"Come, be my follower!" - Was it really this simple to recruit?

truthseeker

I was thinking today how easy it was for Jesus to recruit his disciples and how long he had to wait for them. They just left their livelihood and their family to follow him.

Does this really seem realistic? Or was there more that we don't know? Did Jesus already have a reputation at this time. Did the ordinary people know Jesus well enough to become his follower?

Matthew 4: 18-22

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come,

follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his

brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

lovelylil

truth,

Good Q. I often wondered about this myself. I think it could be one of these 2 scenarios;

1. Yes, it happened that quickly and the reason it did is that the disciples were intrigued by Jesus and what he meant by "come be my followers", so they went to check it out. This would probably be strange today but people were more trusting back then. Also, they were very keenly interested in spiritual matters, including identifying the promised Messiah. Perhaps the knew Jesus meant "followers" in a spiritual sense.

2. No, and this is just a shortening of the account of Christ gathering his early disciples because the "how" of the gathering, was really not as important to the narrative as the "who" was.

Peace, Lilly

truthseeker

Thanks Lilly, something to ponder over.

VoidEater

Others that are more intimately familier with the writings and settings of the time will have more to offer than I, but I always suspected that some of those that followed (leaving their nets, boats, fathers, whatnot) were not necessarily abandoning them. They may have followed to hear a sermon, to listen in, to hang around, to check things out - and then went back to their nets for a while, etc.

Following may also have been related to how they conducted their lives - e.g., abandoned Catholocism to follow Judaism.

And I'm sure there were some that did abandon their lives to follow this latest prophet. Just like today there are those that turn everything over to a charismatic leader. Jim Jones comes to mind.

Maddie

I was thinking today how easy it was for Jesus to recruit his disciples and how long he had to wait for them. They just left their livelihood and their family to follow him.

Does this really seem realistic? Or was there more that we don't know? Did Jesus already have a reputation at this time. Did the ordinary people know Jesus well enough to become his follower?

truthseeker - If you had the Son of God invite you to be his follower, would you hesitate?

Maddie

dinah

Very few would recognize him now. Thankfully He reads hearts.

SirNose586

There was some sort of Borg explanation to this. They claimed that the brothers had heard about Jesus about six months before he called them, so therefore by the time he did invite them, they were ready to drop everything and follow him.

Hortensia

fiction...

Tired of the Hypocrisy

Actually, I think Jesus had them go out in the field with Him first and study the ancient watchtower scrolls. He also taught them from the old Troof book and after about 1 year he would ask them a lot of questions and then determine if they were worthy of baptism. If they were He would have them baptized in a sterilized tub to prevent communicable diseases from infecting His new sheep. Then he would follow them around and make inquiries about their homelife and make sure they were studying with their families the watchtower scroll for the week, another family based book that teaches the wife and kids to listen to the husband/father, and get baptized too....

MissingLink

Or is it that religion attracts freaks and losers who'd rather not work and use any excuse to free their conscience for not supporting their family?

"Come, be my follower!" - Was it really this simple to recruit?

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