The disciples left everything. This lesson examines what that means for those who do not live in first-century Palestine — and discovers that the cost is the same.

"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." — Matthew 4:19

1. The call was direct, costly, and immediate.

In Mark 1:16-20, Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James, and John. They were at their work — casting nets, mending nets, running a fishing business. Jesus' call is three words: "Follow me." Their response requires only four: "They left... and followed him." There is no negotiation, no request for a trial period, no clarification of terms. The immediacy of the response is the text's way of signaling that the call itself carries the authority to evoke the response.

2. "Follow" in ancient context meant apprenticeship.

In the first-century rabbinic tradition, a disciple did not merely attend a teacher's lectures. He followed the rabbi everywhere — watching how he handled money, how he treated people, how he prayed, how he responded to opposition. The goal was not merely intellectual assimilation of teaching. It was total formation in the rabbi's way of life. When Jesus says "Follow me," he is calling people to that kind of total apprenticeship — to learn his way of being human.

3. The first disciples left vocations, not just jobs.

James and John left their father's boat and their father Mark 1:20. Matthew left a profitable tax-collecting operation Luke 5:27-28. These were not people in temporary employment. They were people with trades, family obligations, economic identities. What they left was their grip on self-defined security. What they gained was, as Peter says in Mark 10:28-30, a hundred times more — and persecution as well. Jesus does not promise that following him is comfortable. He promises it is worth it.

4. Following Jesus is relational, not merely doctrinal.

John 15:15 — "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." The goal of following Jesus is not the accumulation of doctrinal knowledge but the deepening of friendship. A servant does assigned tasks. A friend shares the life of the one they follow. The disciples' three years with Jesus were not primarily a curriculum. They were a relationship.

5. Following Jesus in the twenty-first century looks exactly like following Jesus in the first.

The geography is different. The vocations are different. But the call is the same: leave the security you have constructed for yourself, attach yourself to Jesus as his apprentice, share his life through his Spirit, and go where he goes. The twenty-first century equivalent of leaving a fishing net is different for every person. But Jesus always puts his finger on the specific thing that stands between us and total following — and asks us to leave that.

Treating following Jesus as a spiritual practice rather than a total orientation. You cannot follow Jesus in one compartment of your life. He either reorganizes all of it or none of it.

1. 1 Read Mark 1:16-20 slowly. Imagine the specific moment of leaving — the net dropping, the boat rocking, the father's face. What does it feel like to choose?
2. 2 Journal: what is the equivalent of "leaving your nets" for you right now? What is the specific security Jesus is asking you to release?
3. 3 Discuss with your conversation partner: what does the image of discipleship as friendship John 15:15 change about how you relate to Jesus?

Write a paragraph: what would it look like to follow Jesus more completely in your current vocation, relationships, and daily routine? Be concrete.

Submit your paragraph and your journal answer about what nets you are being asked to leave.

1. 1 Q: What did "follow me" mean in first-century context?

A: Total apprenticeship — not just attending lectures but watching and imitating the rabbi's whole way of life.

1. 2 Q: What did the first disciples actually leave?

A: Their grip on self-defined security — vocations, family roles, economic identities.

1. 3 Q: What is the goal of following Jesus?

A: Not the accumulation of knowledge but the deepening of friendship and formation in his way of being human.

Lord, I want to follow you — not just believe in you. Show me what I am still holding onto. Give me the courage to drop it. Amen.