Mark 1:16-20
For
many people today, what people call their home own is not where they were born,
but where they grew up. Some people have to choose one place to call a hometown
because they moved several times during growing up. I choose the place I spent
High School as my hometown. It simplifies answering questions about the
subject. Not many people want to hear the list of places I have lived in
response to a simple question.
Jesus
grew up in a town called Nazareth in the region of Galilee. This is a fairly
rural area of the country. Remember that Jesus was born in Bethlehem very near
Jerusalem a large city. Although Bethlehem was much smaller, it was close to
the city. When he was two years old he moved to the country of Egypt to spare
his life. At some point later in his childhood, he moved back to Israel, but
settled in Nazareth with his parents.
As
I read today’s passage and reflected on the previous passage, it seemed to me
that Mark had again left things out. For Mark, all the other details are just
not important. They don’t advance his telling of Jesus as the Servant of the
LORD.
I
am sure this is not the first time that Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee.
He might have walked there many times, perhaps even observing these men at
their work. We just don’t know. Perhaps these men have already heard about
Jesus and the content of His teaching, or His manner of life. We don’t know. It
would make more sense if they had heard something. It would be very hard for me
to just drop what I was doing and follow a total stranger, someone about whom I
know nothing. But this is how Mark portrays the interaction. One moment they
are at their job. The next moment they are following Jesus.
When
we give our testimony, we need to learn to pare down to the essential elements.
Too often we give too many details about our life before Christ. We need to
focus on the work God’s grace has accomplished. We need to dwell more on God’s
love and forgiveness and less on the details of our sinful past. We can follow
Mark’s example. He left out many things. We can as well.
We
need to get to know Jesus more if we are going to be able to respond
immediately to His command to follow. This is the walk of faith. The more we
know someone, the more we know we can trust them or that we can’t trust them.
As we learn to trust the LORD in the small things in life, then when bigger
things come, we have exercised our trust muscles sufficiently to trust in the
really hard times.
Finally,
when we know the LORD is calling us to step out, we need to respond
immediately, without delay. We just drop everything and follow. Would you be
willing to drop everything to follow? Or would the comforts of this life get in
the way, slow you down? Would the entertainments of life distract you from
being fully committed to the job?