Growing up, I went fishing from time to time, but not very much. I don't enjoy eating fish so the idea of catching them never stuck with me. My son Daniel, however, goes fishing whenever he has a free moment. Several years ago he discovered how much he loves it, and I'm pretty sure just about all of his disposable income has gone to fishing gear in recent years.
This Scripture tells us that Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is a rather large lake and it's plenty deep. The people who lived in the region around the lake tended to be adept at fishing. My understanding is that fishing was the main trade and source of income for the communities that surrounded the Sea of Galilee at the time.
As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers who were fishermen. They were casting their nets into the water and doing their best to bring in as many fish as they could catch. This was their trade. This was their livelihood. It would be safe to assume that this is precisely what they expected to be doing most days for the rest of their lives. But Jesus called them that day, and they said "yes" to following Him.
When we read John 1:35-42, we learn that this wasn't the first time Jesus spoke to these men. But this was the moment when Jesus called them to follow Him. We're told here that they listened to His voice, left their nets and followed Him, becoming His disciples and then later being granted the office of apostle.
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them,“Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said,“You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). (John 1:35-42, ESV)
Jesus wants us to be His disciples as well and part of what that entails is our willingness to follow Him. Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the epitome of leadership, and a good leader incorporates multiple disciplines in his style of leadership. One of the things you'll notice about a good leader is that he doesn't send you off in a direction by yourself. Rather, he invites you to follow him. He doesn't push you away, he welcomes you to get closer to him and then move in the same direction he's moving.
That's the kind of leadership we see in Christ. We're invited to follow Him. We're invited to head in the same direction He's heading in. We're reminded that He will be with us always and won't abandon us. But if we're going to follow Him, it needs to be on His terms, not our own. It needs to be His voice we're heeding, not our own voice.
I don't know if you've ever heard the Dave Ramsey show via podcast or on the radio. He gives financial advice from a Christian perspective and he has outlined a simple plan for eliminating debt, investing for retirement, and giving generously that he encourages his listeners to follow. From time to time, people will call in, say they have been following his plan, then mention how they are "mostly" following his plan, just not in certain areas like credit card usage or car loans. Then Dave will inevitably say, "It sounds like you're following your plan, not mine, because my plan encourages you never to do that."
In a similar way, Christ has invited us to follow Him. That doesn't mean we make changes to what He says or only follow Him on days when we don't feel like fishing. It means we leave our nets (whatever has the propensity to trap or entangle us), listen to His voice, and move in the direction He's moving (which we can be certain will be in a direction that's different from where our boats were already drifting).
II. I will make you something new