CHAPTER 14

Follow Me

How Jesus Sends

Steven C. Hawthorne

Steven C. Hawthorne leads a mission and prayer mobilization ministry called WayMakers. After co-editing the Perspectives course and book in 1981, he launched a series of research expeditions among unreached peoples in Asia and the Middle East.

One of the first things Jesus did was to summon select leaders to join Him in His work. He chose some fishermen, calling out to them as they were casting nets, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of people” (Mark 1:17 NASB).

A Call for Fishermen to Follow

Simon, known as Peter in other places, and his brother Andrew had already met Jesus in John the Baptist’s revival meetings (John 1:40–42). They were working-class people, busy at work. Jesus was inviting them to enjoy a special relationship with Him, to hear His teaching, but also to become leaders in conveying that same teaching to others. Jesus walked down the beach and called out the same words to James and John. They were brothers, working with their father’s fishing business. They left their father with the hired workers “to follow” Jesus, unsure what that meant (Mark 1:19–20).

On the next Sabbath, Jesus went with these four men to the local synagogue. He was invited to say a few words to that gathering. He surprised everyone, “for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (1:22 NASB). He didn’t teach by quoting scholars in order to sound like one. Instead, He taught with clarity and authority. And then He shut down the outburst of a demonized man. Everyone was amazed (1:21–28).

Immediately after the synagogue event, Jesus came to the home of Peter and Andrew that afternoon. Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law who had been ill. The news spread rapidly in that small town so that crowds gathered around to hear what Jesus might say or pray. Peter was the kind of local leader that people knew and trusted. He was well known and liked. People came to his home easily.

Early the next morning, before daylight, Jesus left the house and went “to a secluded place, and was praying there” (1:35 NASB). Peter and the others tried to find Him because everyone in town was looking for Him (1:37). Jesus surprised them by saying that instead of coming to speak to the crowds in Capernaum, He was going “to the towns nearby” to convey the same teachings. Why? “That is what I came for” (1:38 NASB).

Weeks later, after His tour of the towns nearby, Jesus returned to Capernaum and stayed again at Peter’s home. The crowds heard that Jesus was near, and as before, they tried to squeeze into the small house close enough to hear. They followed Jesus when He went to the seashore. There, it was possible for Jesus to speak loudly so that many people could hear.

Another Set of People Called to Follow

One account records that on that same day Jesus passed by the office of a tax collector named Levi (also known as Matthew). As He was passing by, Jesus paused and gave him the same invitation that He gave to the fishermen, but without saying anything about fishing. Jesus simply said, “Follow Me” (Mark 2:14). We might ask, “Follow Him where?” We see next that Jesus went with some of His followers to Levi’s large house for a meal. Levi, the tax collector, was known as someone who offered great hospitality. He had invited many of his friends who were also tax collectors and many more who were called “sinners.” The record adds “that there were many of them, and they were following” Jesus (2:15 NASB).

Jesus said “Follow Me” to Levi. And Levi ended up following Jesus all the way to his own house. It was in Levi’s home that many of his friends and family would hear the word of Jesus and learn to follow Him. These were people who would never come near to a synagogue. If you examine the stories carefully, both Peter and Levi heard Jesus’s call to follow Jesus and ended up following Jesus to their own houses. In both cases, people that they knew and trusted came to their homes to hear the words of Jesus.

Praying for God to Send

Later on, Jesus continued “going through all the cities and villages,” proclaiming the gospel and healing many (Matt 9:35 NASB). It was then that He decided to change the way He would conduct His mission. He told His followers what He was feeling as He gazed upon the crowds of people: “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36 NASB). Surprisingly, Jesus did not ask His followers to respond to the needs of the people; instead of telling them to become the solution to the people’s problems, He told them to ask God Himself to do something greater. Jesus identified God as “the Lord of the harvest,” who had already planted and prepared something alive and abundant: a great harvest. What was needed was people who would harvest. Jesus told His followers to ask God “to send out workers into His harvest” (9:38 NASB).

Sending Twelve to the House of Israel

After this, Jesus sent out the twelve disciples as laborers. He sent them to heal and to deliver people from demonic powers as ways to convey and authenticate the message, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 10:7 NASB). They were specifically forbidden from going to non-Jewish people. They were twelve in number, sent specifically to the twelve tribes that made up the house of Israel (10:5–6).

The Seventy to Every City and Place

The Gospel of Luke says that at a later time, there was a second sending of seventy more disciples: “The Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come” (Luke 10:1 NASB). Why seventy? In that day, the number seventy was thought to be the number of people groups in the earth. If this symbolism is close to being true, Jesus was preparing His followers to evangelize the entire earth.

Finding Local Leaders

Never once did Jesus give His followers directions to evangelize large crowds. Even though they listened to Jesus speak in synagogues, they were never directed to organize synagogues. Instead, Jesus gave His followers instructions to identify the people who had already been prepared by God to listen to the message and to influence their families, networks, and communities. Approaching such leaders in their homes opened the way to influence their households, families, and entire villages. The twelve were told: “And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city” (Matt 10:11 NASB).

The seventy were sent in a similar way: “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him. Stay in that house, eating . . . what they give you Do not keep moving from house to house” (Luke 10:5–7 NASB).

Jesus had modeled this approach twice in the town of Capernaum. First, He had stayed in Peter’s home, opening the way for many in that community. But then Jesus dined at the home of Levi the tax collector to connect with different social circles of the same city. We have come to refer to such key people as “people of peace.” A person of peace can be a man or a woman, young or old, rich or poor. Jesus sent His followers, telling them to find God-prepared people who would become the answer to their prayers for God to send laborers in His harvest.

His Promise: “I Will Make You”

Jesus told the fishermen that if they would follow Him, He would make them become “fishers of people.” His promise to them was “I will make you become fishers of men.” Jesus promised that He would transform them, empowering them to lead many to follow Jesus. Fishing was one thing that Peter could do well. He knew about working hard, sometimes fishing throughout the night. But he was not an educated rabbi type who could speak publicly in a synagogue. He enjoyed the special time of deepening his relationship with Jesus as he came along on the tour of different cities in Galilee. But when he returned home to Capernaum, he and his brother, as well as James and John, began to ply their trade once again as fishermen.

Luke’s account describes large crowds of people on the beach, trying to hear Jesus: “The crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God” (5:1 NASB). Jesus noticed that His friend Peter was there with his boat, listening. Peter was folding his nets after trying to catch fish all night long. Jesus asked if Peter would allow Him to sit in his boat a short distance from the shore to be heard (5:3). This was just the kind of request that must have delighted Peter. He was not trained as a public speaker. But he could handle a fishing boat. Helping Jesus in such a practical way was what he could do well.

But then Jesus surprised Peter: “When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch’” (5:4 NASB). Peter respected Jesus, an experienced carpenter who came from the same working class as fishermen. But this was a ridiculous request from the carpenter. At that time of day, the fish were far away. The night before, they had caught nothing. Peter did his best to explain to Jesus why it was a silly idea to throw the nets out. He responded: “Master [i.e., a respectful title], we worked hard all night [i.e., we’re exhausted] and caught nothing [i.e., fish are hard to catch today], but I will do as you say” (5:5 NASB).

They put out one of the nets. They were shocked to find that suddenly, the net was so full of fish that it began to break. Peter and Andrew called to James and John, who were still on the beach, to bring their boat and help them flip fish out of the net into both boats. There were so many fish that they “filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink” (5:7 NASB).

Do Not Fear to Follow

Everyone was amazed at the catch of fish. But Peter surprised everyone by saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (5:8 NASB). We would expect Peter to have invited Jesus to join them anytime to help them catch more fish. But instead, he almost rudely told Jesus to go away. Then Peter said something else that sounded crazy: “I am a sinful man.” Why would he say this?

Some have surmised that seeing the miracle convicted Peter of the wrongdoings of his past. But why would a lot of fish remind Peter of past sins? Jesus’s response explains what was really going on. Peter had put it all together and discerned the meaning of the miracle. He had returned from a short tour serving with Jesus proclaiming the gospel. Peter had probably dismissed the silly idea of him trying to talk to people in order to “catch” them for Jesus. But Jesus knew the real issue: Peter was terrified. His fear is why he blurted out something about transgressions and bad habits in his life that Jesus did not know about. Peter’s last excuse to avoid becoming an evangelizer was that he had sin issues in his life. Jesus responded to Peter’s fear with a statement of his future: “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men” (5:10 NASB). This was Jesus assuring him that He would fulfill His promise to make Peter, past sins and all, someone who would be effective as a fisher of people. And this is Jesus’s word to broken and sinful people such as you and me. Christ forbids us to fear. Whatever Jesus tells you to do, He will help you to accomplish.

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