The gospel narrative attributed to Matthew boldly begins by proclaiming Jesus as a newborn future king, attesting to an earthly and heavenly birthright. As would be the case, those already with regional and religious authority conspire together to confront this would-be threat to their reign. Even Satan makes an early appearance to thwart the Savior’s mission, offering up every earthly power possible. Jesus, having gone through so much tribulation as a child refugee must have surely felt great pressure to cave and accept this juicy invitation of retribution. Yet, Jesus chose the more difficult path of obedience to the will of God, no matter the cost. (Matthew 1-4:11)
On the heels of this spiritual battle royale, Jesus goes on to finally find his first close friends in this version of events. Here, the first followers are Simon Peter and Andrew, followed by James and John. They are two sets of brothers, and fishermen. (Matthew 4:12-25)
In the text of Matthew, we know that Jesus was preaching repentance and the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven at the time. It’s a message similar to John the Baptist’s (who has since Jesus’ baptism been arrested), just now being preached in a fishing town instead of the wilderness. Here, Jesus asks these four new friends to follow him and become fishers of people. They do so immediately, even leaving their families.
In this book, we don’t know why these four left everything they knew for this vague mission. This instant faith can leave us befuddled. Yet, there are also some wonderful truths in this simple storytelling.
Some friendships take time to develop, gradually transforming from acquaintances to besties. Others click right away; for no understandable reason a lifelong friendship begins in the blink of an eye. Here in this gospel, it is this latter scenario that seems to be the case. While we may want to overthink this story—that Jesus used divine or oratorical persuasion to convince these folks to follow—there is no such description in the text. It was just the right place, the right time, with the right people. An organic discovery of marvelous friendship.
When we go about our lives it can feel like we need to have the best tactics to find people we connect with. We think that we need to become more than who we are naturally in order to fit in. This story reminds us that there are people out there whom we belong with and we need to trust that God will put those people in our path. And like this initial band of Jesus followers, we may go on to do amazing things that shape our world when we trust the Holy Spirit to help us find communities where we naturally belong.
Similarly, we can sometimes feel like we need to have the best communication skills in order to share our faith with others. However, there are people out in the world that need to hear your specific stories of faith. They don’t need us to put on airs and pretend that we are more than who we are. They need to hear our faith story, plainly from the heart.
We must trust God to lead us in these efforts, as Jesus faithfully walked along the shores of Galilee waiting to find some friends and followers.
Relevant Reformation 