Made to follow.
Not sure if this is universal but it often works on me: watch someone yawn and then try not to yawn yourself. For me, that is nearly impossible. Their example leads me to do the same. Their gaping mouth and simultaneous inhalation of air causes an almost spontaneous desire in me to stretch my jaw wide open and inhale large volumes of oxygen. Why? It is a mere suggestion created by witnessing their [yawning] example. So I follow what they are doing.
Let me go even further with the yawn. There have been studies on yawning and its contagious nature. One study from Baylor University suggests that yawning is a sign of empathy as well as a form of social bonding. We sense something going on in the other person and we almost automatically respond with our own yawn.
This weekend we are studying the topic of Wonderfully Made—we are Made to Follow. As disciples of Jesus, we are made to follow him. What does this have to do with yawns? Nothing. But it does have something to do with empathy. Empathy is the natural or learned ability to understand someone else’s feelings and then share in those same feelings. We can dive into their experience of pleasure or pain by recalling our own past experiences of ecstasy or biting and intense distress.
Jesus calls us to follow him so that we can experience what he experiences when he is taunted and tempted by the devil. Jesus calls us to follow him and experience his elation that comes from leading the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) to her moment of awakening faith. Jesus is calling us to follow him as he meets with his awkward and wayward disciples—cocky, overly confident, and highly unskilled in being the leaders of Jesus’ fledgling church.
In the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) we have access to Jesus as he meets the lepers and “losers” of his time, the lonely and longing hearts of those he has chosen to save.
As we study ahead for this weekend by reading Luke 5, I’m going to ask you to do a couple of things:
First try imagining yourself in the historical setting where Jesus, the Rabbi, meets some professional fishermen and tells them how to fish.
Second, ask yourself some questions:
What is Jesus thinking when he tests out these fishers’ politeness and patience in this request?
What are the disciples thinking as they hear this non-expert fisherman tell them how to fish?
If you were the disciples and you saw that your own expert knowledge was put to shame by Jesus the carpenter, might you be more inclined to take some extra time and follow him?
Even as a trained professional chef, I’ve been given cooking advice from people who have seldom cooked before. Can you imagine my reaction? I think I know what these disciples were thinking as they heard Jesus’ request to throw out their nets and fish in deep waters.
Yet all their thoughts about Jesus were wrong—and were proved wrong—in that moment. Peter expresses just a little of that insight.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” // Luke 5:8
Then I have one more set of questions for you:
Have you ever thought that Jesus’ advice about economics or politics or social reconciliation was not as good as your own insight?
Do you believe him when he says “it is better to give than to receive?”
Do you trust him when he directs you to deny your inner passions and pursue a more pure pathway?
Do you trust that his insight on life and reality is greater than yours?
As I study this text more fully this week, I want to think and feel what the expert fishermen really thought and felt at Jesus’ directive and the miraculous catch of fish that sent their lives in a whole new direction. Will you study this text with me this week and this weekend?
Blessings to you as you learn what it means to follow Jesus.
Pastor Al