Fishing for Men

“Follow Me,”JESUS said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” JESUS calls people, individually, to follow Him full-time, all the time, wherever they go, regardless of the cost, because of who He is and what He has done.

What the Gospel author records in Luke 4:42-5:11 is not the first time Jesus had been in contact with the men whom He called to be His disciples. Luke already had shared that Jesus had healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39) which indicates previous contact with him and Andrew. In fact, if we look at the other Gospels, this seems to be at least the third time Jesus had contact with these men. Jesus had asked Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him earlier, and they had traveled with Him in Capernaum and Galilee (Mark 1:21–39), but then they went back to their trade. Now Jesus calls them to a life of full-time discipleship with a specific purpose.

Who is JESUS that people should follow Him? What are the qualities of individuals who follow JESUS? How should disciples follow JESUS?