The Final "Yes"

After leaving the waters of the Jordan and dry arid sand of the desert, Mark begins to speak of the beginning days of Jesus' ministry.  As He began His preaching ministry in Galilee, four men became His first disciples.  Simon and Andrew were the first to hear Jesus calling, "Follow Me..."  (Mark 1:17). The brothers, James and John, were the next two who left everything to follow Jesus.  One of the interesting and often missed things about the moment of their entering into a relationship with Jesus was that it all happened at His initiative.  It was truly a moment of grace which, of course, is always the case.  It was then and continues to be.   

Those four fishermen were not required to attend a discipleship training class to prove themselves.  Jesus took them as they were and they were four fishermen who knew how to fish, but not really trained for being entrusted with the affairs of the Kingdom of God.  Such training would come over the next three years, but at the moment of their calling they were raw and untrained.  What cannot be missed as we read the text is that Jesus saw them.  He chose them.  They did not make any initial movement toward Jesus. They became disciples because He chose them and called them.  Everything those four fishermen did that day was in response to what Jesus was offering to them.   

It is still working the same way today.  Our faith in Christ is not the initial act which brings us into relationship with Jesus.  Grace is the primary and the original factor in the relationship we have with Jesus.  This is what Paul was affirming as he wrote those oft quoted words to the Ephesians, "For by grace you have been saved through faith..." (Ephesians 2:8).  All of us are created by God.   All of us are seen by God.  All of us are chosen by God.  All of us are called by God.  Even as those four fishermen had to abandon a life dependent on self and choose to follow Jesus, so do we.  His grace makes it all possible, but the final "Yes" is ours to speak.