Friday, Jan 15, 2015
The thing I marvel at the most in the account of the calling of the disciples is the speed at which they made their decision to follow Jesus. The way it's written it appears as if they made immediate decisions to leave everything and follow Him. Simon Peter and his brother Andrew were fishermen...today they were unsuccessful fishermen. I would imagine that they were wondering how they would pay the bills if they didn't bring in some fish. If any case, cleaning out the nets is hard work, because you have to pick out every single piece of sea weed and sticks and whatever else was in the net. Of course, the net is slightly tangled, because the sticks are catching in two or three places, making it more difficult. They were probably ready for some rest. I don't know if they were listening to Jesus while they were cleaning nets, or if they had finished cleaning, or left the cleaning until later...either way, they weren't looking to go back out right now.
Jesus was a rabbi (as far as they knew). Not a fisherman. Fishermen fish, Rabbis teach. If you want to catch fish, you don't ask the Rabbi...you ask the fishermen. Peter demonstrates the most important character trait that you can have when he responds to Jesus.
He says "I don't understand...but because it's YOU asking, I will do it." I don't think that we can do any better than that, no matter how far we come in life. Just be obedient.
Interestingly enough, the catch is enormous, too much for him to handle. And he leaves it all on the shore and follows Jesus.
What was important 6 hours ago has become unimportant. What was impossible has become possible, and what was unknown..or even unimagined...has become reality. Peter has a new vision and hope for the future, one that causes him to leave everything that used be important behind, and pursue a new way of life, and a new way of thinking.
Maybe I will blog about the rest of the things that happen in this account when they are mentioned in another reading.
PR
One of my favorite callings is Matthew, I can imagine his suprise that God would call him. I wonder to myself how lonely of a place Matthew must have been. What I love is that God gives us all the invitation to live with him and it is demonstrated again and again in the Bible.
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