One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.
– Mark 1:16-20
It’s the calling of the disciples. The calling of a few of those men Jesus would invest his life in. The ones he’d count on to carry his message to the world after his time on earth was done.
This moment completely changed Simon, Andrew, James, and John’s life forever! Not only did they get their calling, but they were rescued from the life they knew.
This life they were rescued from was by all accounts an okay life. Simon and Andrew were throwing or casting their nets. James and John were repairing theirs. It was what they felt they had to do in order to succeed in the lives they knew. Jesus comes not only to help them succeed, but to rescue them from a life of throwing and repairing.
You see, for those men, this was more than just an invitation to something, it was also an invitation out of something. Simon and Andrew were stuck in the cycle of throwing their nets out… just hoping to catch something… just hoping to survive to the next day.
Simon and Andrew were stuck in repairing… repairing what they believed was their key to a better catch the next day.
I wonder if Jesus is calling you to a life of more than just “succeeding?”
You see, I think many of us are stuck in the cycle of throwing or repairing. We’re throwing something out there, whether it be ourselves, a call for significance, or a desire to fit in. Some of us are trying to repair something, we’re trying to earn a certain status, a reputation, or a feeling. For us, it’s about more than just following Jesus, it’s a rescue.
Jesus rescues us from a life of trying to keep up or looking for significance.
In his invitation to follow, we’re able to leave the life of fitting in or catching up. We’re able to adopt a new identity that no longer says, “do,” but says, “done.”
If you don’t know this already, you can quit striving. You can quit throwing your net or repairing it. You can come to follow Jesus and be rescued from all of life’s striving. The answer is in the One who calls, not our feble attempts to achieve.
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