12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”[a]
the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”[a]
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,[b]Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
Very interesting portion of scripture this morning. I know that scripture doesn't tell us every minute thing that happened or everything that people thought, but I find it interesting that these men followed Jesus without question. People in those days were trained and raised to do the profession of their father. To do anything else was considered stupid (as you had a teacher to a sure-fire livelihood) and possibly rude to your parents. This job was often all you knew. Sure it was the same thing day in and day out but it was reliable. And here comes this man, whom they probably didn't know squat about and he calls them to follow him. A few things struck me about this:
- Jesus must have had some sort of physical pull to himself. Something about him was attractive. Enough so that all he had to do was say 'hey, come follow me'.
- These men dropped certainty for uncertainty. Family for a stranger.
- If I am to be Jesus to the world, am I that attractive?
- Could I drop my family, my certain world, my livelihood if Jesus came to me today to ask me to follow him, right here, right now?
All good reminders for us all.
3 comments:
I wonder a bit about the disciples sometimes. Very little information is given. It says that James and John were with their father, but it doesn't say if they had wives or children. I would tend to assume not, because in those days a woman with children wouldn't have had means to provide for herself and them, hence all the references in the Bible to caring for and providing for widows and orphans. It seems unlikely to me that Jesus would have called men with wives and children to leave them behind and go with him. Yes, they would leave behind parents and siblings etc. but I would be surprised if they had families of their own. My personal feeling is that marriage and family and the commitment that those things involve are of great importance to God and I don't believe he would call someone to leave something like that behind. Parents and siblings are a whole different ball game than wives and children, I think.
One thing I learned from the "Follow the Rabbi" lectures was that Jesus was considered a rabbi. In the Jewish education system, the most brilliant of students went on to follow a rabbi, they became that rabbi's student, and it was a priviledge. Those who were not as scholarly (those who had not been able to memorize the first 5 books of the Bible!) quit school at age 12 and learned their father's profession. For a rabbi to choose these disciples, who had previously not "made the cut", was a huge honour.
More than likely all the disciples were very young and unmarried. John was the youngest and may have only been 12! Peter was the oldest and that's one of the reasons he was the spokesman for the group.
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