Simon and Levi left everything and followed Jesus. This is not because either of them was a spiritual giant. But they had seen who Jesus is – and in that moment, they knew things would be different.

1. Jesus calls us to follow him

Jesus is calling you to follow him.

But if you answer the call, know that things will never be the same again. Jesus has not come to call us to self-improvement, or to a moral programme, or even just to remain as we are. He has come to rewrite our lives.

As we’ll see in Luke 5, Simon starts as a fisherman and Levi as a tax collector. Their lives are busy and full, and they know who they are in the world. Their work is not just what they do. It is who they are.

But Jesus walks into the middle of their ordinary days and speaks a word that simply changes everything: Follow me.

He calls them as they are. But by the end of the story, they are no longer who they used to be. From now on, things will be different. They will be different.

2. The call comes in the middle of things, not when you are ready or when you have time

So, who were these two characters? Simon and Levi are busy men with commitments and priorities.

Simon is a hard-working small businessman who makes a living by the sweat of his brow. Fishing in the Lake of Gennesaret (also called the Sea of Galilee) was no joke. It wouldn’t have been as dangerous on the Lake as it is out at sea, but Simon did not fish with modern equipment. And fishing relies on guesswork about where the fish are. You have good days, and you have bad days. We know that Simon had a family, because Luke tells us that he had a mother-in-law. He must have worried about where the next paycheck was going to come from.

When we meet Simon, he’s had a very bad day. Jesus is teaching by the shore, and Simon and his friends are washing their nets after a fruitless night of frustration.

Levi perhaps did not struggle as much with the bottom line. He was a tax collector.

Tax collectors in Jesus’ time were despised by their own people because they collaborated with the hated Romans and were always on the take. They were cheats, and they were wealthy. Don’t feel sorry for them: you wouldn’t have liked them either.

When Jesus meets him, he’s at work in his tax booth. The booth was probably stationed at a town gate or another busy place, where you could get people coming and going.

Life is swirling about both men. They aren’t at a retreat or in a monastery or on a pilgrimage. They have plenty of other things going on.

But Jesus calls them: follow me.

I think we sometimes think: if only I could get some free space in my life to seek out God. If only I had time to pray. If only I didn’t have work and family commitments. When I’ve got a little more time, I’ll give Jesus some more attention and a greater priority.

But Jesus doesn’t wait for us to have time. He doesn’t come to the mystics sitting in quiet contemplation on a hill somewhere away from the city.

He comes right into the hustle and bustle, the stress and the mess of everyday life. He comes to where you are right now, and he says, ‘Follow me’. Discipleship does not begin when life slows down. It begins when Jesus speaks into the life you already have.

3. The call creates a crisis

But when the call of Jesus comes, it creates a crisis. When Jesus calls us, he unmasks us.

This is what happened to Simon by the shores of the Lake. He was a tired bystander at first, perhaps reluctantly letting Jesus use his boat as a speaking podium.

But when Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon ‘Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch’.

It must have seemed like a bit of a cheeky suggestion coming from a carpenter. What would he know about fishing? The fish were not biting that night. What would be the point? But Simon indulges Jesus, and sails out to deep water.

To everyone’s surprise, they caught so many fish that their nets and then their boats could not cope with the load. Their boats are about to sink!

But did you notice Simon’s reaction? Have a look at verse 8:

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said ‘Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man!’

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