The invitation to follow Jesus may not seem like much of a big deal for us who have been in church for a while. We hear about the calling of the disciples to follow Jesus, the invitation of each of us to become followers of Jesus and we accept it as part of what we believe. But there is so much more that is involved in this idea of calling. This morning we are going to look at the calling of some of the disciples to follow Jesus. In this I believe we can find great encouragement and challenge in our own lives as we too are called to follow Him. We begin in reading from the gospel of Mark 1:16-20 and 2:13-14. Pray
Let set the context here for a moment so we understand what is happening. Mark gives us in very brief statements, events that actually have a lot more depth to them. Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptizer and then taken into the desert to be tempted. Here Jesus defeats Satan’s attempts to discourage, dissuade, derail or destroy Jesus before he begins the ministry of bringing and being the good news and going to the cross (1:9-13).
This tempting in the desert lasted 40 days. And then we read rather an abrupt statement in verse 14 that John was put in prison. Mark later explains in a little more detail about this in chapter 6. But somewhere soon after the desert experience, John the Baptizer is arrested and kept in prison for several months, maybe a year. In a very real sense, John the Baptizer is moved out of the picture so that the one he came to announce would indeed shine. John the Baptizer was to announce the coming and he did –Jesus Came. John the Baptizer even encouraged his followers, one we know by name –Andrew, to follow Jesus rather than himself. (John 1:29-42) I point this out because there seems to be an awareness of who Jesus is before these people are called to follow.
And this brings up a couple of things that are a challenge to us today –do we know enough about Jesus to talk about him to others –do we know this one whom is the good news, the son of God? And second are we talking about him –presenting the truth of Jesus, giving people an understanding of Jesus, an awareness of him so that they can indeed also come to be a follower when asked? When I was in high school our youth group went to these rallies in different cities. One year we were in Portland Oregon and one of the challenges of the rally was evangelism. We were to go out an invite people to follow Jesus. So, heart beating nerves working overtime, I went out and asked one guy at random on the street if he would like to become a Christian. Sure, he said and I thought, wow this is easy. So we went and sat over on the side of the street and the first thing he asked me was, So, what is a Christian? Someone who believes in Jesus!
“Who’s that? Some new guru dude from India?” This guy had no clue, there was no groundwork done. Today, in a culture that is less and less knowledgeable about Jesus, we need to be more and more aware of Him ourselves and showing him more so that people can indeed respond when the Spirit says, Come. John the Beloved in his gospel says Andrew and one other disciple (whom I think was John the beloved) at least began to listen and become aware of Jesus. And through Andrew, Peter became aware. And so when we come to Mark 1 we read Jesus is walking on the shore and he sees some men who he knows and would know him.
Jesus begins his ministry in the area of Galilee, or northern Israel. And it is here that he begins of gather around him a group of men and women whom He will teach, train, even send out, with the message of Good News –the gospel that a holy righteous Creator God has given a way for a rebellious and sinful people to come into a restored and reconciled relationship by faith and repentance in Christ Jesus.
Jesus has already begun to preach in the area. I think that some of these men –especially the 5 we will look at today, had listened to some of his teaching. And, I think they may have already come to that point of repenting and believing because of John the Baptizer’s message and possibly because of Jesus message of Good News. And so one day Jesus walks up to Peter and Andrew as they are fishing, “Come, follow me.”
At once they left their nets and followed him. They have heard, they have seen and now they respond. And their action is decisive and complete. They are called and they are called to a purpose –to be fishers of men. They are to learn and to take up the task of continuing to bring the message of the gospel to the world. Jesus begins and ends his ministry on earth with this challenge, with this command, with this expectation of his followers –to bring preach the good news to all creation (Mark 16:5).
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to know him and to grow in him but there is a purpose too, to show him. Followers of Jesus are called to a purpose –to be fishers of men, to show the world the light of Christ in us, to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes, to make disciples, to be ambassadors, to be ministers of reconciliation, to glorify God in all we say and do so that others will glorify God on the day he returns, be witnesses and salt, to bring this message of good news. Over and over again the scriptures tell us –Jesus tells us that we are to believe (know) to repent (grow) and to tell (show).
So often, we as a Christian church, as a people, are content to come to know about Jesus and even to grow in him but we stay on the beach or in the boat.
Jesus walks up beside us and says, come, follow me. To follow Him is to become like Him. (Romans 8:28-29) This word, follow, is a powerful word. It means to get up and leave everything, no looking back. So when the two heard what Jesus was asking they knew exactly what it entailed. Follow means living, learning and doing as Jesus did.
And then, a little farther down the beach, Jesus sees two others, James and John the sons of Zebedee. Without delay Jesus called to them. We don’t know if he used the same words, but we can assume so because their reaction is just as immediate. These four men were the first and became the core group of Jesus’ followers –especially Peter, James and John.
We skip ahead into chapter two of Mark to see the fifth member of the team who is called by Jesus. This man is very different from the fishermen. He does live in the same area but he is not well liked or respected. He sits, likely at the roadside bear Capernaum where a lot of traffic and merchandise coming from the north and east into and through Israel would be. He was a tax collector. Hated, seen as a cheat a traitor, this man would be an unlikely candidate for a follower –a disciple.
Like the fishermen, Levi would have know about Jesus, probably even seen or heard him as Jesus began to teach the message of good news. It may have stirred something in this man’s heart to hear that there was hope –hope for someone like him, to be able to be a part of God’s kingdom. Jesus gives the same almost command he gives Peter and Andrew, “follow me.”
And we need to note something here about Levi. The other four men, as fishermen did have something to go back too. We read that James and John left the family business. All four would later return to do some fishing later after Jesus was raised from the dead. But Levi he gave up everything. Literally when he got up and walked away he could not go back.
Levi is someone we know very little about. He was a tax collector, he lived in or near Galillee, he became a follower of Jesus and that’s about it. Other than these few verses and the parallel in Luke, there is no more mention of this man in the Bible. Many think he might also be known as Matthew, but even there, there is nothing more in Scripture except he was present after the resurrection and in the upper room in Acts 1 and also wrote the first gospel we have in the NT.
Yet, this man who we just catch a glimpse of has much to show us. Not only did he respond immediately to Jesus’ call, but he gave up everything –there was no turning back for him. And then we read he became the focal point for one of the key purposes of Jesus verse 17. And here we see a powerful example of someone taking Jesus and showing Him to others. Levi not only became a follower of Jesus, but took Jesus into his world. Levi shows that indeed we are to be ambassadors, ministers of reconciliation, bringers of Good news to those who, like himself, need to hear and meet Jesus. He brought awareness (or more awareness) of Who Jesus was to those who did not yet know Him.
It is here with Levi, Jesus and his disciples, meets with sinners and other tax collectors. I want to look at this word sinners for a moment. The word is in quotation marks in the NIV for a reason. It is not a word which is used not just for people who are immoral or irreligious, but also used to refer to those unable to keep the law, especially the oral law, as the scribes and Pharisees thought they should. Because of their job or having to scrape by on a subsistence level, there were many who were not able to keep the whole of the. For example, it may be used of a shepherd who had to care for his sheep on the Sabbath.
It was often used of those who were seen as the undesirable, those of ill repute, the tax collectors, prostitutes and thieves. A better word for us today might be outcasts. Society looked on them as sinners and they knew they were sinners in societies eyes, especially in the eyes of the scribes and Pharisees –the religious leaders.
And here we see Jesus not only calling one of them to follow him, but then he associates with them, eats with them. Eating and fellowship in that culture and time were intimate expressions of friendship. If not in words, then powerfully in deeds, Jesus said, I am their friend! And, he announces, it is people like this, who know they need help, who know they need good news, that I have come to bring the good news too.
And there are a few things that we can find applicable for us today. First; we do not have to do something or be something first before we can become worthy recipients of God’s love. Often we think we need to clean up our act before we can follow Jesus. And sometimes that is the fault of the church. We give the impression that you need to look or talk or act a certain way, that you have to have everything together before you can be a part of the church. Jesus here shows us in a very powerful and graceful way that none of us need to strive to be something or someone else and then apply to be a follower. Jesus calls us –were we are and who we are. He extends his grace and friendship to us where we are.
Second; That although we are called to follow, we are also called to bring –to bring the good news to those who need to hear. To bring awareness of Who Jesus really is according to the scriptures; to tell the wondrous story of Christ who died for us; to be a witness of Who He is and what He has done for us; to know Christ (believe) to grow in Christ (repent) and to show Christ (be his witness) to the world.
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