I came into the Dream Forum, ready to work and prove myself. Ready to learn great things to accomplish great things. What I found instead were gentle words of Jesus, “come and follow” and a dream that exceeded the dream I received from God. The challenge of dreaming is yielding—not to opinions of others, but to God’s vision of becoming.
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When the Peter, Andrew, James, and John heard Jesus say: “Come, follow me and I will make,” they heard the voice of God, in the cadence of God, with the syntax of God, accomplishing the substance of God’s work.
They weren’t hearing a sales-pitch from a start-up, they were hearing the voice that made them. This isn’t a campaign promise, it’s the voice of creation. Instead of hearing it with stars, bushes, or clouds, they heard it embodied in Jesus—by whom and from whom all creation has found its meaning and existence.1 They left everything and followed with the expectation of being made, because, as Peter would later say to Jesus: “Where else would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.2
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The call of Jesus to “come and follow” is joined with a promise, “I will make”. It’s a promise of making into a new identity.
This orientation of identity flows from the words and actions of God.
In our perspective, who we are is what we do. Our favorite way to ask people who they are is: “What do you do?”3 In their answer, we’ve accounted for most of their identity: engineer, accountant, waiter, carpenter, actress. If we’re still not satisfied with only knowing most of who they are, we might ask “Where are you from?” Here we get almost the entire picture of the human we’re talking to. If we’re extremely curious we might round out the full picture with a few details: where did you study, what hobbies do you do, who do you have sex with, and who do you vote for. This is what makes a person. A person is found in active verbs: doing, working, winning, learning, moving, sleeping, voting, and playing. The better you do those verbs the better you are.
It’s exhausting proving to yourself and others who you are by the work you do and the manner in which you do it.
The men Jesus talks with are fishermen because they fish. To them and to us, Jesus corrects: “I will make you become.” In his speaking and his doing, he’s going to make our identity—nothing earned and worked for. No action verbs from us. Instead of becoming through our jobs, achievements, and aspirations, we become through him.
The “follow and become” of Jesus is deeper than any entrepreneurism program or platform. He will make us become who we were always intended to be.
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The Prophet Jeremiah gives us a picture of Jesus’ work.4 One day, the Lord led him to a potter’s work bench. In those days pottery sustained cultures, towns, and civilizations. Pottery carried water, stored grain, preserved seed, held light in lamps, and made daily life possible. Also, it was the canvas of creative storytelling. A pot for grain was a work of art fashioned from clay. The Ancient world of pottery was the original utilitarian art. On this day, Jeremiah came to observe the potter and on his arrival he saw the potter, hands covered in the water and mud, at his wheel making. His hands creating; the clay becoming. The potter noticed the clay wasn’t yielding to his creative intention and he remade it until the potter could step back and declare: “It is good.” The potter re-made it to become. This is the pattern from creation to recreation.
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Michelangelo famously described his methodology for sculpting: “Every block of stone has an angel inside it and it is the artist’s task to find it and set it free.”
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Jesus calls us to yield, and he will make us become. Jesus calls out the image of God within us. He sees a child of God within us. He sees humanity lurking on the inside. He sees more, not less. He sees riches, not rags. He sees the design of our destiny and he says, I will make you become who you were intended to be. He sets us free.
Becoming is process, longevity, and commitment. Stand close to me, over the course of days, weeks, years, and a lifetime. While your commitment will wain, Jesus’ will not. The commitment to his followers is as sure as the potter’s work in an ancient shed 2600 years ago: I will make you until you become.
It’s not all at once. Jesus doesn’t promise a “when you finally land that project, you’ll feel like you belong”. He doesn’t offer a six month personal development plan that will leave you certified for what’s next. Jesus’ invitation to follow and be made, comes without expiration or deadline. The “become” of Jesus is never-ending and it’s never divorced from his daily stewardship. He envelops your existence exactly where it is and the midst of all your activity. But, it isn’t just you. It’s your brother and your sister. It’s the neighbor. It’s the friend. It’s an incremental remaking of humanity into his original intention.
Portuguese existentialist poet Fernando Pessoa, wrote: “A person is the size of their dreams.”5 Perhaps, looking back on my journey through the dream forum, I began too small; but in the listening and in the yielding, the dream has expanded to personal transformation in follow Jesus through ever task, watching the stone get chipped away. I now look forward to who he might make me to be in this journey of hope and obedience to the dream he’s given me.
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1 The author of Hebrews writes this more beautifully than I can: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
2 John 6:68-69
3 This entire concept of function or production as identity is the fruit of materialism. It’s the reduction of all things—humans included—to their material utility. Since the enlightenment, this reduction of humans has been the beginning of all injustices. How do millions get trafficked into slavery? They’re just material. How does a society throw away women for the pleasure of men? They’re just material.
4 You can find this entire story in Jeremiah 18.
5 The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, 1961
Brad Watson is one of twelve Dreamers in Goldenwood’s 2024 Dream Forum. This reflection is part of Goldenwood’s #InsidetheDreamPod series. Hear more from Brad at the Dream Forum on November 7th.
About Brad’s dream, A Center for Hope, Belief, and Learning: I dream about creating a center (either physical or cultivated in different moments and cities) for people struggling to believe and yet still can’t leave their faith behind. Where they are able to experience faithful Christian community, process questions, and rebuild faith that isn’t baggage from their past but a blessing in their present and purpose for their future. My dream is we could help Christian communities do this in their context, too.