Jesus Calling.  Matthew 4.18-25

Two sets of brothers about their daily business of fishing the Sea of Galilee.  One pair on shore, the other pair in a boat, but both had the same reaction--they dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus when he called them.  I have thought a lot about this before; what was it about Jesus that made them so immediately responsive, so much so that they left their livelihoods to go with him?1 

This message from Jesus’ disciple, Andrew, one of the first four called, might give us a clue~ 'I had heard about Jesus . . . well, after all, who hadn't?  John-the-Baptist had been telling everyone that the Messiah was born, and living among the people. In fact, one day, we were with John, when John said, "Look, there is the Lamb of God."  I couldn't take my eyes off Jesus, and I wanted to be around him.  I was there when he began picking his men--now, don't get me wrong, many rabbis had students who followed them around to learn from them, but this rabbi was different.  One-by-one, he bade us follow him, until there were twelve of us.  I was there, (Andrew), as was my brother, Peter, James and John, and eventually, the rest.  From the time Jesus called us, we rarely left him.  We took our meals with him, rolled out our mats to rest nearby, watched him heal people, saw how he loved the children, how he honored women--we had never seen that before!  No, Palestine had never seen anything or anyone like Jesus.'

‘We were the ones who would be the first hearers of Jesus’ teaching, the first eyes to see the miraculous, wrought by his touch or his spoken word,’ as Matthew described:  Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.2

‘But he chose us—ordinary men all of us--to observe, learn and then later tell others what we saw and experienced.’

Jesus is still calling folks to follow him.  Not just with a mental assent, but as a dint of will because of a transaction of the heart. 

Jesus calling.  Definition of CALLING – Merriam Webster

1: a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when it is accompanied by conviction of divine influence

Jesus shows you who he is, draws you to himself, explains it all through the living Word of God, and then backs it up with his presence, his leading, and answered prayer.  Jesus is calling you, why wouldn’t you follow him?  As those first disciples walked with Jesus, watching him heal, listening to him teach, feeling his divine touch—so too you can experience Jesus for yourself. 

There is nothing like living life with Jesus as your Savior, Leader and Friend.

Christine 

1 – Matthew’s account:  As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew. They were throwing a net into the sea because they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me! I will teach you how to catch people instead of fish.” They immediately left their nets and followed him.

As Jesus went on, he saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee preparing their nets to go fishing. He called them, and they immediately left the boat and their father and followed Jesus.  Matthew 4.18-22  (also found in Mark 1.16-20; Luke 5.1-11)

2 – Matthew 4.23-25