The Invitation to Follow
“And he said to them, “Follow me,
and I will make you fishers of men.”
Immediately they left their
nets and followed him.”
When Jesus called Peter and Andrew to follow him, they immediately left their nets and followed.
If we survey the other Gospel accounts, we see that before this decisive response, they had already had a few encounters with Jesus. Andrew, who was previously a disciple of John the Baptist (John 1:40), heard John call Jesus “the Lamb of God.” Peter had witnessed Jesus heal his mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39). But everything came to a head on the Sea of Galilee. It was there that Peter and Andrew chose to follow him.
The marvelous thing about this account is not their immediate response, but Jesus’ gracious call.
Jesus, the Lamb of God, desired friends to be with him—to walk closely with him, to have full access to all he had received from the Father (John 17:8), and even to share in his deepest moment of anguish (Luke 22:44).
Surely Jesus didn’t need Peter, Andrew, or the other disciples for his ministry to be successful. Most of the time, they weren’t much help anyway. They had little faith (Matthew 8:26), misguided zeal (Luke 9:54), and a great deal of ignorance about what Jesus was doing (Mark 9:32).
Yet Jesus’ call to Peter and Andrew was not about their skills or understanding, but about his desire to make them into something they could not become on their own. And to become “fishers of men”, they first had to come to know The Fisher of Men himself, the one who rescues humanity from their sins.
Remembering your call
Who were you and where were you when Jesus called you to follow? 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 says that “not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.” Take time to meditate on Jesus’ gracious invitation to know him and become like him.
Lord, thank you for calling us to yourself and making us your friends. We brought nothing to the table, but you still wanted us. Help us to know more deeply your love for us. Amen.
