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Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:19

As Jesus met people, there was a clear invitation to come and follow. Come is a clear directive to take action and move towards me and be with me. You can’t have all of me where you are. It’s going to take action to be with me, and some things will be left behind. To follow implies even more than coming, it opens ourselves to a new learning about his way of life. It’s going to be different and distinct from your way. Remember follow the leader we played as children? Jesus says, follow me.

Jesus also reveals his intentions to not leave us “as is” but to make us into more.

While I certainly understand what I’ve always heard taught about the “fishers of men” in light of the great commission and seeing people rescued, today it strikes me a little differently.

What if Jesus used fishing language because he was talking to fishermen at the time?

What if Jesus was seeing who they were, what they knew and were good at, and was saying, “there’s more”. There’s a way I will use who you uniquely are, your skills, education and life experiences and transform you into using that for the good of others on the earth. You’ll be my messengers of the kingdom and it kind of works like fishing, which you already know.

What if Jesus was talking to farmers? Would he have said, “Come follow me, and I will make you farmers of men”?

What if Jesus called to all of us where we are?

Teachers, engineers, builders, artists, doctors, moms and dads… all of you ~ Come follow me, and I will make you teachers, engineers, builders, artists, doctors, moms and dads of men. I will use who you are to impact the people around you with my love, truth, and hope. And, it kind of works like what you already know.

Jesus comes to us with an invitation ~ right where we are and who we are ~ and he invites us to follow him. In that following, he’s going to make who we are have eternal value in the lives of people around us and for the kingdom coming here on earth.

What an invitation.

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