Living Stones – Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Leaving everything
Matthew 4:22
He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
The call of Jesus demands a response of total and exclusive commitment to Him. There are no half measures really. Therefore, those of us who are following and serving without a total commitment of our lives have yet to truly face the call of Jesus. That seems like a really harsh statement, but it’s a true statement.
Matthew, in his compressed version of events, tells us that the first pair of brothers, Peter and Andrew, got an explanation of the call from Jesus, that fishermen were now going to be fishers of men. With that explanation, “They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” Matthew 4:20. Then James and John, without, it seems, an explanation being given, “immediately [they] left the boat and their father, and followed Him.” Matthew 4:22.
In Luke’s extended play we see that the two sets of brothers were participants and beneficiaries of a miracle at the hand of Jesus right after one of His early open-air sermons on the seashore of the Lake of Gennesaret. Jesus, in order to create theatre-like conditions on the beach so that He could be seen and heard by the crowd, had borrowed Peer’s boat to be used as a podium from which to address the congregation.
I grew up in Kitty Village in Georgetown Guyana and in the late 70s and early 80s there was still a lot of activity on the seashore in the early morning. Many fishermen operated from the Kitty jetty and when they came in with their catch in the early morning the vendors from Kitty market would be there to purchase the catch for the “fish pond,” an area of the market where the fish was sold. Many persons from Kitty came out to purchase the fish “fresh” from these fishermen, while the gills were still showing that the fish were alive and trying to breathe.
In the midst of this mix of persons out for a walk for some morning sea breeze, athletes and fitness enthusiasts, recreational swimmers, market vendors, fishermen’s wives operating their wholesale operations, regular purchasers looking for a deal, and religious leaders and their followers performing rituals to appease the gods or ask them favours, we find the fishermen tired from the night’s toil but setting up for work tonight.
They had to work on their boats and their nets unravelling, cleaning, and mending. This meant that the tired fisherman was not done with work just because he had come in from the sea. This is why often it was a family enterprise. The father and older sons, brothers, or friends would work the boats, other sons or younger brother would help with the repairs and preparation on the beach, and wives, daughters and sisters were involved with the vending and other activities related to the commercial operations.
These fishermen were often known characters in the village. The typical, or stereotypical, fisherman is a man who is hard, coarse, often a drinker, and one who had a particular facility with language that was colourful and that used verbs and adjectives that we couldn’t take home like we could the fish.
It’s in a context like this that Jesus arrives at Lake of Gennesaret, most people weren’t there for the sea breeze and certainly, the fishermen were your typical model citizen. When Jesus engaged these guys, Luke 5:4 and onwards, He was now pushing them beyond just borrowing an out of use boat for the convenience of addressing the growing crowd. He was now pushing them beyond their experience of fishing and beyond their collective built up wisdom and knowledge of the sea and fish schools. But they were men who, at that moment, were beaten by nature. They had “toiled all night and caught nothing.” Luke 5:5.
Listening to Jesus, the now popular Rabbi whose followers were still milling around after the “service,” and whose reputation for miraculous works was growing, and whose words they would have just heard in the Sermon by the Sea, they make the unusual decision to put the recently cleaned and mended nets back into the water in the middle of the warm morning rather than wait for night.
They had the catch of their lives. The returns on that catch would have shifted the cash flow and balance of payments in the commercial operations. Here was a lot of fish to be sold. The disappointed retailers, who were there to make purchases for the market, but were disappointed that there was little because the fishermen had had a bad night out, were now going to get product.
It was at the height of business success that these two sets of brothers, who operated as a team, were walking away from their place in the family business, abandoning relatives, investments and staff. “For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.” Luke 5:9-10.
The call of Jesus to another enterprise, “Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men,” Luke 5:10, occasioned an immediate decision that would shake everything. Jesus’ call would affect his life, his family, his business partnerships and commitments, his staff, his customers and his community. But in the face of the miracle, in the presence of the one who could command the wind, wave, and schools of fish, the experienced and knowledgeable fisherman caved. “So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.” Luke 5:11.
Think on these things:
- Did you have to give up anything to follow Jesus?
- What would you be willing to give up now to answer the call of God?
- Does your view of your own life, success to date, present investments, and current pursuits financial and family commitments leave any room for you to abandon all for Jesus?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we could mean what we sing with the worship leader – All to Jesus I surrender.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
