Today’s Passage: Mark 1:16-20

Do you have the formula right? That is a question I spent much of my college years answering as I tried to get the correct solution to an engineering problem.

This question applies to many aspects of our lives, not just engineering.

Consider, we are presented with a problem. We may not have the answer, but if we know how to approach the problem (you might say the formula), then we stand a much better chance of getting the correct solution. 

The challenge of course is making sure we have the right formula.

Why do I bring up this “formula analogy”? Because I think we too often expect people to hear about Jesus once, and decide that He is the Son of God.

Notice in the text today. “Immediately they dropped their nets and followed Him.”

Can I just make a point? Yes, they followed and no, they did not have a clue who He (Jesus) really was.

It is a powerful moment, and I write here about what it means when the Rabbi calls. 

I find this moment fascinating. There was something magnetic, so much so that they followed. Yet, they did not understand who He was. In fact, Jesus will spend 3 years teaching them what it means to follow Him. They will only “really get it” after they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Today, we know a lot more about Jesus. Today, some people do in fact almost immediately accept Him as Lord and Savior. Today, God has sent His Holy Spirit.

But not everyone responds immediately, and it is to the circumstance of those who do not immediately respond that I turn. 

As we look at this situation and these first disciples, please note that God is the prime mover. Jesus initiates. This is always true, even when we, as His agents, are representing Him. 

Yet notice how He engages those He is calling. 

1. He finds them. Do we go into the world, or do we expect people to come to church?

2. He speaks to them as fisherman. Do we engage people in their language, or use ours? Words such as “disciple, repent, shepherd” do not translate today.

3. He gives them significance. It was a short interaction, but His calling gives them real worth before they were converted. The only “test” they have to pass, is to respond and walk after Him.

These are some of those who will become apostles. Imagine if Jesus demanded they immediately understand not only who He was (is), or that they wore the right clothes, and spoke the right phrases. He would have never called them! 

Jesus calls people as they are. He has no prerequisites. He asks they follow, learning what ‘following’ means along the way.

With this text, many people are rightly amazed that these fellas immediately responded. I am. I also suggest we be rightly instructed about how we “Go into the world and make disciples…” 

Handing someone a Gospel of John is an invitation for them to meet Jesus and choose to follow. Have you ever handed someone a Gospel of John with a kind word?