19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him. 21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 ¶ And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
Notice that Jesus calls James and John and they not only leave their job and their father but come after him right then. Jesus is asked by someone if he can return to say goodbye to his family when called after another asks to have time to bury his father and Jesus answers in the negative.
Luke 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
These are valuable lessons to learn. In verse 60 the dead, Jesus is referring to, are the spiritually dead. But, Christians should not take this out of context and deny the mission field that is their family. Christ is not physically present on earth calling you to physically walk away from your responsibilities to follow Him. No Christian today is glorifying God by turning his back on his responsibility and testimony before his family. The lessons that this teaches are not to turn back to your old way of living and to leave it immediately. Your family may reject you but you should not reject them, only their lifestyle of personal sin like idolatrous worldy affections, tobacco use, alcohol use, and worldly entertainments. You should be walking away from how they live and what they hold as valuable, and turning to Christ. Maybe you will have to leave a reunion where a bunch of drunk relatives are acting like fools or someone’s home where you are visiting where they break out the beer and put on a vulgar DVD. But, never forget that you yourself came out of that lifestyle. You are in a great position to be an example and an inspiration to them and you should love them even more now that you have a heart for their lost souls.
I believe that following Christ and the Apostle’s example literally is a very tough thing to do just as thinking you are pleasing God by following the Old Testament law is. There are specific things in the Bible for specific people at specific times that do not apply to your current situation. Not being aware of these differences can lead you to terrible things or even to just being a sanctimonious boor. For instance, when you read Paul’s letters to the Christian churches the first few are addressing specific issues that those specific churches went through. Be careful in trying to apply them too liberally to your own situation. You can get tied up in knots and wind up running off the path on which you’ve been set.
Read the Bible thoroughly and carefully and understand to whom a passage is written and in what time and under what circumstances it is written. Is it applicable to you? Does it contradict what the Holy Spirit through the wisdom He gave Paul (2 Peter 3:15) has said?
So, as in these verses note that Christ is creating for Himself a group of men to spread His words just as He, being God, called out Abraham from Ur to prepare a people unto himself.
I am including the synagogue incident in Capernaum in this same group of verses because Christ’s newly called band is with Him.
The Devil and his minions are willing to admit that Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God. If you just refer to the Lord Jesus Christ as “the One” or “the Holy One” you haven’t done any more than a devil. Identify him. Beware of Bibles who refer to Jesus as “the One”. That is a devil’s acclamation.
There is a modern Bible version that blasphemously reflects the new age witch Alice Bailey’s stated doctrine of “The Coming One”, with Jesus as an avatar, one of many teachers that has graced mankind. The Authorized Version renders Matthew 11:3 as simply;
Matthew 11:3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
While the New King James Version, with the Satanic Triquetra on the cover, a symbol you can buy at many witches’ shops online, says;
Matthew 11:3 “and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"”(NKJV)
http://www.lucistrust.org/en/service_activities/world_goodwill/world_goodwill_literature_on_line/the_coming_one
Also, there is a grammatical theme in these verses. Going back to verse 18’s “And straightway” to verse 20’s “And straightway” with the same in verse 21we have a sense of urgency and immediacy as Mark is moving from one scene to another. Keep this in mind in a few verses. Straightway is immediately.
Finally, last but not least, notice that Christ, like the Bible I am quoting from, speaks with authority that others can’t duplicate. No one can compare the majesty and authority of the Authorized Version of the Bible to the simpering, banality of most modernistic versions. No one can compare the authority of God in the flesh speaking to a faker like Buddha, Mohammed, or Confucius.
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