Today in my reading, I noticed a difference in the call of Simon Peter, James and John from that of Levi. Peter, James and John spent the day listening to Jesus teach the crowd from one of their boats. They then experienced a miracle in the huge catch of fish they had when Jesus instructed them to put down their nets again (after a long night of catching nothing!). When Jesus asked them to come with Him to catch men, they were ready. They had been convinced, they knew there was something about Him, they expected to see and do great things.
Levi on the other hand, simply had Jesus walk up to him and ask him to follow Jesus. Levi responded immediately. Now we can suppose that Levi had heard something about Jesus, maybe even saw Him at some point. But all we have recorded in Scripture is this simply "Follow me."
I believe it has been the same for all people down through the ages. Some people need to hear and think and comtemplate what they have heard and seen about Jesus. They slowly become convinced that He is who He claims to be and ultimately make a decision about following Him. Others have this immediate recognition that Jesus is the Son of God, a Savior who died for them and they know right away that this is what they want for their life. In both circumstances, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that speaks to the heart and mind of the person. Is either path to Jesus more holy or spiritual than the other? No, not at all. For those of us who are Christians, this tells us we need to have patience and let the Spirit work in the way that is most effective for any given individual. The last thing we want is to pressure someone into making a decision they are not ready for only to see them rebel, or make a choice that they quickly fall away from later (see the parable of the seeds, Matt 13, Mk 4 & Luke 8). Our job is to show the light of Christ in us and let the Spirit do the rest. Praise God for the many ways He can deal with us!
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