Follow me! The Lord's call. Part 1.

Follow me! The Lord’s call

“Follow Me!” Ten times in the gospels, we hear the Lord Jesus call someone individually, using these words. Ten times a call to follow Him, to go your way without Him. 

This article is the first in a series of three about this call of the Lord Jesus.

But before we look at one of the events, let’s look at the One calling people to follow Him. We’re not talking about an average person here, or even someone important in politics or society. 
We’re looking at the Creator of heaven and earth, the Son of God, who became Man, without ceasing to be God. 

Who is this man? 

He is God and Man in one Person (see John 1:1, 14; Philippians 2:6, 7). This Man was born here on earth, lived here for about 30 years before starting with His public ministry. He was a Man of flesh and blood, tempted in all things, sin apart (see Hebrews 4:15). 
God the Father could witness of this Man: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22b). 
This Man, who fully did the will of the Father, called people to follow Him! 
He calls you and me, to follow Him! 

This time we’re going to look at the when the Lord Jesus called a tax collector, called Levi or Matthew. We find this historical event in the three synoptic* gospels; in Matthew 9, Mark 2 and Luke 5. In Matthew the tax gatherer is called “Matthew”, but in Mark and Luke he is called “Levi (the son of Alphaeus).” In Luke we find the most detailed report on this meeting between the Lord and this tax collector, so we will use the passage there to have a deeper look into Matthew’s call.

Matthew was a Jew, but somewhere in his life his priorities had shifted and he chose to serve the enemies of his own people! He had become a tax officer for the Romans, who were in charge of Israel in those days. Instead of serving the God of Israel, he was serving the Roman oppressor… 

These tax collectors were not loved by the Jews, because the served the enemy. But also – and even worse – they often charged more than was necessary and put the extra money in their own pockets (see also Luke 19:8). 

So in Matthew we see a picture of the natural man. Someone not serving God,but the prince of this world (Satan) and his own interests. A person only thinking about himself and not about others.

But one day Matthew’s life changed drastically. 
The Lord came looking for him. 

After all, He had come “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10b)! 
He speaks only two words to Matthew: 

“Follow Me!”.

The change in Matthew

If we look at the order of things in Luke 5:28, we find something remarkable there. We read there: “He left all, rose up and followed Him.” It would have made more sense to our limited human thinking to write something like ‘He rose, followed Him and left everything behind.’ And we find it like that in some Bible translations! 

After all, you only leave something behind if you walk away from it! But this order shows us something very beautiful.

Matthew first separated himself from his old life (“he left all”) and only after that he rose to follow the Lord. 

Two words… but what a wonderful result! Matthew answered to the Lord’s call. 
What about you? 

Have you answered to this call? Or are you still serving the prince of this world? 
Are you still serving your own interests?

But it doesn’t end there. Matthew’s actions in verse 28 show the results of his conversion.**
He invites the Lord Jesus and many others, among which are his former colleagues, into his house for a meal. No doubt he told his guests about his encounter with the Lord. In this meal we see a picture of the
fellowship the Lord Jesus wants to enjoy with us believers. 

Later the Lord Jesus said in John 14:23: “If anyone loves me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” We see a picture of this in Matthew’s story.


We too can enjoy this fellowship with our fellow believers. The disciples were there as well (compare verse 30 with Acts 2:42)!

Apart from this story we hardly read anything about Matthew in the New Testament. But he did write the gospel that bears his name. In this gospel we find the Lord Jesus especially described as the King, the true Son of David. That starts immediately in the first verse. 
It is pointed out eight times (1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:31, 21:9, 15) in this gospel that He is the Son of David! The tax collector who once served the Roman Empire became the author of the gospel of the true King of Israel! 

What a change! 
This was the result of Matthew’s response to the Lord’s call. 

May the Lord help you and me to be a witness for Him, just like Matthew, after responding to His call “Follow Me!”.

Love, 
Paul. 



* The Greek word ‘synoptikos’ means ‘seen together’. The synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark and Luke. These three gospels in many cases contain the same stories and there is overlap here and there. The gospel of John however has an entirely different character and has been written decades later than the other three. Thegospel of John is not always easily understood without knowledge of the other three gospels.

** By the way, the word ‘conversion’ means ‘turning away from something towards something (or someone) else.’