Scripture Daily

Context No. 2231 of 4322 · Mark

Context · Reflection

Mark 1:19-24: in context

19Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him. 21They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 22They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!”

As Jesus walks by the Sea of Galilee, he sees James and John in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He calls them; and immediately they leave their father in the boat with the hired servants and follow him. In a moment, at his call, they leave their livelihood, their work, and their father, and go after Jesus. There is no long deliberation, no weighing of the cost; his call comes, and at once they leave what they have and follow him.

The response of James and John is marked by its immediacy and its cost. When Jesus called, they did not hesitate, negotiate, or delay; immediately they followed. And what they left was not nothing: they left their father, their family business, their boat and nets, their livelihood and their settled life. At Jesus' call, they left it all, at once, to follow him. Their response was prompt and costly, a ready leaving of what they had for the sake of following Jesus. This shows us the kind of response the call of Jesus deserves. His call is not one claim among many, to be weighed against our other interests and deferred if inconvenient; it is the call of the Lord, deserving a ready and wholehearted response, even at cost. James and John did not treat the call as something to consider at leisure; they left their nets and their father and followed at once. The call of Jesus lays a claim on us that is worth the leaving of whatever it costs. And such a response often does cost. James and John left their livelihood and their family to follow Jesus. Following him can cost us: comfort, security, relationships, plans, the familiar life we would otherwise keep. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, Jesus says, is fit for the kingdom. The call to follow is a call worth leaving things for, even things precious to us. This searches the readiness and wholeheartedness of our own following. When Jesus calls us, to follow him, to obey him, to give up something for his sake, do we respond readily, even at cost, as James and John left their nets and their father at once? Or do we hesitate, weigh the cost against our other interests, and defer or decline when it costs too much? The call of Jesus deserves a ready, wholehearted response, a willingness to leave what he asks us to leave and follow him. This calls us to a ready and costly following of Jesus. James and John left their livelihood and their father immediately at his call; and we too are called to respond readily to the call of Jesus, willing to leave what following him costs us, counting the claim of Christ worth more than whatever we leave behind, and following him without the hesitation that weighs his call against our other interests and holds back when the cost rises.

When Jesus calls me to follow him, to obey, or to give up something for his sake, do I respond readily even at cost, as James and John immediately left their nets and their father to follow him, or do I hesitate, weighing his call against my other interests and holding back when the cost rises, and can their prompt and costly following move me to a ready, wholehearted response to the call of Christ, counting his claim worth more than whatever I leave behind?

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