"Follow Me"

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

“FOLLOW ME”

Mark 2:13-14

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

NIV

Thus Levi is undoubtedly Matthew as the one who also wrote a gospel that bears his name and records this same account indicate this was indeed Matthew who was the tax collector. These tax collectors were not liked by most of the Jews as they were working for the Romans. So this was thought of as being in cahoots with the enemy. So when Jesus walked from that house where he had healed the paralytic down to the sea of Tiberias also known as the Sea of Galilee which Capernaum is located on its shore, he passes by this dreaded tax collector’s booth. There sat Matthew doing what he was paid by the Romans to do, and Jesus simply says to him, “Follow me,” and Matthew gets up and follows him. We are not clear if by doing so, he automatically quits his job, or that he just closed up for the day. From the following verses that tell us Jesus went to Matthew's home and sat and ate with him along with other tax collectors, we cannot be certain that Matthew had given up his job as of yet. We would think that eventually, that would be the case, but then we do not give up our jobs just because we decided to follow Jesus. We heard the call in our hearts. We heard Jesus tell us to follow him, and we did, but of course, this is that different time and Jesus did not actually walk past us and told us to follow him. Jesus also was not alone, as we would have to believe Peter, Andrew, James, and John along with many others were right behind Jesus.  It would be sort of like following a parade. As Jesus arrived at the shore he stopped, and perhaps this may have been the time he got in a boat and taught from the boat while all the people sat or stood on the beach, or shoreline listening intently to his every word. That is the clue for us as we follow Jesus today. We should be listening intently as we read his every word. Of course, the whole of the Bible is the Word of God as he inspired men to write, and we also know that far more happened in regard to Jesus and perhaps things he said, that are not recorded for us. The question that we need to consider is what exactly does it mean to follow Jesus. Those of that day heard a lot more of his teaching than we have recorded for us, yet we have enough, all that we need to know about following Jesus, about accepting Him as the Son of God who came to earth in the same form as we are and died for us to take away our sins. We know enough to have an understanding of that meaning and that as a result we have been given eternal life. But is that all there is in regard to following Jesus? Sure, we have taken a lot of the word of God and found many rules and regulations that we attempt to abide by and say that is following Jesus. So then as long as we do many of the right things and we avoid doing as many as possible of the wrong things, we are up to snuff with being a “Good Christian” and that means we are following Jesus. We cannot be sure that is what Jesus meant when he called people to follow him. Did that mean to follow after him, that is just follow after and watch and listen to him? Did that mean to follow his lifestyle, follow his example, do what he did? If this is the case then how well are we following him? Do we heal people? Do we cast our demons? Do we preach the good news? Do we lay down our lives for others? Of course, that does not mean we have to die, although many who serve in the armed forces do that exact thing, they are willing to lay down their lives for our freedom. But do we actually put others' needs ahead of our own? How well are we actually doing after hearing Jesus say, “Follow me”?