“Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Mark 1:12

I love to fish. I have ice-fished in sub-zero temperatures. I have fished in the middle of the night and long before dawn. I have fished through storms. I have been horribly seasick but still kept my line in the depths just in case. I know first hand that a true fisherman does not just walk away from all this. 

It’s vital for us to understand what makes a true disciple. What were the behaviors and attitudes that Jesus identified in his followers that qualified them for promotion? A salesman who signs contracts rapidly, a professor who frequently publishes in academic journals, an athlete who fills up the stat sheet all have something in common: They excel in their fields and are the first ones to be recognized and rewarded. They become standouts, are held up as examples, and are singled out for leadership. 

Mark was not among the disciples first chosen by Jesus, although he came into contact with them as a young teenager. Sometimes they gathered in his family’s home. That he would later become a scribe of Peter and a co-laborer with Paul, and ultimately be given the honor of authoring one of the gospels, shows that he paid attention and was careful to cultivate the qualities that pleased the Lord and increased his sphere of influence. 

One of the things that deeply impacted Mark was the spirit of decisiveness and resolve that he saw amongst the Twelve. Whereas our sinful human nature tends to procrastinate and poo-poo at responsibilities, Jesus’ chosen inner circle shared a common trait: They were willing to move when He said move, and go where He said to go. They had discarded the filters, the checklists, the fickleness that disqualified the multitude. They eagerly leaned into their next assignment. They shed dead weight in order to became unencumbered. They refused to be distracted, majoring on the Master and casting the superfluous and petty into the waste bin. They were focused, determined, intent. 

Although Mark’s gospel is the shortest, he used the word “immediately” more times than Matthew and Luke combined. He had observed a readiness of heart and quickness of feet during his interactions with Peter, James, and John. They did not just leave their nets, they left the businesses and their livelihoods behind as soon as they realized Jesus was so powerful and true. Without hesitation, they left their gawking, nets-in-hand fathers standing there in the boats with the hired hands. They kissed mom’s home cooking goodbye. 

Some weeks later when Jesus chose those who would become his most trusted associates after praying all night, these fishermen were among them. It was not education Jesus was looking for, or pedigree, and “influence”. It was this very thing, this Nike quality, the “Let’s Go!”, “Kawabunga!” “Just Do It!” attitude, that set them apart. These are the kind of people God was willing to entrust with the keys of the Kingdom, and with the responsibility to establish a Church that the gates of Hell could not prevail against. It was this daring, quick-to-obey band that Jesus went to first after rising from the dead, commanding them to go into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature.

It was this sense of urgency, capsuled in the word immediately, that had impressed and shaped young Mark on his own journey with Jesus.  Although he faltered during his first mission trip and went home early (Acts 13:13), he later recovered that same spirit that he’d idolized in the Twelve when he was young. We know this because Paul, in the last chapter of the last letter he wrote, specifically asks that Mark be brought to him in his Roman prison, writing he had become “useful to me” (Gr. profitable, prepared, meet for use, at the ready). No wonder he went on to become one of the great, instant in season disciples of the early church.