Thought for 7 October

 Matthew 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ 

Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’  At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,  and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

 

This passage has always intrigued me. Firstly Jesus saw Peter and Andrew while they were fishing and called them to follow Him, we see that ‘at once they left their nets and followed’ no hesitation at all. Walking on He saw James and John and also invited them to follow Him, James and John ‘immediately left the boat and their father’ and followed Jesus.

What was it they saw in Jesus that made their choice so easy? They don’t seem to have had any doubt about following Jesus, none of His disciples showed any doubt as far as I can understand.

In fact Levi (Matthew) couldn’t believe Jesus actually asked him to join the others and even when the other disciples questioned Matthew’s inclusion he was willing to put up with their unkind remarks, just to be in the group of Jesus’ followers. Matthew just walked out of the tax booth and his well-paid job and (easy) life to follow Jesus regardless of what anybody said.

The disciples left their lives behind to stay with Jesus. Even though most of the time they didn’t understand Jesus, they seemed to know instinctively if they stayed with Him Jesus would provide what they needed.

Even when Philip told Nathaniel about Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel said in John 1:46

‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip. Nathaniel did ‘come and see’ and also stayed.

 I think these men had a hunger to find out what Jesus was all about. They believed Jesus was the one Moses had spoken about but I don’t think they fully understood what was happening.

People are still leaving their past behind to follow Jesus, not always with the same conviction but always with the hunger for knowledge of Him. They surrender their lives to Jesus in order to obey His teachings.

Most of us already have a hunger which we stimulate when we surrender our life to the Spirit. Billy Graham was once asked, “What is the most important theological concept in the Bible?” Without hesitation he responded, “Surrender.”

Surrender is the most important concept for all of us. If we don’t surrender everything to Father, Son and Holy Spirit what will we gain? Nothing! We hear of people trying to ‘find themselves’ when it’s not themselves they need to find…it’s Jesus they miss in their lives and by meeting Jesus they find their answers.

Are we still looking for answers? Jesus has all the answers we need in this life.

 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, Saviour, we are still looking to You for answers. We don’t all have the same questions but we know You have the answer for us. We question why there is so much violence in the world, why is there so much abuse, not only of children but of all ages and creeds and colours. Why isn’t there a cure for cancer yet? So many questions but in time we will know the answers to these questions. We pray in Your own name, amen.