Imagine for a moment that we are walking with Jesus during his early ministry. We pass through the villages and observe the fishermen at their nets by the seashore. We notice that Jesus doesn’t approach everyone, but quickly discerns a readiness in certain ones to follow him. It would be obvious that this is not an ordinary man because the life of everyone he meets is changed in one way or another.
As Jesus walks by the sea, he calls out to two fishermen, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him” (Matthew 4:19, 20). Becoming “fishers of men” must have inspired questions and possibilities in those Galilean fishermen when Jesus called them to leave all. If Jesus had pursued his mission without taking a student, Christianity would have disappeared with him. It was as natural for him to instruct and illustrate his understanding of God as it was for him to heal.
Christ Jesus’ words and works were evidence of his own commitment, his own character, setting the standards for discipleship. Each time the devil tempted him in the wilderness, he triumphed through his understanding of Scripture. “It is written,” he replied to each temptation. His Sermon on the Mount requires obedience to the Ten Commandments, with humility, purity, a high sense of spiritual priorities, forgiveness, love one to another, trust, and temperance. The Beatitudes express clear examples for attitudes of being and doing.
