Δεῦτε - The 1st Word You Should Know
When Jesus calls the first disciples, he uses only three words: "Come follow me" (Matthew 4:19). The way I see it, these might be the three most important words in the life of every Christian. Just as Christ called those first disciples, he also calls us to follow after him. There is something important about each individual word that both calls us into action and strengthens us through life. The first of these words is come, but is better understood in its Greek version: Δεῦτε (deute).
As an introvert it is far more natural for me to wait for the conversation to come to me. I am, by no means, someone who butts into conversations. It’s easier for me to be invited into a discussion or wait for a natural pause or break. The downside to this, however, is that by the time I finally start to speak, the focus of the talk has changed and I’ve lost my chance to speak something worthwhile. When we read through the Gospels, we don’t see this type of personality in the person of Christ. He isn’t a bystander, allowing others to speak for him or about him. He is more of what we might call an “interjector.” He inserts himself into conversations. He both speaks up and speaks out to stop people in their tracks. He does this same thing early on in his ministry when he calls out the very first disciples.
Jesus leaves his family and hometown of Nazareth and moves to the north side of the Sea of Galilee. It is there that he begins his preaching ministry. One day while walking along the shore of the sea, he spots two fisherman brothers: Simon Peter and Andrew. Luke’s gospel describes Jesus getting in the boat with the brothers in order to better preach to the crowd following Christ around the shore. John’s gospel describes the disciples calling out to Jesus first, proclaiming him as the “Lamb of God.” Yet it is from Matthew’s account (4:18-22) that we are introduced to Jesus the interjector – interrupting the lives of these fishing brothers from out of nowhere. There isn’t much context that connects vv. 18 and 19 in Matthew’s gospel but I imagine Jesus is like a guy who’s gone shopping. First off, we only go to the store when we want something. Furthermore, when we do finally go to the store, we know what we want, we know where it is, and we go in and out with that one purpose. There is no “looking” or “browsing.” Jesus, in perhaps a similar manner, walks along the shore looking for someone specific. He knows in his mind the kind of person he needs. As soon as he spots the brothers, he immediately interjects himself into their lives with a single word: Δεῦτε.
The strange thing about this word is that it is technically untranslatable; this means that there is no English equivalent to this word. All the gospel writers use this one word, but we can only guess at what they meant by it. However, this small set-back shouldn’t upset or discourage us because almost every language and culture has its own set of these interjecting words. In regards to English, many of ours are more like sound words, onomatopoeias, while others are words which lack any valuable meaning. Here are a few examples all of us have probably used: Ahem! Eureka! Hey! Oh man! As we can notice, some of them are just sounds and others are just words that don't mean much more than, "Look at me!" So while Δεῦτε is technically untranslatable into English, we can get the basic purpose of this word – it is a word or sound someone uses to get the attention of someone else. "Hey you guys!" Furthermore, with the help of context and the words use in all the gospel accounts, we can start to establish a better understanding of the nature of Christ's word here. In fact, we can surmise that Christ was rather calling than just yelling at Peter and Andrew – a “Come; come now!” exclamation.
When we read on to v. 20, we see that the meaning of the word is not lost on Peter and Andrew. Matthew describes them as “immediately” dropping their nets and going after Jesus. They wasted no time after hearing Christ call out to them. As believers, the impact of this single word should not be lost on us either. When we think back to the moment Christ called us, we should notice that he, too, called out to us, “Δεῦτε! Come here!” While the timeline of our responses may vary, the truth that echoes from every Christian testimony is that Christ calls out to us with truth and love. All the more, he doesn't just yell at us but he calls us over to him - he calls us near to him. He sees us just as he saw Peter and Andrew, working away in our lives and trying to do good and get by. He calls out to us from the shore and interjects himself into our lives. The first disciples left their boats; what did you leave when Christ interrupted your life with his call? A biblical scholar describes this moment of Christ speaking out into our lives as the “Crisis of Christ,” and explains, “The crisis is not an accident, not a catastrophe, in the sense of a disaster, but a stage in an orderly method” (Morgan, 1903, xiv). The crisis is the moment we first heard Christ. How do we respond when truth is interjected into our lives?
As I mentioned earlier, there are three words we as Christians should know. Δεῦτε is only the first because it is our first contact with Christ. He speaks out into our lives and calls us to him. He interjects his voice of truth into the world. Sometimes, what we need most is to be awoken to Christ's presence because we are so dialed into what we are doing. Just as it was for the first disciples, so it is for us - a wake up call to notice the truth of the world and a call to come to him. In the end, the crisis for us is: how do we respond to his calling out? Do we take notice of Christ’s interjection and see what else he has to say or do we politely ignore him? Allow Christ to continue to speak up and into your life – be attentive to his voice and you will find a life change you weren't expecting by going near to him.