Luke 5:11 –
And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.
This is repeated in verse 28 with Levi the tax collector where he just drops everything to follow Jesus. When we talk about following Jesus how many of us would drop everything. Students tend to do this the most since they haven’t started careers and tend to have “youthful exuberance.” These men were already into their business, but it’s not too clear their ages. One thing is clear they up and leave everything to follow Jesus.
Now here are a couple of ideas why this happened at all. The first, more superficial one, is the wise men gave Jesus gifts of great value, he was sitting on funds they could survive on and therefore it was safe. This does not explain leaving the family business though. The “sum” would have to be significant before someone would up and leave a safe family business. During those times there was more emphasis on keeping the family business alive. Today it’s not even a consideration in most cases.
The other aspect people don’t really touch on is the honor it is to serve under a true teacher. There were very few truly knowledgeable men teaching about God, so when one came and selected disciples, they usually jumped at the opportunity. Today if you asked a group to leave everything and follow you to learn about God, the response would be lack luster at best. The “what is in it for me” response would be more common than “yes”! How would you respond? Today it would be easier than say in 2008 when the business was doing well and we had tons of equity in our land.
I know it’s easy to hypothetically say yes, but really could you say yes if someone was standing before you that you did not really know? I think Vern would say yes and move forward, where I would most likely say no and miss out. How about you? Now are we being asked to walk away from it all and follow Jesus today? Actually we are if you follow scripture, but I think it’s more metaphorical than actual. The key point is not letting the “stuff” bind your thinking but letting God. If we focus on God and not let the stuff cloud our minds we will be in great shape.