The Temptation of Jesus
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'[a]"
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'[b]"
7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'[c]"
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'[d]"
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Jesus Begins to Preach
12When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned."[e]
17From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
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.
Jesus Heals the Sick
23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,[f] Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
S Verse 19 - And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
ReplyDeleteO As children, we see something (or someone) so cool that it immediately takes us to our imagination of how we want to become that person/job/thing. It is usually something like wanting to become and Astronaut, police man, Ninja, you know those different "cool" jobs we dream of. As we get older we start to realize that not everyone is built/made/interested to be an Astronaut. We become more critical of ourselves as well as those around us. We don't tend to be swayed easily when dealing with things we know nothing about, and our imaginations become "confined" by rules of expectations put on us from society. I.E. We need to have a job, make money, have a house, have a family, etc etc. These expectations come from various avenues of life and we are "meant" to follow them. Well, when Peter-Simon and Andrew met Jesus, they immediately became "deviants" to normal societal expectations. "They left their nets and followed him" because of what they saw/felt/understood just from meeting him. All of their normal human skepticism that comes from growing into an adult was dropped. Jesus said nothing to them about their future living conditions or "what" exactly they were going to do. He promised NOTHING to them about any physical security. This tells me that an encounter with Jesus, is like NOTHING else.
A I want to be just like the disciples in this situation, as much as I possibly can. I want to drop everything to follow Jesus. Whether I am in the middle of driving and I feel God calling me, or in the middle of a meeting; I want to IMMEDIATELY leave my "net" and be with Jesus. I feel that as people, we let worldly expectations get a hold of us. They bind us down with rules we "need" to follow to have a "happy" and "normal" life. These rules sometimes remove the ability for us to see Jesus for what he truly is, pure goodness. We focus on what society deems important; making lots of money, buying a house, and retiring as early as possible. When we focus on societal rules, we lose site of following Jesus.
P Lord I pray that I would drop my net and follow you at every point in my life. That whenever I have an option to follow you or a societal role, I wouldn't think twice of choosing you. I pray that my life would be completely transparent, and your love would overflow through me to others around me. I love you.