FOLLOW

As Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the lake because they were fishermen. Jesus said, ‘Come follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ So Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him. As Jesus continued walking by Lake Gali-lee, he saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus told them to come with him. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and they followed Jesus. Matthew 4:18–22

In the early 1990s, when I was earning my living in the music industry, I released an album of songs on the theme of following Jesus. The title of the album was Follow, and the cover photographer latched on to the connection between the title and the fact that my style of dress at the time always involved a pair of Doc Martens®. (One of the things to love about grunge was the rare opportunity to wear cool clothes while having perfectly comfortable feet!) I spent an entire day in a photography studio, being photographed from all sorts of angles but always with the boots at the front of the picture. I came away from the shoot not only with good photos for the album but with the idea lodged for ever in my mind that following Jesus means actually putting your feet to the floor, and going somewhere.

Whether we follow an individual, a group, or an ideal, we should always ask ourselves who we’re following and why we do it. We saw earlier this week that Jesus refused the temptation to control people or coerce them into becoming his followers. Instead, he made himself the servant of those whom he loved. By refusing to be a manipulator, Jesus became the embodiment of an enormously liberating message, and consequently people flocked to follow him.  

We can’t construct Jesus’ personality from the gospels: they are not biographical accounts, and we don’t know what he was like as a person, any more than we know what he looked like. From the glimpses we have, though, it appears that he was by turns somewhat rude and abrupt to some people, and overwhelmingly kind to others. There is enough variety in the way he spoke and acted to show him as a real person, someone being fully human, not just projecting a nice ministerial face. If we want others to discover God’s love, we don’t need to polish up our evangelism techniques; we need instead to be like Jesus. If we treat people with the same kind of honesty, grace, freedom and respect as he did, sooner or later others will want to search for the God we follow.

It has often struck me that this passage could be read as if Jesus had never met Simon, Andrew, James and John until the day he walked down the beach and called them to follow him. If that had been the case, it would have been an extraordinary thing for them simply to get up and leave without a second thought, and follow wherever he went. Given the size of the community he came from, though, the more likely interpretation is that they had already known him for some time, and had some hunch that a call like this would come their way.

For us, answering God’s call is not usually a matter of a revelation that comes out of the blue and changes the course of our lives; rather, it is a growing awareness that something is changing underfoot. What we need to do, like these disciples, is to continue going about our work and everyday life, but to be poised and ready to get up and act when the moment comes. That’s not to say we should live with our bags packed in the hall, but we can seek a balance by keeping at bay the kind of unnecessary clutter that weighs us down and limits our breathing space. If our lives are reasonably in order, then we can hear and respond when the call comes, whether it means a literal change of location or a more internal shift in direction.

This story shows two pairs of brothers leaving their livelihoods and family ties in order to follow Jesus. There are plenty of over-the-top religious cults that take this kind of story literally, encouraging people to abandon their careers and families to commit themselves to their new community. But other parts of scripture teach us to take seriously our responsibilities to family, livelihood and property. Some of the New Testament documents lay out elaborate household codes (Ephesians 6:1–9; Colossians 3:18–22). It is thought that, in the first few decades after Christ’s death, the expectation that he would physically return to earth within a few months or years led Christians to regard earthly responsibilities as temporary, for once Christ returned, these things would no longer matter. A clear Christian ethic of responsibility for family and property began to emerge only a generation later. If this ethic shifted significantly even within the first few years of Christianity, how can the call of the first disciples illuminate our understanding of our own calling?

Firstly, I think the story highlights the all-consuming excitement that comes at moments of revelation. These disciples seem completely entranced by Jesus: at this moment, nothing else matters more than following him. There are times in our lives when it is good and right to be completely absorbed in new ideas, particularly such life-changing ideas as the person of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, the story suggests that it is only when we discover the capacity to leave everything else in order to prioritise what is really important, that we gain sufficient perspective to fit all the other parts of our life into their rightful place. To love our family, or our work, is good and right, but to be limited by an overdeveloped sense of responsibility is not. Adults should not be completely dominated either by family or career, and when this happens, perhaps some epiphany is needed to get them to ‘put down their nets’ and follow Jesus. God does not call us to abandon society, or neglect the people we love, but he does call us to follow him first. Only then will we have the perspective to care for ourselves, love our families, and serve our world.