Immediately … They Followed Him
In today’s Bible reading* we read about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry after His baptism. As He called His Disciples, they dropped whatever they were doing and immediately followed Him. (Matthew 4:20, 22; Mark 1:20)
It’s important to note that James and John were fishermen with their father, Zebedee, and some hired men. (Mark 1:20) Peter and his brother Andrew were fishermen, as well. (Matthew 4:20) When Jesus called them to follow Him, they didn’t tell Jesus to wait until they had finished their day of fishing. They didn’t tell Jesus to wait until they had taken their catch to the market. They immediately dropped what they were doing and followed Him.
Application
We can’t miss the importance of the Disciples’ response to Jesus. We don’t know their backstory. Perhaps they had heard about Jesus and were attracted to His miracle-working. Perhaps they were attracted to His powerful teaching. Perhaps they were looking for the long-expected Messiah. We don’t know anything about these men’s backstories except what Matthew and Mark tell us in these passages. We don’t know whether Jesus called others who didn’t respond.
But we do know a lot about these men after they met Jesus. They followed Him for three years. And after His resurrection, they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6) because they had been with Jesus. They were eyewitnesses to the Man who came back from the dead.
These men knew (somehow) that Jesus was worth more than anything else. They knew He was worth more than continuing to work with their father and coworkers. They knew He was worth more than that day’s catch.
If they had not dropped what they were doing and immediately followed Jesus, we would never know anything about these men. Their immediate obedience is noteworthy. And their immediate obedience is worth emulating.
Immediate obedience is hard. But when you believe that Jesus is worth more than anything else, you’ll act accordingly. You’ll drop what you’re doing and immediately obey.
* Chapters covered in today’s reading:
Matthew 4:1-22
Matthew 13:54-58
Mark 1:12-20
Mark 6:1-6
Luke 4:1-30
Luke 5:1-11
John 1:35-51
John 2:1-12
This devotional was originally published on October 6, 2021.
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