The Hook for Humans

I've always found it interesting how Jesus gets his first followers. He doesn't invite them to a big meeting with free lattes or promise them 10 steps to a better life. He says "follow me and I will make you fishers of men". This seems strange in the age of consumer church. What is Jesus getting at by using such a "hook".

Two things. The first is that Jesus is good enough in and of himself to be followed. These first followers were certainly not following Jesus because they thought he was going to give them the easy life nor did Jesus represent that he was offering this. We find Jesus talking with a group of potential followers in the Gospel of Matthew. One of them declares with great emotion that he plans to follow Jesus wherever he goes. Jesus' quick reply is that he (Jesus) has no place to lay his head implying that the man should perhaps reconsider his decision to follow Jesus because of the unknown hardships he may end up facing. Another person pipes in and declares his need to take care of aging parents before fully following Jesus. Again, Jesus answers with a surprisingly harsh statement that the dead should be left to bury themselves.

Still people signed up to follow. They even signed up to die for him. Why did they do this? This is one of the proofs that Jesus was who he said he was. That people were willing to follow him with nothing to gain. This is an especially powerful argument when we see that many of these same followers continued to follow Jesus even after his crucifixion and did so to their own peril.

There have been many who have tried to explain this phenomenon away. Everything from grand conspiracy theories to group hallucinations. The fact remains that these followers of Jesus remained true to Christ and true to the message of his death, burial, and resurrection and did so without any promise of earthly health and wealth. Their encounter with Jesus, himself was all that it took.

Listen to this Apostle as he describes his encounter with Jesus: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." (1John 1:1-3)

While a relationship with Jesus can definitely improve your life in a variety of ways, this is not why we are to follow Him. We follow Him because he is who he said he was. The Godman who came to rescue us from our sin and did so by dying and rising. This is also how we are to "fish for men." While I do think the church should incorporate some of the principles of our marketplace into it's "outreach", all we have to offer once people are in the door is Jesus himself. If that's not good enough they're going to have to go somewhere else.

Next week I'll talk about the other part of the hook - getting to become a fisher of people.