The Call of the First Disciples

Today's Reading

Read Luke 5:1-11: "And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him."

Then read Matthew 4:18-22: "Immediately they left their nets and followed him... Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."

Reflection

Bonhoeffer devotes some of his most incisive pages to the calling of the first disciples, and he draws out a point that most readers gloss over: the call produced immediate obedience. There was no gap between hearing and following. Jesus said "Follow me," and they followed. Matthew uses the word "immediately" — eutheos — twice in four verses.

This immediacy matters to Bonhoeffer because it reveals the nature of discipleship. The disciples did not first develop a fully articulated theology of who Jesus was. They did not attend a class on the messianic prophecies. They did not ask for time to weigh the pros and cons. They heard the call, and they went.

"The response of the disciples is an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in Jesus," Bonhoeffer writes. This sounds startling, but his point is subtle and important. He is not saying the disciples had no faith. He is saying that their faith was expressed in their obedience — the two were inseparable from the very first moment. They believed, and therefore they followed. They followed, and in following they came to believe more deeply.

This leads to one of Bonhoeffer's most provocative formulations: "Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes." This is not a logical riddle. It is a description of how faith actually works. You cannot believe without obeying, because belief that does not obey is not real belief — it is mere opinion. And you cannot truly obey without believing, because obedience to Christ requires trust that His way is better than your own.

Luke's account adds a telling detail. Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Jesus told him to let down his nets again. Peter obeyed — and the catch was so enormous that the boats nearly sank. It was this experience of obedience-followed-by-abundance that shattered Peter's self-sufficiency: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." And it was to this broken, astonished fisherman that Jesus said, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men."

Going Deeper

The first disciples left concrete things — nets, boats, a father, a business. Bonhoeffer insists that the call of Christ always demands something concrete. It is not enough to mentally assent to the lordship of Jesus while everything in your life remains unchanged. At some point, there must be a leaving — of a habit, a security, an ambition, a relationship that competes with Christ — and a following. The content varies from person to person. The pattern does not.

What are your nets? And are you willing to leave them immediately?