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!