I have always loved reading and imagining that day on the beach when the Savior of the world walked over to the brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew with a new mission, using the same skills that had as fishermen. It is amazing to me how God uses EVERYTHING in our previous lives for the next best thing He wants us to experience with Him. Listen and imagine with me, as we read Matthew 4, as Jesus walks the beach gathering His friend-disciples for the mission that would save the world.

“Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.’ They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed.” Matthew 4, Msg

Jesus had begun preaching before this “calling” of his guys. Had the called heard his sermons and knew Who He was? He also had fasted for days, alone with His Father in Heaven, before this particular task of asking a few good people to nurture and train. I imagine God and Jesus talking this over in the dessert. So, when the time came, Jesus knew exactly who to ask because we learn He didn’t do anything without asking the Father first. (“I do only what the Father tells me to do”, various passages in John).

He chose people who would take over where he would leave off after completing the mission God gave to Him. So, this choosing was important. His choices would probably not be on the interview list of today’s most high ranking world leaders, either. But Jesus chose well. He chose willing servants with all kinds of personalities to join his team that would help him change the world! See, I told you there is so much to thing about in this passage.

“A short distance down the beach they came upon another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. These two were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets. Jesus made the same offer to them, and they were just as quick to follow, abandoning boat and father.”

Jesus calls them, two by two, into the arc of his mission.

TRUTH DECLARED!
“From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme–that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives.”

TRUTH SPREADS…
“Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the ‘Ten Towns’ across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.”

What an honor to be asked to join Jesus on a mission! Guess what, he still says, “Come with me”. Are willing to drop your “nets” of stuff of this world and simply follow where He goes? I am.