Following Jesus
In this day and age we are asked to follow all sorts of things. “Follow me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Tik Tok…” I’m asking you to follow this blog. We follow fashion icons, celebrities, foodies, movie sagas and so much more. I even have a separate email address just for things I “follow”. Jesus has asked us to follow Him. But, unlike all the other things we follow, He doesn’t just want a piece of us, He wants our undivided everything. As we look at those who followed Jesus today, we will find they are vastly different. The one thing they had in common? They had faith.
Vs. 1-3 As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, He was standing by Lake Gennesaret. He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then He sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.
In the last chapter, we left Jesus telling the crowds at Capernaum why He couldn’t stay there. He had a calling and had to continue to follow the Spirit of God. We can see they seemed to have had a hard time excepting no for an answer. They pursued Jesus. So much so, they literally pushed him to the edge of the sea. That sea was known as lake Gennesaret. We know it as the Sea of Galilee. The word Gennesaret originates from the Hebrew word kinnor, which means harp or lyre. It is a word that describes the shape of the sea or lake. The people of Capernaum have pursued him to the edge of the water. They were hungry for a Word from God and knew Jesus had something to say to them. He sees a couple of boats at the edge of the lake and, basically, commandeers one as a teaching platform. This boat, as it happens, belongs to Simon – the same man whose mother-in-law Jesus had healed. And so, Simon pushes the boat out just enough to make room for all the people and Jesus sits and begins to teach. Little does he know, his life is going to change forever.
Vs 4-11 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing! But at Your word, I’ll let down the nets.” When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they took, and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people!” Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed Him.
In the previous verses we find Peter and his companions washing their nets. They were done for the day. There were no plans to go out and fish again at. In fact, it had been a huge bust – both financially and physically. They had fished all night and hadn’t caught a thing. So, it must have been a bit of a surprise when Jesus finishes his teaching and says to them let’s go fishing. I mean, they’ve already washed their nets. They are done for the day. So, Simon explains it; “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing!” What is unsaid here is what was probably going through Peter’s mind. “You may be a great teacher and healer, but I’m a professional fisherman. I know when the best time time and conditions are for fishing, and now is not it.” But something inside Peter stops him and, instead, he says ok – because you asked, I’ll do it. Then something amazing happens. These fisherman, who had spent all night fishing catching nothing, suddenly have more fish than they know what to do with. Simon had to get his partners James and John to help before the nets broke. In the end, there were so many fish, it filled two boats, and the boats were beginning to sink! That’s a lot of fish. A few years ago, I went to Israel with a good friend. We had heard about a beautiful exhibit near the Galilee of an ancient boat from the time of Peter they had discovered during a drought. It had been meticulously preserved. It gave me a picture of how many fish were in these two boats. I can tell you – it was a lot
What I find interesting in this passage is Peter’s response to this miracle. Mind you, he had witnessed Jesus healing, not only his mother-in-law, but many others as well. Yet, here he is amazed and fearful. He sees his sin for what it is. His eyes are opened in a new way, like they’ve never been opened before. I have to ask myself, “what was it about this fish story that changed his life in such a powerful way?” Perhaps is was because Peter knew fishing. This was his occupation. He was the expert. He knew there were no fish in this part of the sea, because he had been fishing in it all night long. He knew the favorable conditions for fishing had passed. So, when Jesus, who was not an “expert” in fishing, displayed his power in this way, Peter’s eyes were opened. He understood something he had not seen before. Peter was a flawed human being and Jesus was Lord over all, even the fish of the sea. Jesus opened Peter’s eyes to something new and unexpected. He gave him a picture of the kingdom of heaven in that moment. Not only Peter, but John and James, the sons of Zebedee as well. And Peter was afraid – deeply afraid. So much so, Jesus had to reassure him, “do not phobeo” – do not withdraw from me out of fear, but come near because I’m going to have you catching men from now on. And they go for it. They drop everything and follow Jesus. This is a pretty profound and amazing thing – Jesus had just given these men a huge financial boost. They had enough fish to make a lot of money at the market. Enough to sustain them for a long while. They had been blessed beyond measure. Not only that, they had two good boats and nets worth a good amount of money. Yet, they were so profoundly changed, they walked away from it all and followed Jesus.
In order to continue continuity, I am going to skip over verses 12-26 this week and go straight to the calling of Matthew. We will pick up these verses in next week’s study.
Vs 27-29 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him. Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for Him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them.
I know you have probably heard all about the evils of the tax collector in Biblical times. It is usually emphasized when we come to the calling of Matthew. Yes, all that is said about the tax collectors is true. They extorted money from their fellow Jews. They were outcasts and could not testify in court. They were even excommunicated from the synagogue. It is quite extraordinary that Jesus would call Matthew to be His disciple in the first place. But what we don’t really talk about is just what Jesus saw in Matthew that would cause Him to extend a call in the first place. There isn’t a lot of information here, but there must have been something in Matthew. A spark of faith. A desire for something else. A longing. We know there was something, because when Jesus called him, Matthew dropped everything and left it behind. He was ready to be called. He was sitting their waiting for something else to happen in his life. We know that what Matthew left behind was probably pretty substantial. After all, he had enough money to throw a banquet at his house for Jesus. He had enough to invite a large crowd to that banquet. But Matthew was willing to walk away from everything to become a disciple. He was ready for a change.
Vs 30- 39 But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus replied to them, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples fast often and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but Yours eat and drink.” Jesus said to them, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them—then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine should be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, ‘The old is better.’”
Here they are again. The Pharisees and scribes are complaining about what Jesus is doing. “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” The first thing to understand is that it was common for rabbi’s to have followers. This wasn’t something Jesus had suddenly established. John the Baptist had disciples and other rabbis had them as well. The difference was, first, how Jesus and His disciples behaved. All the other rabbi’s disciples behave in a “normal” and dignified manner while Jesus and his disciples partied with tax collectors and sinners! Second, most rabbi’s wanted disciples among the elite and most learned pupils. They had well established resumes. They didn’t understand Jesus’ choices. They were looking at a bunch of flawed, working class guys. They were looking at a bunch of sinners. But Jesus didn’t come to save the saved. He came to seek and save the lost. The Pharisees were concerned that they didn’t fast and pray, but Jesus counters by saying, “No one fasts at a wedding when the groom is present” You don’t tear off a patch from a new garment and put it on an old one. You don’t put new wine in old wineskins. No one desires the new wine after drinking the old wine – the one that has aged to perfection. In other words. Jesus has come to make a new creation. They are concerned about the law, but Jesus came to fulfill the law. They were concerned about every jot and tittle, but Jesus was concerned about every single person. He wasn’t trying to put new wine into the old wineskins or onto the old clothing. That would destroy both. He didn’t come to destroy those who weren’t perfect, He came to make them a new creation.
Again, for continuity, we will do a little more skipping – I want to take us to chapter 6 where Jesus chooses his apostles.
Vs. 6:12-16 During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. When daylight came, He summoned His disciples, and He chose 12 of them—He also named them apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
And so, here are the twelve men who would follow Jesus all the way to… well… the Passover feast. They are going to witness remarkable teaching and miracles. They are going to experience things they never dreamed of. This was an extremely diverse bunch of men. We have fishermen, a tax collector and a Zealot just to name a few. The others we know very little about. It is remarkable that Jesus would choose both a tax collector and a Zealot to be on the same “team”. These days, it would be like choosing a fan of two opposing football (take that term however culturally appropriate) teams. You can’t like the Dallas Cowboys (which I do) and the Washington Commanders (which I can’t stand) at the same time. It’s just not possible. Matthew and Simon the Zealot would have been hated enemies of one another. The tax collector, only out for how much money he can make and how he can beat the system as opposed to the Zealot, a man who followed a political movement that sought to incite people against the Romans, (which included tax collectors like Matthew.) These guys didn’t have the resumes for the job. In the end, only one, John, followed Jesus all the way to the foot of the cross. The others ran, betrayed, or denied Him. Yet, these were the men Jesus chose to teach and train and begin His church. They were going to eventually step out in faith to change the world. At the moment, they were going to have to learn how to get a long as they patiently sat at the feet of their master.
The amazing thing? Jesus has called each of us to follow Him. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He calls us in spite of our failings and sin. He knows there will be huge diverse differences in our communities of faith. He knows there are even some pretty polar opposites that can’t stand one another!. Yet, he still puts us together to work in community with one another. He knows not all of us will always be faithful. We will deny Him, lose our footing along the way, slip up, and even run away. But, He is always waiting to forgive us and call us back into the fold. He knows that, if we just have faith, He can and will do astounding things in and through us.
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