PART TWO: ARE WE MAKING DISCIPLES OR MEMBERS?
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
(Matthew 4:18—20)
The Beginning and the End Matter
Previously we looked at Jesus’ final words in Matthew’s Gospel (https://jkelseyem.blogspot.com/2023/08/where-do-we-go-from-here.html). We will return to that passage in the future, but for now we will examine the first conversation Jesus initiates in Matthew’s Gospel.
Remember “the primacy effect” and “the recency effect” from Part One? We remember best the first and last items in a story; writers know this. Thus Jesus’ first initiated conversation as he begins his ministry sets the framework for the rest of his work. We are to remember these words as the story unfolds.
This first invitation to Simon Peter and his brother Andrew is critical for understanding how Jesus goes about disciple-making. When at the end of the Gospel Jesus tells us to make disciples, this early story informs what he meant.
The Setting Matters
What Jesus does in this first encounter is a bit incongruous with the way Matthew introduces the conversation. We can learn something from this.
In the preceding verses, 4:12—17, Matthew tells us that what Isaiah wrote about in 9:1-4 is now being fulfilled in Jesus.
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
Isaiah wrote in the day when the Northern Jewish Kingdom—containing Zebulun, Naphtali, and the way by the sea—had been conquered by a foreign power. The Northern Kingdom had fallen victim to the insatiable greed, devastating weapons, and crushing power of the Assyrian empire. No one questioned the invincibility of the conqueror, no one but Isaiah that is.
Isaiah writes of a King that God will raise up, a savior that will bring possibilities the people could not even dream of. Matthew is saying Jesus is that same type of leader. Jesus is the one who will bring possibilities and deliverance no one can even imagine.
So what does Jesus do after this auspicious and majestic introduction to his ministry? He chats up a few fishermen as he takes a walk by the water. Not very dramatic is it? We might expect some thunder and lightning, an earthquake or two. Yet this invitation to these two fishermen prefigures the way God will work through Jesus.
A Model for Disciple-Making
Beside the Sea of Galilee we have a model for disciple-making. Jesus’ idea of discipling people is to invite them to travel along with him on a journey he has already begun. He will teach them what it means to be faithful by showing them his faithfulness in a variety of situations.
He asks them to “follow” him. This inevitably means leaving some things behind. He tells these experienced fishing professionals that they will need to learn a new way of life; they will learn to fish for human beings. This is not a call to a casual endeavor, one new preoccupation among others. “Follow me” is a big ask.
Although Jesus takes a rather low-key approach at the beginning, he is not an undercover incognito disciple maker. Admittedly, he asks for no doctrinal declaration or test of orthodoxy; they do not sign any card or undergo any ritual. He will unpack that along the way. He begins simply with an invitation to begin a journey. He is clear, however, that he is inviting them on a journey that will leave them changed.
Discipleship is More Than Just Showing Up
Woody Allen once quipped that 90% of life is just showing up. A fellow ABCNYS pastor commented: “Discipleship carries responsibility and accountability. Membership involves just showing up. We need to show up in order to be a disciple - but discipleship requires engagement and action.” Jesus is asking a great deal more than just “showing up” in the right place at the right time. He has a great deal more than member-making in mind.
Simon Peter and Andrew brought with them that day a hunger for a grander and deeper way of life and a willingness to leave some things behind to find it. Not everyone is ready for this journey into discipleship. Disciple-making takes into account where people are, where they have been, and what they are looking for. It recognizes they must be ready, hungry for something more than life has provided for them.
This is the model of disciple-making Jesus employs. He invites people to travel along with him on a journey that he, himself, has already begun. We call this “impartational disciple-making.”
This is a much more ambitious project than simply member-making. It can include member-making, but is a great deal more.
Next time, we will think more about “impartational disciple-making.”
Blessings,
Jim Kelsey
ABCNYS Executive Minister
