From a Very Early Glimpse: All Meant All

By Peter L. DeGroote

1. The gospel stories of how Jesus called his first followers or disciples are very different, give us a way to think about how we go about acquiring followers of Jesus, and are remarkable for what they lack.  

2. First the differences:

A. Mark and Matthew describe Jesus approaching fisherman and instructing them to follow him. They give up their trade, their families, and go with him. They responded to authority. (Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:18-22.)

B. Luke describes Jesus’ growing reputation as a result of his style of teaching with authority and his healing powers. More importantly, where Peter and his business partners simply responded to Jesus’ authority in Mark and Matthew, in Luke they need special convincing. That is accomplished with the story of the miraculous catch of fish. For Luke people became followers of Jesus because of his impact on their lives. (Luke 5:1-11; also, see John 21:1-8 for a different use of that story.)

C. In John there is a sense of being invited, to come and see what Jesus' way of life is all about and you can decide for yourself. There are similarities to Luke, but in John we sense an invitation to explore God's ways with humanity and that the decision is ultimately ours to make. (John 1:35-42.)

3. What are the facts? Today we are often impatient with sorting out lessons from ancient stories, particularly when the facts differ. But there is a central fact in these stories: The early church’s explanation of how people first came to be followers of Jesus moved from a reliance on authority, to an emphasis of the impact of Jesus’ teachings on human life, to an invitation to come and explore life in the community.

A. Different traditions influenced the writing of the gospels. Those influences reflect the place of writing because traditions differed from region to region. 

B. In addition to place, the time of writing is important. The order of writing was Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. Over the latter part of the first Century the early church was challenged to refine its telling of Jesus’ story.   

C. The purpose for writing is also significant. The gospel writers were missionaries concerned with forming communities around Jesus’ teachings. Missionaries shape their stories to the cultures in which they tell them.

D. Those facts challenge us to think about the way we tell Jesus’ story and about the communities in which we claim to be his followers. 

4. As to what the stories lacked: We only have a glimpse of how Jesus went about forming those very early communities.

A. From that little glimpse we conclude that all meant all. Jesus didn’t baptize, didn’t teach doctrine, didn’t exclude, and taught a reconciling ethic. All who were willing to follow his teachings were followers or disciples.

B. As time went on different communities created differing requirements for membership that went beyond Jesus’ teachings.

5. To put it another way: There is a difference between what is necessary to be a follower or disciple of Jesus and the requirements for membership in most Christian denominations.