“Immediately
they left their nets and followed him.” (Mat.4: 20 ESV)
Peter and Andrew were already
believers. They had known Jesus for
about a year before He walked up to them and said, “Follow Me”. He was not a complete stranger. But I still have to ask myself, why did they leave
their nets and follow Him? If I were in
their sandals would I follow Jesus?
Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God. Part of what I think appealed to them was the
opportunity to be part of something bigger, something significant. I can see them looking at Him, and then
looking at the nets in their hands and weighing the options – continuing on in
the same simple, safe, well-known life with their nets, or a place at Jesus’
right hand as He ushered in the Kingdom of God.
And along with this there was the personal challenge to become something
more, a fisher of men. I’m sure they
didn’t fully understand what this meant, but being fishermen it must have
resonated with them. It was an offer
they couldn’t resist. There was risk,
but there was so much to gain.
There was more. They had
heard Jesus speak, and it was not just your everyday teaching from the Torah, Good Jewish men like Peter and Andrew had had
plenty of religion, but this was something different. His teaching moved them - it had a ring of
truth and authority about it. Then there
was the day He turned water into wine at the wedding in Canaan. (John 2: 1-12
) They had never seen anything like that
before. It was no trick, no sleight of
hand, this was the power of God. Jesus
was so gentle and loving, especially to the poor and the weak, but the Spirit
of God was in Him.
More than all this, when they looked into His eyes they
thought, “What is it about this man? Who
is He?” He was more than genuine. He was more than good and kind. He was more than a miracle worker. It took a while yet to put it into words, but
they sensed it, and somewhere deep inside they instinctively knew – He was
God. They couldn’t say no to His
invitation to follow. Can I? Can you?
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