A new perspective on the apostles

I have often wondered why the 12 followed Christ so easily and quickly. After all, the call was simply "Follow Me".

Pastor Rob explained this yesterday as:

• Jewish boys at the time of Jesus memorized the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) by the age of 10, starting at 6.
• If you were an exceptional student and "made the grade", you were promoted and got to memorize the rest of the Old Testament by the time you were 14.
  
• If you were exceptional with that, you graduated and were then taught the the theology and traditions behind the law until you were 18.
  
• A hand picked number of boys then actually got to study with a rabbi... If you were a good student with good character. You would then become a rabbi yourself at around 30.
  

Rob then explained that Jesus was considered a rabbi or some renoun for his understanding of scripture and walked up to 12 men who, because of their professions, likely didn't make the grade somewhere along the line. He than said "Follow Me". From the text, many of these guys may have been young men of around 20 or younger. They would have been eager to be recognized by a rabbi and asked to follow. On top of that, this is someone who was well known.

Little did they know what they were in for!