Abandon

Luke 5: 1-11

¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

We have seen that the early Christians had a view of Jesus that He was the fulfilment of the promises contained in the Hebrew Story as they understood it. The recording of the fulfilment statements in Matthew and the landmark sermon at Nazareth give us a good pointer to what these early writers and disciples believed about Jesus. Their view was not accepted by everybody, in fact, the vast majority rejected the recorded New Testament views regarding Jesus and how He answered the question of life. In the referendum regarding Jesus the answer was a resounding no by the majority. The vast majority of people followed for a ‘sign and some supper’; they followed Jesus around as a means of meeting their own needs their own way. Jesus becomes for the majority a new ‘life-style statement’. However, for the few the story unfolds in a very different way.  Stories in the bible that record how a person comes to realise that there is a better way of life possible are named the ‘Call Narratives’. They are all through the bible. From Genesis right to the last chapter of Revelation.  These are the collective life records of the process of turning life around to participate in new possibilities. This culminates in an invitation to participate in life through a better way, a divine way revealed by the scriptural Story of God. This new way of life where God’s way is followed is called the Kingdom of God.   Those called to Kingdom living go on to share this story of possibilities with others even though the story reveals their personal limitations and failures; they keep on living out the ongoing and ever available new possibilities of the story of Jesus revealed in scripture. The call narrative of Luke 5 records how four men start to live out the new possibilities that Jesus offers. They left everything but only after they responded to Jesus say two sentences: “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” and “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” Peter obeys Jesus even in his scepticism about achieving very much that day. The results speak for themselves; out of what appears a poor day’s work results in a record achievement and a little bit more of a realisation regarding who Jesus is; Jesus is Holy. The call of Jesus was to the sinful, sceptical fisherman who simply obeyed Jesus. Would they have responded without the catch of fish? I believe they would have. Why?  Well the vast majority reject Jesus even in the presence of many miracles. Disciples don’t follow Jesus because of the miraculous they follow because they are effectively called. That is, they know like these fishermen; their own needs are going unmet; they live in a state of dissonance, they have a partial knowledge of who Jesus is through His teachings (verses 3-4), they trust enough to obey and faith grows to the point ‘they left everything and followed him.’ Faith is obedience; obedience is faith. The crowd came to hear the word of God; those who hear abandon everything and follow Jesus. Those who seek an addition to their life-style; a sign, soon get bored and move on.  Will we, the sinful and sceptical hear the word of God revealed in Jesus? Will we abandon everything and follow Jesus? This is the call!