Example of Christ
335
“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon
called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for
they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make
you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed
Him. And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James
the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their
father, mending their nets; and He called them. And they immediately
left the ship and their father, and followed Him.”
Matthew 4:18-22
.
These humble fishermen were Christ’s first disciples. He did not
say that they were to receive a certain sum for their services. They
were to share with Him His self-denial and sacrifices.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame
went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people
that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which
were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those
that had the palsy; and He healed them.”
Matthew 4:23, 24
.
In every sense of the word Christ was a medical missionary. He
came to this world to preach the gospel and to heal the sick. He came
as a healer of the bodies as well as the souls of human beings. His
message was that obedience to the laws of the kingdom of God would
bring men and women health and prosperity....
[318]
Christ might have occupied the highest place among the highest
teachers of the Jewish nation. But He chose rather to take the gospel
to the poor. He went from place to place, that those in the highways
and byways might catch the words of the gospel of truth. He labored
in the way in which He desires His workers to labor today. By the sea,
on the mountainside, in the streets of the city, His voice was heard,
explaining the Old Testament Scriptures. So unlike the explanation of
the scribes and Pharisees was His explanation that the attention of the
people was arrested. He taught as one having authority, and not as the
scribes. With clearness and power He proclaimed the gospel message.
Never was there such an evangelist as Christ. He was the Majesty
of heaven, but He humbled Himself to take our nature that He might
meet men where they were. To all people, rich and poor, free and
bond, Christ, the Messenger of the Covenant, brought the tidings of
salvation. How the people flocked to Him! From far and near they