following

There’s a fascinating choice made by Simon Peter, James and John early in Luke 5 that I think represents the challenge of faithful following by any successful Christian.

Luke 5 opens with Jesus preaching from Simon Peter’s boat, which was generous of Peter considering he’d just spent the whole night on the boat trying unsuccessfully to catch fish. Finished with his sermon, he gives Peter some of the worst fishing advice he’d ever gotten: go back to the same place where you just got skunked and try again. Only now, Peter knew, the odds were worse because it was daylight. But he and his crew did as Jesus suggested. Here’s the story, from Luke 5:6-11: 

“When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

“When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

“Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.’ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”

Here’s what I find interesting: immediately following their best day ever as small business owners, they chucked the whole thing and started a new career. They could have decided to chase their newfound success. They could have decided they had a newly discovered technique that would give them a competitive advantage. They could have decided to see if they could replicate their success by again lulling the fish with clumsy nocturnal net-casting and then sneaking up on them in the daylight. 

In other words, they could have followed success instead of the Savior.

That’s a good definition of the choice forced on us by true discipleship. As we follow Jesus we’ll do things in his name and for his kingdom that work. They may work really well. They may gain a lot of attention for us, and we may decide we’re pretty good at this ministry business. In fact, we could decide to start working for the success of our ministry.

Or we could come to the conclusion that the health and wealth and leisure we have in life, all gifts of God’s providence, are why we’re really here. We could decide to start working for the success of our careers and retirement plans.

Better if we decide to leave it all high and dry on shore, and follow Jesus. It takes a lot of faith to turn your back on a lifetime of investment and walk away, but look at what they gained: the chance to walk with Jesus as he changed the course of history.

We have the same chance.