Jesus calls the disciples. That's how we describe the first encounter between Jesus and those who will become his key followers.
The gospel of John says that the first followers of Jesus were followers of John the Baptist. He points Jesus out to them and they follow Jesus around a bit until Jesus invites them to “come and see” what he's doing.
Mark, Matthew and Luke tell the much more familiar story of Jesus meeting the first disciples by the Sea of Galilee. They were fishermen and Jesus says to them "come and follow me and I will make you fish for people.” Mark and Matthew’s versions are short and immediate, Luke fills out the story with more detail, even a miraculous catch of fish at Jesus’ encouragement (Luke 5:1-11).
I wonder, though, if we don’t hear them all pretty much the same way: Jesus calls, they drop what they’re doing and follow him. Matthew and Mark even say they do it “immediately.” Luke makes more of a story of it, but they still leave everything behind and go with him. It just doesn’t seem like they put much thought into it.
Perhaps that's the miracle aspect of call. Just as Jesus seemed to know them, perhaps they somehow knew Jesus (and what that meant) in that moment.
So maybe it’s not just a call story, but an epiphany story.
Epiphany comes from a greek word meaning a revealing, a sudden manifestation or appearance, particularly of the divine. Remember the magi? The prophesy said a great king would be born. Even though there was none of the trappings of royalty, they somehow knew they were in the right place.
So maybe those first disciples experienced a moment of epiphany in which they knew who this really was. The divinity of Jesus could be the epiphany moment, that being revealed to them would certainly explain their immediate departure and their willingness to step out into the unknown of what was ahead.
But the epiphany must have been about themselves, too. Maybe they knew that there was a different path waiting for them and now was the time to take it.
Other than the fishermen and Matthew, a tax collector, and perhaps Simon, who was described as a Zealot (a political movement advocating violent rebellion against the Romans), we don't really know anything about the background of the disciples. They were just random, ordinary people on the surface.
But that wasn’t where Jesus connected with them. That’s not where an epiphany happens.
I imagine the divine spirit in Jesus resonated with their own. I imagine they knew that they were so much more than they had thought, that wherever Jesus was going to lead them, it brought them to a better life. I imagine that epiphany moment wasn't just in that split second decision to follow Jesus, but in the days that followed as they lived with Jesus and began to learn what Jesus was about, what he taught and what he showed them. I imagine that these were the first to open their hearts to understanding that Jesus calls us, not to be different, but to be more of who we truly are.
