Follow Me

Luke 5:1-11New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The First Disciples

5 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the [a]people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but [b]I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets beganto break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ [c]feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;10 and so also were [d]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will becatching men.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

I still wonder how the Disciples could follow Jesus in the midst of their business or work. We see that Peter, James and John, sons of Zebedee left their boat and followed Jesus. We see in Matthew, When Jesus calls Matthew, he leaves his work and follows Jesus.

After having a supernatural miracle of getting fish that was so overflowing that they had to call other boats and the nets were about to tare because of the weight that it had. But still they left all and followed Jesus, not considering what worth it could have been. The true happiness in life is not when we get everything, but when we get the right thing at the right time. Here knowing Jesus was their best gift. So they were able to leave the fishes, boats, nets.... Their business for Jesus.

Matthew' life was all about collecting the tax, as he was sitting at the table his heart was not set right at the work, he knew for sure what he was doing was not right. When there came a right time, Jesus knew his heart, called out..."Follow me", Jesus did not say I will make you fishers of men or I knew your heart was not right I will make it right for you. Jesus just said, "follow me".

I wonder what I would have done, when I got such huge number of fish. I would have told, "May be after selling this", "This is what I was looking for, I would like to go one more ride." I mean we have all sorts of business plans when such things happens to us. But this is what Peter and other did, and moreover Jesus never stops Peter' request when he wanted to walk on water, The Father gave the revelation to him to declare that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Though he denied Jesus, Jesus still forgave him and gave him an other opportunity, where he was bold to preach the Gospel and finally it is said, that when he was also crucified, he asked them to crucify him upside down. Because he felt unworthy of dying the same way Jesus Christ was crucified.





In the parable of the Dinner in Luke 14:12-24 many gives the excuses for why they cannot come for the dinner.

  Luke 14:12-24 (NASB)

12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return andthat will be your repayment. 13 But when you give a [a]reception, invite thepoor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, since they[b]do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

15 When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

16 But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a [c]piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; [d]please consider me excused.’ 19 Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; [e]please consider me excused.’ 20 Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 21 And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”

Peter did asks about the reward, for all that the Disciples have done: Jesus says - 

Matthew 19:27-30New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Disciples’ Reward

27 Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” 28 And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on [a]His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother [b]or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive [c]many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who arefirst will be last; and the last, first.