Follow Me...

“…and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 4. But in Mark 1 He said it a little differently, “Come after me…” which I like a lot better because it actually implies following. While in Jerusalem I saw a t-shirt that said it this way, “Then Yeshua said to them, follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men.” That became real to me in that moment for two reasons. One, it was as though Jesus Himself was speaking directly to me (by His Hebrew name). And two, it was spoken as a command in a manner I had never heard before…I will make you become (or as in accordance with Hebrew thinking, you will be becoming.) Not only was this very direct for me, but it was also very comforting because I realized in that statement that HE would do the making and not I. For years I have been trying to ‘follow Him’ and ‘become,’ but now all I needed to do was follow, or come after Him. In Mark 1, the Greek carries with it an interjection, “Come here! Now!,” and then come after or get behind Me, follow in My steps, go where I go.

I also got some hands on training in this very thing while in Jerusalem. We had a tour guide, a Levite who lived in the city, leading our group of about 24 people. Not only did he live in Jerusalem, but he had led many tour groups around the city many times and therefore knew his way through the narrow ‘streets’. At times it became difficult to keep up with him because there were so many people constantly moving and stopping and yelling and trying to sell and buy things. The best thing for me to do was to follow to the person in our group who was ahead of me, provided they didn’t stop to buy something. At that point, it became a matter of judgment because I was faced with waiting on that person or going on without them hoping they would eventually catch up. But it also became a matter of faith and trust because I couldn’t always see the tour guide. I literally had to keep moving and believe that I was heading in the right direction, which became even more difficult when I arrived at a junction in the road. At that point I had to either try to find someone in the group, the guide, or simply(?) walk by faith and pray that I was going to choose the right way! Believe it or not, by doing these things I never got lost (at least, while with the tour group), and I also learned something very interesting and spiritually life-changing.

Jesus says to follow Him and then goes on ahead. And He expects us to do just that – follow Him. And just like our tour guide, He doesn’t always stop to make sure that we are behind Him. He is counting on us to keep following and to keep up as best we can. But He doesn’t expect us to do this on our own either, so He gives us faith and the leading of the Holy Spirit to help us on the journey through the hustle and bustle of the ‘narrow streets’ of life. It is His responsibility to get me to where He has called me to be. Thus making Him 'the Way, Truth, and Life.' My new understannding of following Jesus: by faith in Him and trusting what He says, and the leadership of the Spirit even though I have no idea where I am going.