“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”

Scripture: Matthew 4:12-23
Jesus chose as his first apostles fishermen from Galilee. Why did Jesus choose ordinary people for the extraordinary task of bringing others into the community of faith? Most Jews thought the Messiah would begin in Jerusalem among the elite of the chosen! How different God's plans and ideas are from our way of thinking. In the call of the first disciples we see the beginning of a new community of faith that would extend through every age until the Lord should come again. This incident tells us an important truth about how God works in and through us for his glory. God calls us to share in his work and he expects of us greater things than we can do by ourselves. When we cooperate in his works, we accomplish far beyond what we can do on our own. Therese of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun who died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four, wrote to a friend: "Jesus has so incomprehensible a love for us that he wills that we have a share with him in the salvation of souls. He wills to do nothing without us. The Creator of the universe awaits the prayer of a poor little soul to save other souls redeemed like it at the price of all his Blood." When God's word is spoken his kingdom is revealed and his power is released. When people respond to God's word with faith and obedience they are changed and made "a new creation" in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). God chooses ordinary people, like you and me, as his ambassadors and he uses the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives and work situations to draw others into his kingdom.