Come, Follow Me

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Mark 1:17 (niv)

"As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him." Mark 2:14 (niv)

I love the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells it like it is. Mark gives us just the facts, the bare bones account of how Jesus lived his life, what he did. Mark doesn’t give us a lot of the teachings of Jesus; instead he just hits the high points. What Matthew and Luke take three chapters to get to, Mark is already covering by verse 14 of the first chapter of his gospel. "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news."

"It was a bright and cloudless day in Galilee. The waves lapped gently against the rocky shore. The midday sun, now arching across the sky, cast its hot, bright rays down upon the beach, warming the backs of the two tan fishermen as they worked, knee deep in water, repairing their nets. Suddenly one of the two fishermen stood upright. Shading his eyes from the sun he gazed toward the beach. There a lone figure is silently watching them. The man on the beach cries out, "Follow me…."

But no, Mark, Mr. "To-The-Point", tells it like this:

"Sea of Galilee. Two fishermen. Jesus. Follow me. Case closed."

This is, what I am calling it, "telescoping." Probably, they say, Mark has telescoped events that happened over days, even weeks, into a moment in time.

Could it be possible that Jesus spent days or even weeks with some of John’s (the Baptist)disciples arguing and debating his point, "Follow me", urging them to sign up to be part of the new Jesus Movement. But Mark has boiled it down to this quick encounter.

Does this kind of remind you of frequent conversations with your kids? "What’d you do at school today dear?" "Oh, you know, the bell rang. I went to class. The bell rang again. I came home." Or better yet, the more common answer, "Oh, nothing."

According to Mark, the call goes out "Follow Me" and is at once followed by a response of obedience. And that’s troubling isn’t it? What is interesting here is how could these men immediately obey the call? They didn't count how much it would cost them to follow Jesus? This story can become a stumbling block for this very reason. Something must have happened in between. Something else occurred that made the men ready to follow Jesus. It had to, didn’t it? Or perhaps, they saw something different about this Jesus figure: Was it His eyes? Was it how He talked? Was it the compassionate call? Was it His smile?

Mark is completely silent on this point. He doesn’t display even the slightest interest in the mental reasons that surrounded these men’s critical decision to follow Jesus. It’s just "Follow me." Just like that. And immediately they followed. If you’re like me, you’re not ready to leave it at that, though, are you? We want to:

• Fill in the blanks.
• To speculate on reasons.
• To examine the possible mental motives for such a rad choice.

Not in our wildest dreams can we imagine that it’s possible to leave everything to follow on the basis of a simple invitation and promise.

I don't mean to say it this way but even if it did happen that way, this happened to a couple of uncomplicated fishermen. Surely this story isn’t meant to apply to us because we are complex, educated people who have responsibilities, complications. We aren’t apt to drop everything to run off and follow some itinerant preacher are we? That smacks of a weird religious fanatic.

What I’d like us to think about this afternoon is this. What if the calling of the disciples happened exactly like Mark tells it? What if their decision to follow Jesus was a decision of the moment, an impulsive, mysterious act of passion? And what if it’s supposed to be this way with you and me as well?

Maybe what Mark is saying in this brief account is that this is the way Jesus gets followed. It’s exactly like what happened here. A call is issued, and the one called obediently follows:

• No questions asked.
• No time for weighing all the alternatives.

I’ve not been a minister for too long (maybe that’s good), but I’ve already noticed an interesting phenomenon. Someone will come up to me and tell me he or she has decided to do something for God – to follow, to give his or her life to something, someone, some great undertaking that is felt to be divinely called. Without fail, the first words out of their mouth are these, "I know you’re going to think I’m crazy but…."

We teach our children that only half-crazy people go out and stake their lives on something that can’t be seen, or proven, or understood. When I dig deeper with these folks asking why? I get such responses as; "I just have this feeling that God wants me to do this."

That’s right, just a feeling, or an impulse. Amazing isn’t it?

The key to understanding this phenomenon might be in the first verse we read this afternoon. Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent…believe."

Jesus says simply, "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;…follow me."
Jesus frequently speaks of "the hour" to his followers. "His hour" has not come, or his hour has come, or now is the hour to be glorified." Such is the sense of Mark 1:15. Whatever the hour, or day or year, or month, whatever the circumstance, wherever the place, whoever may be involved; suddenly, or slowly, or noisily or quietly, God acts, Jesus appears, – it is time.

I ask you to meditate upon this thought. Is today a time for you? Is God calling you to a certain task? Are you running from God’s call? Are you open to God’s call?

One thought I want to share with you before we close is when Jesus went up to Matthew, He said, "Follow me." Then went on. Matthew heard the call, in two simple words. I can imagine how many neurons were exploding in his mind thinking, "Follow him, but what about..." He didn't sit there and pray, "Okay, Lord, I heard Your call but are you serious? Can you give me another sign?" Or perhaps, let Jesus pass by Matthew again with a reassurance, "Seriously, follow me!" But Jesus didn't have to. Matthew "got up" and followed him with no clue what lies ahead of him. It's God business to "plan & prepare" these men! If God has called you a long time ago or just recently, He's waiting for you to take a leap of faith like Matthew.

I want you to close your eyes and picture Jesus coming to you with a smile and with compassion, extending His hand saying, "Come, Follow me," which is the question, a simple command. It’s one that can make all the difference in the world in your life and in the lives around you.

Heed the call. Amen?