When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him." Mark 1:16-20
As I read in Mark this morning, these verses completely jumped out at me. The first disciples were made that day, and just read these verses again! It amazes me that there was no discussion here. Simon and Andrew didn't discuss with each other whether they should go- or even ask Jesus what he wanted from them- they just went! James and John didn't take a minute to discuss it with their father, they simply left him to do the work of three alone and set out to follow Jesus. Don't you wonder what they saw in Jesus? What was it that they saw and heard that made them drop everything on a dime and completely walk away from the life they knew?
I'll tell you, I think that in that instant, in that moment they had a real interaction with a Real God and they knew it, and instantly, they knew that if they didn't follow this man they'd regret it forever. There was an instant insatiable hunger in them to be with Jesus, and they were going to follow through, no matter the cost.
I think that this passage speaks volumes as to where we are going wrong as Christians. People want to see a Jesus, they want a real God, but they sometimes don't know it. They go through life clinging to their finances and their jobs and their families, maybe their vices, looking for that one thing that will make them happy. What they don't realize is that they're looking for Jesus. But we as Christians do, we try to tease them in, we try to entice them. We tell them that if they come to our church, they can ease in, they can get their toes wet. There won't be any convicting messages, just things that will make them feel better about themselves so they can make it through the next week, and hopefully, come back next week because that little booster will have worn off by then. We do the same thing as people. We get to know our neighbors, our children's friends, our community as plain old us, and maybe along the way it will leak out that we go to church sometimes. We have the regular interaction with people "how are you?" "I'm doing fine" and then we're on our way.
Simon, Andrew, James and John did not ease in. They did not get their feet wet and try to decide if this man was going to offend them first. They dropped what they were doing and devoted their life to this man because they saw God in Him. That's what people are looking for. When someone makes the decision to go to church for that first time, it's usually because life pretty much sucks right now, and they want a change. Or they have children and they want their children to have some good influence in life. Why can't we just whack them with Jesus straight off the bat? Why can't we see that new person and come right out and ask them if they've met Jesus? And what about in our day to day life? Why is it so hard for me, when someone asks how I'm doing, for me to reply and say "I'm wonderful, God gave us a wonderful new day, how are you doing?" Because that's totally how I've felt lately.
And the more time I spend with God, the more I want. It's totally funny, because we liked our last church, we loved the people there, but for us, for that time, we were happy being the once-a-week church people. Sunday morning was enough, the rest of the time was ours. But here we are, involved with a body of believers where every time two-or-more-gather, God shows up, and all I want is more of it.
I'm trying to figure out the logistics of going to church several times a week now, instead of being content with just once. It's like Jesus showed up as we were busy and said "Hey, are you done yet?" And we realized that we were being busy just for the sake of being busy and that was that. Now we want that busy-ness to have purpose. And I walk around with this feeling that I just can't get enough.
And I think some more on these verses in Mark, and I just can't help but think that if people walked in the doors of our churches and met Jesus there, how few of them would be considered visitors, because they would realize that they'd found a home-away-from-home. They would find their refuge and their ever-present help. I realize that I can certainly do nothing myself to change the face of churches today, but at the very least, I can pray. I can pray for the churches and Pastors in my community that I'm living in now, and I can also be more mindful myself of my own interactions with people. I can choose to be bold and honest with those I come in contact with.
Because, my friends, time is ticking, and we're running out of it. The last thing I want is to come across someone from my past who knew me as just me, and not as the little Jesus I'm trying to become, and have them say "why did you never tell me about Jesus?"
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." Matthew 24:36-37
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