And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
Ver. 20. And they straightway left their nets] As the woman of Samaria did her pitcher, Matthew his toll book, and blind Bartimeus his cloak when Christ called for him. Look we likewise to this "author and finisher of our faith;" and for love of him cast away every clog, and the sin that doth so easily beset or surround us. ευπεριστατον , Heb 12:1-2 Divorce the flesh from the world, and there is no great danger. Admire not overmuch, rest not in, dote not on, cleave not to, the things of this life (those nets and snares of Satan, whereby he entangleth and encumbereth us), that we may attend upon the Lord (or sit close to him) without being haled away or distracted by these lusts of life (ευπροσεδρον τω κυριω απερισπαστως, 1Co 7:35). The deeper any man is drowned in the world, the more desperately is he divorced from God, deadened to holy things, and disobedient to the heavenly call, as the recusant guests in the Gospel, Matthew 22:5 .
And followed him] Immediately, and without sciscitation. When Christ calls we must not reason, but run, as Paul,Galatians 1:16; not dispute, but despatch, with David, Psalms 119:60. Go we know not whither, with Abraham; do we know not what, with Gideon. "If ye will inquire, inquire," saith Isaiah; "return, come," Isaiah 21:12. God loveth curristas, runners not quaeristas, questioners saith Luther. A quick passage, and full of quickening; like that of the orator, Si dormis, expergissere; si stas, ingredere; si ingrederis, curre; si curris, advola. (Cicer.) Courts have their cito, cito, quick, quick; and courtiers used to observe and improve their mollissima fandi tempora; so must Christians. God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace. He comes leaping on the mountains, and skipping on the hills: and, being come, he stands at the door and knocks by the sound of his Word and motions of his Spirit. He sits not, but stands: while a man is standing we say he is going, Song of Solomon 2:8; Revelation 3:20. And woe be unto us if he depart from us, Hosea 9:12. God hath his season, his harvest for judgment, Matthew 13:30, and is now more quick and peremptory in rejecting men than of old: for how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation as is now preached?Hebrews 2:2. Our Saviour would not suffer the man that said he would follow him, to let so much time as to bury his father, Matthew 8:22. Excuses he takes for refusals, delays for denials. As Saul lost his kingdom, so doth many a man his soul, by not discerning his time: and troops of them that forget God go down to hell, Psalms 9:17. Quare castigemus mores et moras nostras. How you punish our ways and move us. Let us up and be doing, that the Lord may be with us.