The fact that they were fishermen meant that they had been disqualified.
The yoke of our Rabbi chooses men, that other people say are disqualified from ministry, to change the world.
That's the yoke of our Rabbi. That's why men were jumping out of boats. The yoke of our Rabbi is so cool!
Then He goes and He gets James and John; so He gets four fishermen - four people who'd been disqualified from ministry, four people who the religious leaders say: you don't have what it takes; and He says: follow Me, follow Me, follow Me.
I want to teach you My Yoke. I want you to carry My Yoke to the next generation.
The fifth disciple was Matthew, who was found at a tax collector's booth, by the lake. If you're sitting at a tax collector's booth, by the lake, then what are you taxing? Fish!
So Jesus says: Simon, Andrew, James and John - we're going to find out right now - are you willing to forgive, and face your issues, with the man who's been robbing food off your family's table for years?
The yoke of our Rabbi says that you face the people, who've hurt you, with honesty and sincerity - and you forgive them, and you move on. That's the yoke of our Rabbi.
When you decided to join a rabbi's tutelage, it wasn't just to know what he knew - you wanted to be what he was; take on his whole life. You wanted to treat people like he treated people. You wanted to have a philosophy of marriage, and children, and giving, and all this stuff. You wanted to be what he was.
They even wanted to walk like their rabbi; so the rabbi would teach them to walk like him. They'd line them up, and they'd tie a rope around their neck (one rope around), and the rabbi would hold the rope, and he'd walk in front of them. When they learned to walk behind the rabbi with a rope around their neck, they were said to be walking in what was called ‘Ahad’, which is translated ‘one accord’.
Then he would take the rope off of their neck; and they would learn to walk behind their rabbi without the rope. What rabbinical tradition says (and this is not in the Bible, but you will recognise it) is that as they were learning to walk behind their rabbi, if only one student got out of line, the rabbi would stop the whole line, to get the one back in.
“The kingdom of God is like a shepherd with 100 sheep, and one got away, and He left the 99 to get the one” - that's the yoke of our Rabbi.
He was teaching them a new yoke, a new way of life. We say we're ‘Disciples of Jesus Christ’, which means that we are ‘Carriers of His Yoke’.
In John 8, this lady gets caught in the act of adultery – like, in the act. It's kind of embarrassing.
Now the Torah says what do you do with such a person - Stone them. The Mishnah, which was like another book they honoured, said that: you could beat her up; you could strip her from the waist up, and bring her out in public to humiliate her - and then stone her.
So if they followed their culture, they would have beaten her up, they would have dragged her out, they would have stripped her from the waist up (which probably wasn't necessary because they caught in the act) - and they drag her to the feet of Jesus.
They throw her at His feet, and they say: Moses says to stone her. What do You say? Essentially, what does your Yoke say about this?
Jesus is in a conundrum isn't He? Does Jesus want to stone her? No, but does Jesus have to follow the law? Yes.
So He says: okay - My Yoke says ‘stone her’. The Torah says to stone her, so my yoke says stone her - but My Yoke also says that you can't throw stones unless you're perfect. Brilliant!