They Left Their Nets: Why Jesus’ Choice of Disciples Still Shocks Us Today
Why Four Fishermen Dropped Everything — And What That Means for Us Today
Welcome to today’s reflection.
Ordinary people rarely expect extraordinary interruptions.
Today we return to a familiar moment from the Gospels: a handful of fishermen, a simple invitation, and a decision that changes everything. It’s a story we think we know, until we slow down and notice just how strange it really is.
Simon, Andrew, James and John. Just simple fishermen. Going about their lives.
Then Jesus turns up.
“Come, follow me,” he says. “And I will send you out to fish for people.”
And just like that — bam! — They drop their nets and follow him.
No dramatic farewell speeches. No delayed decisions. Just four ordinary blokes who leave behind their family businesses and secure incomes to follow a travelling rabbi. I don’t know about you, but I find that shocking.
Even if Matthew is giving us a condensed version of events (and he probably is, he’s not writing a Netflix documentary), it’s still bold. Radical. A decision you’d expect their families to try to talk them out of.
“Don’t do it. You’ll lose everything. That guy could be crazy.”
But off they go anyway, and while that might be striking enough, what I find most fascinating isn’t just that they went,
It’s who Jesus chose.
