The First Disciples ~
John already told us about the calling of Simon & Andrew. Here, Matthew & Mark provide their explaination. Simon, Andrew, John, and James were all fishermen along the Sea of Galilee. Jesus called them to be His followers & they followed. Pretty simple, life-changing decision.
On the Sabbath, Jesus went to the synagogue, but He wasn't there to learn, He was there to teach. The synagogue was established during the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC. Jews began gathering to
pray and study the scriptures. In fact, synagogue means "a place of meeting" in Greek. A quorum of ten men was
necessary to form a synagogue. Women sat in a separate section, and were not
expected to take part. The five-part service included prayers, psalm-singing, blessings, readings from
the Scriptures, and commentaries on the sacred passages, but there were no
sacrifices and no standard liturgy. Any Jewish man who felt himself qualified could ask permission to teach the Scriptures.
Jesus' teaching was so amazing, He taught with so much authority, the people were amazed. During this time a demon-possessed man confronted Jesus. The demon recognized that He was the Son of God. Notice that it only took a few words for Jesus to defeat this spirit. The confidence and authority that Jesus exhibited made people stand up & take notice.
Has Jesus made you stand up & take notice? If not, maybe you need to spend a little time reading His words - they are life-changing.
No comments:
Post a Comment