In my Bible reading this morning in Matthew, it struck me again this ability we have to choose to obey Jesus, or not. After Jesus was baptised and tempted in the wilderness He was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and came across Peter and his brother Andrew who were casting a net out into the water. Im assuming they were after some bait fish or something as they were fishermen and not likely to be making a living out of what could be caught just there. I dont know if they saw Jesus getting baptised or not. I dont know if they even knew or had heard of Jesus.
We are told that Jesus said to them “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people!” (Matthew 4.19) Maybe a bizarre offer, but their response was to immediately follow Jesus. I assume that I would do the same – I mean, really, this is the Lord Jesus Christ, creator and sustainer of the whole universe and if I was there and He said that to me, Im sure that I could not make a choice any different than Peter and Andrew!
Later on Jesus meets Matthew the tax collector and says “Follow me!” – what does Matthew do – exactly what Jesus said, he got up and followed Him. Yeah I think, Id do the same. Between these two events Jesus tells demons to leave two blokes and they do, He also tells the wind and the sea to calm down and they do, he tells a paralysed man to walk home and he does. Jesus is Lord. His word is powerful.
But then these two blind guys are met by Jesus (Matt 9.27) and ask to be healed. He heals them and then tells them not to tell anyone about it………actually in the HCSB it says “Jesus warned them sternly, “Be sure that no-one finds out!” Three other guys leave their jobs when Jesus simply says “Follow me”, and yet these two blind guys get a stern command and………dont do what Jesus says but instead spread the news about Jesus through the whole area. What a contrast to the last few commands we read about.
The message for me in all this was simply, to obey Jesus. Build my house on the rock, on the solid foundation of His Word. Rather than assume I’d be like Peter, Andrew or Matthew and just obey uncontrollably I need to remember that like all of us, I have a choice and need to make the wise one in everything. Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.
