Tag Archives: casting a net

FOLLOW ME

Christian Life, ,

FOLLOW ME

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew 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. Mark 1:16, 17.

Have you ever wondered why Peter and Andrew, James and John followed Jesus so readily without asking any questions? It was a far more significant reason than that Jesus had a magnetic personality.

Jesus was a rabbi – a teacher of the Torah – trained in the schools of His day. All Jewish boys began their formal education at the Beth Saphar – elementary school in which they learned and memorised the Torah. If they made it through Beth Saphar, at the age of twelve, they went on to study at the Beth Talmid, the school of disciples. They were taught by the rabbis who had authority (s’mikeh), a term given to those masters of the Torah whose authority to develop their own interpretation of the Torah was acknowledged.

“Because he spoke with God’s authority, many people recognized Jesus as a rabbi with s’mikeh—one of the few exceptional rabbis with authority to teach their own interpretation of the Text. As Matthew 7 records, “The crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority.”” http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2087

The rabbi’s authority included the right to choose their disciples from the Beth Talmid, from students who studied under the accredited rabbis with s’mikeh. Instead of choosing disciples from the Beth Talmid in the accepted way, Jesus chose men who were disqualified from the Beth Talmid and had been sent home to learn the family trade. Fishermen were disqualified because they were permanently “tamai”, unclean, because they worked with dead fish.

Every rabbi with s’mikeh had the right to develop his own interpretation of the Torah, his “yoke” which he “bound” on his disciples, making it imperative for every disciple to follow his interpretation and not create his own.  Jesus understood that the yoke of the rabbis of his day bound many requirements on the people and made their religious life an intolerable burden. His invitation, by contrast was, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.

It was such an honour to be called by a rabbi that no-one would think of not obeying, especially those who would never have an opportunity to become a rabbi’s disciple because they were not students at the Beth Talmid. For those whom Jesus called, He had only one instruction. “Follow me.” As they followed, day after day, they would learn His yoke and learn to imitate Him. That alone, is the disciple’s calling. Nothing else!

FOLLOW ME

Christian Life, ,

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 send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed Him (Matt. 4:18-20).

Have you ever wondered why these fishermen left everything to follow Jesus without question of debate? Did they know who Jesus was? Why would they drop everything to follow a stranger, even a wife and possibly a family, as Peter did? Did Jesus have some sort of magnet pull that drew these men to Him? These would all be unanswered questions but for one thing – these were young Jewish men who lived in Israel. They knew the drill.

From the time they were at their mother’s breast, they learned to repeat the Sh’mah,

Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one (Deut. 6:4)

And the greatest commandment,

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deut. 6:5)

 By the time they went to school they had memorised the entire book of Leviticus – the book that contained their sacred laws.

Every young Jewish male aspired to become the disciple of a noted rabbi. They all went to elementary school at the local synagogue, call the Beth Saphar, at the age of about five where an appointed teacher taught them the a-b-c of the Torah – their main textbook for the next approximately seven years at school and for the rest of their lives.

Secondary education at the Beth consisted of the an in-depth study of the Torah as well as the Prophets and the Writings. Those were not proficient in their studies went home to learn the family business while the rest continued their education at the Beth Talmid, – the school of disciples. They learned by engaging in discussion and debate under the tutorship of a recognised rabbi. Their dream was to be chosen to be a disciple of a rabbi with sh’mikah – authority, to follow him, to live in intimate connection with him, to learn his words and his ways so that they could become his replicas and perpetuate his character and his teaching as his disciples.

The cue that the rabbi had chosen them was the invitation, “Follow me.” To hear those words from the lips of a rabbi was to them like music in their ears. They would not even think twice about responding. They would drop everything and join him because it was both a dream and an honour to be chosen to be a disciple.

Imagine the surprise when Jesus, who was recognised to be a rabbi with authority called, not aspiring students from the Beth Talmid, but relatively uneducated drop outs from the lake. They were eminently unqualified to be disciples. Apart from their lack of education, they were also considered to be “unclean” because they worked with dead fish.

Not only did Jesus choose fishermen to follow Him, but He also chose His entire band of disciples from among the disqualified! A despised tax collector, political activists, nobodies and even a potential traitor. Did He know who they were, especially since He spent the whole night in prayer before He selected them from among the motley crew who tailed Him? Did He know what He was doing?

Of course, Jesus knew what He was doing! What if He had gone to the Beth Talmid and chosen young men schooled in the ways of the religious leaders of His day? After all, were they not His chief opponents and the ones ultimately responsible for hounding Him to death? How much better to choose relatively ignorant men whom He could shape by His words into His ways without too much resistance. As it was, He had to contend with some of their prejudices which blocked their understanding of His mission.

They refused to believe Him when He spoke of His impending crucifixion. They believed that He was the Messiah. It was unthinkable that their Messiah should suffer and die. Suffering did not fit in with their concept of a king who had come to overthrow Roman occupation and re-establish David’s glorious kingdom. It was only after His resurrection that the whole picture became clear.

The point for us is that Jesus has called us, if we consider ourselves His disciples, first and foremost, to follow Him. That involves leaving behind all our religious notions and preconceived ideas to become closely and intimately associated with Him, to follow His every thought and action until we are thoroughly familiar with everything about Him and fully convinced that He is the Son of God.

This intimacy demands that He be the centre of our lives, that our relationship with every other person to whom we are related in any way be redefined by our relationship with Him as Lord. Any other attitude immediately disqualifies us from being or even calling ourselves disciples of Jesus.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – CATCHING MEN

Bible Study, ,

CATCHING MEN

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. Mark 1:16-20

How were the disciples to catch men? What was the method and what was the “bait”? As you walk with Jesus and watch and listen to Him, it makes sense that the “bait” was the love and mercy of God which He declared, demonstrated and dispensed freely by touching the lives of ordinary people, forgiving their sin, healing their broken bodies and freeing them from demonic oppression (Act 10:38). Who would not be “lured” by a God like that? For too long the people had been cowered into obedience or driven away by fear of the God who made so many demands that it was impossible to satisfy Him.

Even if the disciples didn’t understand, they followed Him anyway and set out on a journey to relearn the love of the God who had originally called them to be His people millennia before, but whose true character was gradually obscured by a religious system superimposed by men.

Why did the Pharisees hate Jesus so much? Why did they want to kill Him? Could it be that the same fear that controls all other religions locked them into a ritualistic religious system of self-effort so that they could not launch out onto the love of God in case they were right and Jesus was wrong? Did their pride in their self-effort and their perception of “righteousness” make them hold tenaciously to their belief that they were right? Did they hate Jesus because He was too “nice” to the people they despised, and they could not accept God’s generosity to “sinners”?

How do we respond to God’s generosity? Is there a stubborn underlying thought that this is all a mirage: that there is a catch somewhere; that we will wake up and find that it was all a beautiful dream? Why do we struggle at times with the issue of healing? Why do we have nagging doubts when we pray as though the “bait” were a plastic lure and not the real thing? Is this part of the growth and maturing of true faith? How confident are we that what we are offering people is the truth and that God will back it up?