I was just reading John 1 this morning, and am struck by the buzz that his new disciples must have felt.
I mean, for 400 years there had been silence. No prophets. No words. Just waiting. This wild prophet comes out of the desert and says, “He’s here! Look! There he is!” And everyone begins to wonder, “Is this the Messiah we’ve been waiting for?”
Then I imagine Simon Peter, as Jesus says to him, “So, you’re Simon, son of John? Follow me!” Jesus spoke out Peter’s significance right there, using his name, knowing he had an important calling that would change the world…and then Nathanael, who asked, “How do you know me?” and Jesus said, “Before Phillip called you, when you were sitting under the fig tree, I saw you.” Can you imagine how exciting it must have been to be recognized by the Messiah, who had been prophesied and waited for for 400 years?! Can you imagine those 12 boys, looking from one to the other, saying, “He picked me! What?! He picked YOU? What do we do now?! This is so cool!”
I wonder how long it took them to realize how integral to God’s plan each of them was. I wonder how long it took the others who followed him to realize just what was happening. The truth is, those disciples laid down their lives for Jesus right at that moment that he called them, but they had no idea what was coming. I love to “watch them grow up” through the gospels.
I am struck by what this could mean for us today. When I think that God has a purpose for each of us. As we discover our vocation and begin to live it out, do we realize how incredible it is that we have a unique purpose? When I think about God saying, “Jenny, come and follow me…” I am thrilled…and a wee bit terrified if I’m completely honest. It is a giddy moment, though, to recognize that you have significance in God’s plan, and that he didn’t just say, “you’ll do for the job,” but actually has created us in specific ways and allowed us to go through the shaping processes we’ve gone through “for such a time as this…”
I know a lot of people right now who seem to be going through a transitional time, wondering if they are meant to change jobs, go into ministry, be more intentionally focused on a particular thing. Do you think, just as those disciples changed the world, maybe God is raising us up to do the same? Every generation has a contribution…what is ours going to be? I guess we’ll see soon enough, eh?
The Long Walk Home 