September 2, 2017 – Devotions – Your G-d Is Too Small — What Changed the Disciples?

“The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” John 1:35-51

We read the beginning of the story of the calling of the disciples, and we are puzzled. We are puzzled because we see men who have families, men who work with their fathers in the family business, men who are entrenched in their work and in their lives – these men leave everything to follow Jesus. And we ponder “How?” and “Why?” How did Jesus’ personality and words affect these men? And why did they drop everything and follow?

It appears that possibly these future disciples knew Jesus – even may have been “following” Jesus even before they were called from their nets and other occupations. And that makes sense when we think of the suddenness of the “response”. The text in John says two disciples were standing with John when they heard him announce the presence of Jesus. One was Andrew, the brother of Peter. The other disciple, according to legend, was John the disciple, the brother of James. We can see then that Jesus was not necessarily an “unknown” entity, as families are close and brothers usually talk to one another, especially brothers who work together. So we can make an assumption, and it is just an assumption, that Peter, Andrew, James and John would have known of Jesus, and perhaps were following Jesus, at least following his initial actions and words before being called from their boats. The rest of the disciples would be called – and their exploits and experiences are covered in the four Gospels, and then continue through the book of Acts.

They were early converts, constantly wavering between faithfulness and forgetfulness, until their ultimate abandoning of Jesus in the crucifixion. And we know that these experiences throughout the ministry of Jesus changed the disciples in dramatic ways. Yet, when the final disaster confronts them, they scatter and hide in fear that they might receive the same sentence. Yet, within a very short time we find these same cowering men empowered with courage and spiritual vitality. They had seen something. They move from hiding from the religious and Roman authorities to defying them.

What changed them was their experiences of seeing the risen Lord, the Resurrected Jesus, and the power given to them on the day of Pentecost. When given the Paraclete, when receiving the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, they almost instantaneously become men of conviction driven by both being witnesses of the resurrection, and now Apostles (the sent-out ones) empowered by the Holy Spirit. And what changed the original Apostles can and still changes people today – when we encounter the risen Jesus in the Sacraments, when we receive the Holy Spirit, and when we following the calling of Jesus to be sent out to share the good news of the Gospel. (Themes come from the book “Your God Is Too Small” by J. B. Phillips)

Pastor Dave