Matthew 4.18-22

18  One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew‚ throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19  Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!"  20  And they left their nets at once and followed him.  21  A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22  They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

Before we can understand the story of Jesus calling his first disciples we must first look at the Jewish culture of his day.

Jesus grew up in Israel, in an orthodox Jewish region of Israel called Galilee. At that point they already had the first 5 books of the bible which they called the "Torah", which means teachings or instructions.

They believed that the best way to live was by following what the Torah said. So the education system was wrapped around teaching the Torah. Kids started as early as 5 or 6 learning the Torah. They would be taught by a Rabbi or Teacher. They would digest the word of God like food through the teachings or their Rabbi until the age of 10. At this point they would begin memorizing the entire first five books by heart.

There were several levels of learning the Torah, and at each level only successful students would continue. If you weren't good enough, you would go home and learn the family trade.

Rabbis who taught the word were the best of the best. They were the students that were smartest and knew the text inside and out. Not everyone could do what they did.

The final level of education was where the student would come to the rabbi and present himself to be his disciple. The Rabbi would want to know if this kid could do what the rabbi does. If he could be like him, did he have what it takes. If he found that this kid could do those things, he would say "come, follow me". The kid would then essentially leave his father and mother and follow after this Rabbi as his disciple, trying to be exactly like him.

So when Jesus found Simon, Andrew, James and John what were they doing?

They were taking up the family trade of "fishing". They were the kids that weren't good enough to follow a Rabbi. They weren't the best of the best. Yet, Jesus said as a Rabbi would.... "come, follow me".

It sometimes seems odd that they immediately dropped their nets and followed him, but once you realize that Jesus as a Rabbi was essentially saying "you are good enough, come follow me", it makes all the difference.

Jesus calls out to the "not good enoughs" and says, you can be like me, you can do what I do.

Notice that he didn't say "Take a course in evangelism", or "Study this book and practice this teaching Technique." No, he said "Follow me, hang out with me and I'm going to be changing you. You are going to become like me, a fisher of men".

The most interesting part of this story is that he took their trades and turned them into tools for the Kingdom. If you look at what Peter (simon) was doing on the day of Pentecost he was throwing out the net of the gospel and he brought in 3000 people (fish). John was mending nets when Jesus found him. John went on to write epistles that would mend the church and the people. The disciples eventual ministries were already seen in what they were doing naturally. God has a way of turning the natural into the supernatural through his grace for his glory.

Jesus is telling you, you are good enough, you can be like me, do what I do. Answer his calling!

Eat the book and Follow the leader.

Jesus took a bunch of "not good enoughs" and changed history forever.

Brad Moss