At once they left and went with Jesus.

 

Monday, September 18, 2023


Psalms 41; 44:1-9

1 Kings 10:1-13

Matthew 4:12-22


Observance: John Ramsden Wollaston, priest and missionary of Western Australia (d. 1856)


At once they left and went with Jesus.


In the movie The Silence of the Lambs, there is a character with a certain problem from which the movie gets its title. This character claims that he suffers every waking moment with sound of lambs crying in his head, and the only way to silence those lambs is to perform acts more horrible than the sound he hears. It is a problem not so very far from all of us.


God has set eternity in the hearts of all people (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We know that we are made for something great; but when we look out at the world around us, our natural eyes cannot help but be sucked down into the misery that nips at our heels. When, as a child, we heard these stories of the first disciples following Jesus, did we have any idea of just how amazing it must have been for these men to have found the One who fulfilled this yearning for eternity?


We see that the claim is not so surprising that “people are so busy these days”. Because in these days, we see less of Jesus. The crying in our heart has become louder as the comfort of God has become less. In our attempt to drown out that crying we do all sorts of silly things; we go to coffee shops too often, we clean our cars when there is no need, we worry about the state of the kitchen when there is a drop of water out of place. Some turn to drink; others to worse yet.


We have this treasure in clay jars (2 Cor 4:7), a treasure worth more than everything else put together. It is a treasure that, by contrast, makes all other treasures trash. It has been placed in us, these clay jars, these wobbly and nervous human beings, so that the worth of this treasure is made absolutely clear to anyone who would look. And we who have found the treasure that is Christ have been made, by Christ’s death and resurrection, His treasure.


How deep the Father's love for us,
how vast beyond all measure;
that He should give His only Son,
to make a wretch His treasure.


How great the pain of searing loss,
the Father turns His face away;
as wounds which mar the Chosen One,
bring many sons to glory.


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