'Follow me'
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. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him.I always used to forget that they didn't know how the story was going to end, or that following Jesus would take up the rest of their lives. Now I always wonder what they thought when Jesus said that. Did they think he wanted to hire them? Did they think he just needed them for a minute?
(Matthew 4:18-20)
This begs the question: what do I mean if I agree to follow Jesus?
4 comments:
I reckon they had an idea - like not the whole idea, (or even right picture - they thought Jesus would overthrow the Romans)but previous to this they'd spent time with John the Baptist, and also a bit of time with Jesus, so they'd begin to understand what he was about. They didn't blindly follow. Stupidly maybe, but not like I used to think where Jesus picked random ppl and said "follow me". There was relationship there already.
How do you know they'd spent time with John the Baptist and Jesus?
I hadn't thought before that maybe they already knew Jesus. The story normally gets presented as though Jesus just comes out of nowhere and tells them to follow him.
I wonder if he told any other people to follow him, before he told Simon and Andrew, and got rejected?
John's Gospel tells us about them hanging with Jesus and John
Okay, I found it, and now that I've found it I remember it.
John 1:35-42:
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, 'Look, the Lamb of God!'
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, 'What do you want?'
They said, 'Rabbi' (which means Teacher), 'where are you staying?'
'Come,' he replied, 'and you will see.'
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah' (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas' (which, when translated, is Peter).
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