Follow Me: The Call of Discipleship
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Luke 5:1-11 “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; 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. 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 people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 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. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ 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 James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.”
This afternoon, I call your attention to Luke’s account of the calling of the first disciples of Jesus. This initial call is instructional to present day disciples, as it provides us with a wealth of info on what it means to be a disciple of Christ today. Of the many things that can be said about our author, there are just a few things which I care to mention as it relates to our text today.
Luke was a physician; as such, he was learned and given to pay attention to details. He begins his gospel account by saying,
“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.” - Lk 1:1–4.
So as we consider our text, let us do so with the writer’s experience & intent in mind, as he was lead by the Holy Spirit.
Before we discuss the call to discipleship, let us first define the term. What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? While I do not wish to oversimplify this, I do not want us to be weighed down by theological dogma. Simply put, discipleship can be defined in two words: “follow me”. Jesus invites us to walk with Him through life, to live it as He intended. This will not always be easy, but Jesus asks nothing of us without giving us the strength to accomplish it. This is why although we are instructed to take up our crosses (Mt 16:24; the affliction and suffering each of us must experience for Christ’s sake), Jesus can still say, “my yoke is easy; my burden is light” (Mt 11:30). Jesus offers us His strength and rest when we are weary; and why should this surprise us? imperfect as we are, who among us would walk with someone, see them struggling with a burden and not offer to help? Such is the benefit of following Jesus as His disciple; He helps us to bear the loads we carry, and shares in our joyous moments.
Although Luke is our author Peter is our subject in these verses. The call to follow Jesus, was the first and last words from Christ Himself to His disciple. We’ve heard the first of these from Luke, although it can also be found in Mark 1:17. The final occassion is found in John 21:22, when Peter is walking with the risen Christ and John, who referred to in himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, was walking behind them. It seems that Peter was proccupied with John’s prescence so Jesus responds, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”
We’ll go back to John before we conclude, but let’s jump right into our primary text.
As chapter 5 begins, Luke tells us that Jesus was preaching by lake Gennesaret, which is all referred to as the Sea of Tiberias or the Sea of Gallilee. the crowd is pressing around Him to hear the Word of God. Jesusboards one of the nearby fishing boats, which belonged to Peter. He instructs him to push off a little bit from land, giving Jesus enough distance to speak without being pressed by the crowd (which is why Luke includes that detail). When Jesus is done, He calls Simon, who He would later rename Peter, to become His disciple. But not yet. First, Jesus demonstrates His powerby addressing an immediate concern. Jesus had to have seen the men washing their nets, but no fish were in sight.
The call to follow Jesus in discipleship is preceded by God’s demonstration of His faithfulness & providence. Following Jesus means trusting Him to provide for you, not providing for yourself. There would be many times where the disciples would be reminded that there is no need or lack when Jesus is present. And when He blesses us, we will have more than enough so that we can bless others.
When Peter saw the miraculous provision, somethning interesting happens. In verse 8 he cries out, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
The call to follow Jesus in discipleship will reveal who Jesus is, and who you are by comparison. Back in verse 5, Peter calls Jesus “master” (Ἐπιστάτα Epistata) . Jesus is called Master for the first time in the Gospel of Luke, and this is the first occurence. The other Synoptic Gospels refer to Jesus as “Teacher” or “Rabbi,” only in Luke is he called “Master,” and only by his followers (see Luke 8:24, 45; 9:33, 49; 17:13). In verse 8, Jesus is called “Lord” (κύριε kyrie, “Master, ruler, owner”). In more fully coming to recognize who Jesus is, Peter is overwhelmed by his own sense of sinfulness and unworthiness.
Now we finally come to the actual call. Seeing how Peter- along with the brothers James & John- were in amazement because of all the fish they’d captured at the spoke word of Jesus, the Living Word, Jesus reveals His true purpose for this event: for them to accomplish in the spiritural what He demonstrated in the natural- and even greater!
Verse 10 may be translated literally: “You will be catching [or taking] human beings alive.” It seems that because catching fish brings harm to the fish (in that they die), Luke has rephrased the words of Jesus to avoid such an implication. The word that is used here for “catching alive” is also used in the Greek Old Testament (i.e., the LXX) “for saving persons alive from danger” (e.g., Num. 31:15, 18; Deut. 20:16). The other possible interpretation- one that certainly applies spiritually- is that those who are caught are rescued from death and brought to everlasting life.
The call to follow Jesus in discipleship is the call to follow Jesus in making disciples. In rabbinic literature the expression “to follow after” means to be a disciple of a rabbi. So it turns out that our simple definition is adequate. The greater difficulty is in living out our call with obedience each day!
I conclude with the observation that i shared as we began, reflecting on the last time the Lord called Peter to follow Him in John 21:22 “Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”” Jesus was well aware of John’s presence when He spoke with Peter; in fact, it seems as if He allowed Him to listen in deliberately. In much the same way as Jesus had spoken to Peter, but his companions- who would also answer the call- also heard & followed Him, Jesus was focused on the one and the many at the same time.
The call to follow Jesus in discipleship requires you to focus on Him, not on anyone else. Jesus gets right to the point with Peter: this is about me & you; how I deal with my call to others is of no concern to you! This is not a competition- those who compare themselves with themselves are unwise.