behind to follow him. Peter is married, so he temporarily leaves behind a wife and perhaps children to travel around with Jesus. All four of these fellows—Peter, Andrew, James, and John—leave their occupation as fishermen, never to return fully to it again. And for James and John, they not only leave their occupation, they walk out on the family business. Zebedee has groomed his two sons to take over for him. It is quite a sacrifice for their entire family.
As we think about Jesus’ recruitment of his first disciples, I want us to notice two or three things. First, note how...
1. Jesus takes the initiative. Back in Bible times, people who wanted to know more of God would seek out their favorite rabbi to become a personal mentor to them. Kind of like a graduate student looking for a professor to mentor them. Jesus turned this on its head as he took the initiative to seek out each of his followers. He ... chose ... THEM! You might say they received “by-name orders.”
A rabbi who looks for his own followers is functioning more like a prophet than a rabbi, one on a serious mission who must have exactly the right people to help. In some of our Bible study times on Sunday afternoons, we have wondered from time to time exactly why Jesus chose these twelve. They were arrogant, prideful creatures. They tended to squabble among themselves which one was greatest. They seemed to follow little of what he was teaching. Yet Jesus saw something in them that they didn’t even see in themselves.
It’s a beautiful image of how God chooses us, how God pursues us. If you are a believer in God, you might talk about the time you gave your life to Jesus, how you pursued a relationship with him as your personal Savior. All of that is true, but something happened even before that. God first took the initiative to reach out to you. The Bible says no one comes to the Father alone without the Father already working on their heart to bring them to him. That’s why, if you see someone with a spiritual interest, perhaps asking questions about God or the afterlife, you can know for certain God is working on that person, wooing them to himself.
Remember when you were dating? And one of you was chasing after the other? Usually we think it’s the guy chasing the girl, but sometimes the girl is at work behind the scenes to help the guy want to chase her. So it is with God, who is at work behind the scenes to woo us to himself.
So Jesus takes the initiative. And #2,
2. Jesus calls us to relationship, not rules. Notice what Jesus does NOT say to Peter and Andrew: “Follow my teaching. Keep these rules.” Notice what he doesn’t say to James and John: “If you will please sign here, agreeing with these rules and regulations found in the small print. There, good, now you’re in.” No. Jesus simply says, “Follow me.”
This happens to be the motto of the United States Infantry. “Follow me!” The statue in front of the Infantry School depicts a Soldier screaming and waiving his hand, indicating that others should follow him into combat. This is the kind of leader I like: one who is not afraid to get his hands dirty, who leads from the front, not from headquarters. I want to know that my leader is not going to ask me to do anything she is not prepared to do herself. I want a leader who says, “Follow me!”
And that’s Jesus. He leads from the front. He tells his disciples, “Watch me. Do what I do. Watch and learn. If you see me, you see the Father. If you note what is important to me, you’ll pick up on what is important to the Father. Follow my example.”
This is really what distinguishes Christianity from any other world religion. Every other religion says, “Here’s what you have to do to earn God’s favor.” Judaism began with the 10 commandments, and the religious leaders of Jesus’ day simplified them down to only 613 laws! Islam teaches you make it to heaven in one of two ways: you have to die in Holy War—thus, the motivation to sign up as a suicide bomber—or you have to be 51% good at the time of your death. Your good deeds have to outweigh your bad. You must strive all your life to make sure the scales tip in the right direction.
Every major religion teaches its followers to strive towards God ... except Christianity. Here, God strives toward us. He strives so much that he sends his one and only Son to die in our place, because he knows we cannot be good enough to go to heaven; we cannot be good enough to be in right relationship with the holy and perfect God who created us. We have all sinned and gone astray. There is no one good, not one.
Yet Jesus says, “Follow me. Orient your life on me and I will make you into a new creation.” Jesus calls us to follow him. And then lastly note,
3. As we follow Jesus, his mission becomes our mission.
The elderly Apostle John, near the end of his long life, would write the churches of young believers with this advice: “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). Jesus’ mission becomes our mission. What is Jesus’ mission? We see it in the last part of today’s passage. Verse 23 records, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” Jesus’ mission is to teach, to proclaim, and to heal. That last word “heal” comes from the same root of our word “therapy.” It includes not only healing, but also the idea of attending to one’s needs. Jesus attends to our greatest needs.
So, for three years he mentors his disciples. He heals; they watch. He teaches; they listen and dialogue with him. He proclaims; they take note. Three years! That’s a long time to walk around Israel and its surrounding Greek settlements. It’s a time Jesus takes to invest in the 12. Later, these dozen unlikely candidates will lead a movement that will change the world. What will they do? They will do what Jesus did: teach, preach, and heal; teach, preach, and heal; teach, preach, and heal. In fact, they will trust in Jesus’ mission so much that each of them except John will pay for it with their very life. James will become the very first Christian martyr and his brother John will be exiled to a remote island.
Jesus challenges us simply to follow him. It’s not complicated. People first called the early believers “Christians” as an act of derision. “Christian” means “little Christ.” They were making fun of them. “Look, here comes a little Christ!” But the believers took it as a badge of honor, and the name stuck.
A Christian simply tries to follow Jesus, every day throughout the day. Teach, preach, heal; teach, preach, heal; love God, love people; love God, love people. When a Christian patterns him or herself after Jesus, great and glorious things happen. When a Christian doesn’t, Satan scores a victory. Max Lucado puts it like this: “When those who are called to fish don’t fish, they fight. But note the other side of this fish tale: When those who are called to fish, fish—they flourish!” (Max Lucado, “In the Eye of the Storm”).
May we flourish as we seek to follow Jesus daily and become fishers of men. Let us pray:
Thank you, God, that you call us into relationship, not rules. We could never make it otherwise. You are such a loving God to send your son Jesus to die for us while we were yet sinners. Help us to orient our life on your son, giving full control to your Holy Spirit daily, making it our chief aim to follow you with every breath we have. Help us to be “little Christs” to those we meet, preaching teaching, healing, loving you and loving people, in Jesus’ name, amen.
