As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (Matthew 9:9-10)What drew the apostles to Jesus? What made them leave perfectly good jobs and their families and associations and follow this man?
It wasn’t that he was so beautiful. Isaiah said that he wasn’t particularly beautiful or whatever that people would desire to be around him. He had trouble almost from the beginning, yet they not only left where they were and followed him, they stayed with him to the very end.
What made him such that they gave their loyalty to him?
There were several things that attracted people to Jesus. You could see it as they followed him around, even to the point of going without food. How many times did a great crowd of people sit and listen to him even though they were hungry?
The crowds clamored for him, the apostles and disciples stood close to him in all his troubles, and they loved him
For one thing he was an extremely charismatic individual. He was vibrant and fearless and they saw that. They wanted to be near this man who seemed to have no fear when addressing anybody, whether great religious leaders or raving demon possessed people. It didn’t seem to matter to Jesus who he was talking to. He showed absolutely no fear.
He was a strong person physically. He had been a carpenter, an occupation which involved a lot of stone work, so he was fit. He walked everywhere and evidently fasted a lot. He didn’t mind pitching in to help the fishermen. He stood his ground no matter what and showed strength of character. They respected him.
But he also was one of them. He was an ordinary guy with super-ordinary qualities. He was able to talk to highly educated men who were full of themselves and their credentials and yet make them look foolish. He spoke as a common person, yet had authority. He talked like he knew what he was talking about. They identified with him.
He was different than anybody they had seen. And above all, he was good. There was absolutely no scandal attached to him even though he traveled with an extremely diverse group of people, including prostitutes. Some of these women would probably have done anything Jesus asked them to, yet he never did.
And he loved them. They could see it in everything he said and did. He protected them from the super-religious people, he stood up for them when they were criticized, he pushed them to be better than they were, he never accepted second best from them. He loved them.
It was said of Jim Jones in the Guyana People’s Temple group that those who followed him even into death did so because he told them he loved them. He didn’t mean it and was using them, but they thought he did and loved him back.
In Jesus’ case, he loved them event to the point of dying for them. how could they not follow him?
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