Gulliver's Travel - Vol 5. The Maple Leaf Story

who is this guy!?

The Calling of the First Disciples
18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20At once they left their nets and followed him.
21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-22


I came across this passage the other day. Quite a well known and ordinary passage that christians seem to know quite well and glance over and say, yeh know that, nothing interesting here.

But something struck me when i read it that day, something i hadn't really ever noticed before. it suddenly wasn't just another ordinary story of what was happening back in the day it was amazing. Looking at this whole story from a historial day to day view and not religiously, it screams out something that is extraordinary. First look at the response of Peter and Andrew, and then the response of James and John. Just imagine being one of the fishermen, and this Jesus dude rocks up along the sea shore. He stops. Looks at you and says "Come, follow me...and I will make you fishers of men". The next sentence starts with "At once", i.e meaning straight away...right after Jesus spoke to them, they left their nets and followed him. This paints the picture that they just drop everything and leave everything behind. They have the clothes that they're wearing and thats all, and then the follow him. Granted that they may not have been the smartest cookie in the jar, being merely fish mongers, they weren't exactly down right stupid either. They were grown men who knew what it meant to have a trade and stable career. Why would you leave everything that you have ever known and relied upon for survival at the drop of a hat after a stranger tells you to come and follow him?! This doesn't make sense, its not a normal response!!! A normal response would starkly contrast to what they did. I mean if a stranger rocks up to me and says "come follow me", i'll probably reply with a "Pffft, yeh whatever you coot!", but definitely not drop everything i've ever known and loved to follow a him.

More amazingly is that it happens again to James and John. Once again their response is very similar in that they immediately drop everything to follow this Jesus dude. They leave their boats and father behind at a heartbeat for crying out loud!!!

So this story begs you to ask the question, who was this Jesus dude? What was it about him that made him have that effect on people? Nothing to do with religion now. Just historically speaking, what was that power in his words that could make people drop everything that they ever knew and loved to follow a stranger? interesting is it not...?

Not such an ordinary story after all...

posted by Lemdog @ 7:13 PM