Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
I used to own a car that had a broken clock for a while. Every morning when I would get in the car, the clock would be reset to a random time that was never the same, yet always wrong. Sometimes it would tell me I was in England, while other times it would tell me I was in Australia, but it never would tell me I was in Dallas. Unless I deliberately took the time to reset the clock to the correct time, it would cause confusion for me.
If you’re like me, this season has caused confusion for you. Whether it’s a changed routine, uncertainty about the future, sad stories on the news seemingly every day, or cancelled plans, there are a lot of elements of this season that has knocked me off balance.
Like the concept of that car clock needing to be reset every morning to reflect the true time, Mark 1:17 has been a verse that has helped me “reset the clock of my heart” again every morning to reflect what is true. It is easy for our hearts to be swayed by the latest news, the uncertainty of the future, or the loudness of the moment (“the tyranny of the noise” as I’ve been calling it), but these things do not necessarily line up with timeless truth and unchanging gospel realities.
Mark 1:17 is in the context of the paragraph of Mark 1:16-20, in which Jesus calls his first disciples to follow him. This story, also recorded in Matthew 4:18-22, Luke 5:1-11, and John 1:35-51, is one of my favorite stories in the Bible because it conveys the essence of discipleship. A disciple is simply a learner, so everyone is a disciple of something. In Mark 1:17, Jesus offers a simple, yet powerful and life-changing call to His future disciples when He says, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Commentators note that the content of this call applies to present day disciples as well. In this verse, I see two unchanging things that reset my heart daily during a confusing season with ever-changing circumstances:
The disciples’ radical response is that “immediately they left their nets and followed Him” (Mark 1:18). How can we possibly live with that kind of reckless abandon and trust today when it might cause us to give up our own plans and even not know where we are being led? When we look at the Gospel, we see that in humility and love, Jesus Himself left the comfort of His Father’s throne to rescue us. As we reset our hearts with the Gospel, we will find it a joy to embrace the call to follow Him and to invite others into that joy. In a season of confusion, the clarity of this unchanging call is deeply comforting.