GOSPEL MEDITATION # 173
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
Mark 1:16-20
- Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
- Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
- Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
- Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
- Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
- Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
- Baptized by John, tempted by Satan, arriving back in Nazareth of Galilee, Jesus begins to call disciples.
- No one of the Twelve volunteered; they all were called or chosen by Jesus directly.
- Jesus had met Andrew and Simon (Peter), and likely James and John, at the time of the baptism by John.
- Perhaps Jesus had asked about where they lived and worked. He sought them out. First Andrews and Peter.
- “Follow Me” Jesus said, and this served as an invitation to join Him as a disciple. Generally students applied directly to rabbis in order to join their rabbinical school.
- “Fishers of men” – a metaphor, not to be taken literally. Now people, whom the Father seeks and loves, will be the focus of the rest of their lives.
- Immediately they followed Jesus. Likely they returned home to say goodbye and pack a bag. Not told this though.
- Then James and John – two sets of brothers, all fisherman, and who probably knew each other.
- It is an adventure of the highest order to follow Jesus, one
from which we never retire. And Jesus is always walking
just ahead of us, encouraging us along the way.