Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 4:18
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
18. a net ] a casting-net; the Greek word is used only here and Mar 1:16. Cp. Verg. Georg. I. 141, Alius latum funda jam verberat amnem.
fishers ] The fisheries on the Sea of Galilee, once so productive, are now deserted. It seems that the Bedawin have an invincible dislike and dread of the sea. Consequently there is scarcely a boat to be seen, and the Lake yields no harvest. See Land and Book, 401.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Sea of Galilee – This was also called the Sea of Tiberias and the Lake of Gennesareth, and also the Sea of Chinnereth, Num 34:11; Deu 3:17; Jos 12:3. Its form is an irregular oval, with the large end to the north. It is about 14 miles in length, and from 6 miles to 9 miles in width. It is about 600 feet lower than the Mediterranean, and this great depression accounts for some of its special phenomena. There is no part of Palestine, it is said, which can be compared in beauty with the environs of this lake. Many populous cities once stood on its shores, such as Tiberias, Bethsaida, Capernaum, Chorazin, Hippo, etc. The shores are described by Josephus as a perfect paradise, producing every luxury under heaven at all seasons of the year, and its remarkable beauty is still noticed by the traveler. Seen from any point of the surrounding heights, it is a fine sheet of water a burnished mirror set in a framework of surrounding hills and rugged mountains, which rise and roll backward and upward to where hoary Hermon hangs the picture on the blue vault of heaven. The lake is fed mainly by the Jordan; but besides this there are several great fountains and streams emptying into it during the rainy seasons, which pour an immense amount of water into it, raising its level several feet above the ordinary mark. See The Land and the Book (Thomson), vol. ii. p. 77. Lieutenant Lynch reports its greatest ascertained depth at 165 feet. The waters of the lake are sweet and pleasant to the taste, and clear. The lake still abounds with fish, and gives employment, as it did in the time of our Saviour, to those who live on its shores. It is, however, stormy, probably due to the high hills by which it is surrounded.
Simon called Peter – The name Peter means a rock, and is the same as Cephas. See the Mat 16:18 note; also Joh 1:42 note; 1Co 15:5 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 4:18
Sea of Galilee.
-The New Testament snows us that the Sea of Galilee was well stocked with fish, as it still is, and that a considerable portion of the people dwelling on its shores were fishermen. The modes of catching fish were the same as are still in use in all parts of Western Asia. They are taken with the hook, or with a scoop-net fastened around a hoop, and suspended from the end of a pole Fishing on a larger scale is done by means of a long net, some three or four feet in width, with pieces of lead attached along one side to sink it, and of cork on the other to keep it afloat. The operation is performed by men occupying two boats. To one of these is made fast one end of the net, while the remainder is piled up in the other boat. The latter is rowed rapidly off in a curved line, while one of the crew gradually drops the net into the water. The net is now spread, resting in a perpendicular position in the water. The two boats then, holding each end of it, row quickly to the shore. The fishermen jump into the shallow water, and holding the net-ropes, drag it to shore, where they sit down and slowly and carefully collect all the fish, shell-fish, and refuse, which their net has scooped up, gathering the good into their baskets, and casting the bad away. (H. G. Van-Lennep, D. D.)
Christ by the Sea of Galilee
I. That to the eye of Christ the chief object in nature was man.
1. He was unlike those who view it in a merely mercenary spirit.
2. Or those who view it in merely sentimental mood. He regarded man as chief in nature-
(1) Because man is the highest representation of God on earth;
(2) Because he is the only intelligent appreciator of God on the earth;
(3) Because he is the only voluntary servant of God on the earth.
II. that the chief obligation of man is to follow Christ.
1. The simplicity of His claim.
2. The Divine authority of His claim.
3. The powerfulness of His Word.
III. That the following of Christ qualifies a man to rescue his fellow-man. The text is an argument against underrating human nature; against mysticism in religion; against indolence in the cause of Christ. (U. R. Thomas.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother] Why did not Jesus Christ call some of the eminent Scribes or Pharisees to publish his Gospel, and not poor unlearned fishermen, without credit or authority? Because it was the kingdom of heaven they were to preach, and their teaching must come from above: besides, the conversion of sinners, though it be effected instrumentally by the preaching of the Gospel, yet the grand agent in it is the Spirit of God. As the instruments were comparatively mean, and, the work which was accomplished by them was grand and glorious, the excellency of the power at once appeared to be of GOD, and not of man; and thus the glory, due alone to his name, was secured, and the great Operator of all good had the deserved praise. Seminaries of learning, in the order of God’s providence and grace, have great and important uses; and, in reference to such uses, they should be treated with great respect: but to make preachers of the Gospel is a matter to which they are utterly inadequate; it is a, prerogative that God never did, and never will, delegate to man.
Where the seed of the kingdom of God is sowed, and a dispensation of the Gospel is committed to a man, a good education may be of great and general use: but it no more follows, because a man has had a good education, that therefore he is qualified to preach the Gospel, than it does, that because he has not had that, therefore he is unqualified; for there may be much ignorance of Divine things where there is much human learning; and a man may be well taught in the things of God, and be able to teach others, who has not had the advantages of a liberal education.
Men-made ministers have almost ruined the heritage of God. To prevent this, our Church requires that a man be inwardly moved to take upon himself this ministry, before he can be ordained to it. And he who cannot say, that he trusts (has rational and Scriptural conviction) that he is moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon himself this office, is an intruder into the heritage of God, and his ordination, ipso facto, vitiated and of none effect. See the truly apostolic Ordination Service of the Church of England.
Fishers.] Persons employed in a lawful and profitable avocation, and faithfully discharging their duty in it. It was a tradition of the elders, that one of Joshua’s ten precepts was, that all men should have an equal right to spread their nets and fish in the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee. The persons mentioned here were doubtless men of pure morals; for the minister of God should have a good report from them that are without.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whether by the sea he here meant the lake of Gennesaret, or the ocean, is not worth the arguing, for the Jews called all great collections of waters the seas, according to Gen 1:10.
He saw two brethren,
Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, whether natural brethren, or called so because of their joint employment,
casting a net into the sea, either for the catching of fish, or for the washing of their nets: see Luk 5:2.
For they were fishers: sea men (as the word seems to signify) used to fish in the sea. Simon had a ship of his own, Luk 5:3. The evangelists differing relation of the call of Simon and Andrew hath made a great deal of work for interpreters. The greatest difference seemeth to be betwixt Matthew, in this text, and John, Joh 1:35-38. But certainly John speaketh of one call in those verses, the other evangelists of another. According to John, they were called to the knowledge of and first acquaintance with Christ while John was in the public exercise of his ministry, for they were his disciples, Joh 1:35,36,39, they are said at that time to have abode with him that day. Probably they again returned to their old employment, and when John was imprisoned, Christ, walking by the sea, saw them, and then called them to the apostleship. There are other differences in their call observed betwixt Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but such as may be easily answered by those who observe, that there is nothing more ordinary, than for the evangelists, in reporting the same history, one of them to supply more largely what the other had recorded more summarily.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. And Jesus, walkingTheword “Jesus” here appears not to belong to the text, but tohave been introduced from those portions of it which were transcribedto be used as church lessons; where it was naturally introduced as aconnecting word at the commencement of a lesson.
by the Sea of Galilee, sawtwo brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting anet into the sea; for they were fishers“called Peter”for the reason mentioned in Mt16:18.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee,…. Not for his recreation and diversion, or by accident: but on purpose to look out for, and call some, whom he had chosen to be his disciples. And as he was walking about, to and fro, he “saw two” persons; and as soon as he saw them, he knew them to be those he had determined to make his apostles: and these are described by their relation to each other, “brethren”; not merely because they were of the same nation, or of the same religion, or of the same employ and business of life, but because they were of the same blood; and by their names, “Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother”. Simon is the same name with
, “Simeon”; and so he is called, Ac 15:14 and which, in the Jerusalem dialect, is read , “Simon”. His surname “Peter”, which was afterwards given him by Christ, Mt 16:18 is Greek, and answers to “Cephas”, signifying a “rock”: though this name is to be met with in the Talmudic d writings, where we read of R. Jose, , “bar Petros”. This his surname is added here, to distinguish him from Simon, the Canaanite. The name of his brother Andrew is generally thought to be Greek; though some have derived it from , “to vow”, and is also to be observed in the writings of the Jews e; where mention is made of R. Chanina,
bar Andrei. They are further described by the work they were at, or business they were employed in,
casting a net into the sea; either in order to catch fish in it, or to wash it, Lu 5:2 and the reason of their so doing is added; “for they were fishers”. Of this mean employment were the very first persons Christ was pleased to call to the work of the ministry; men of no education, who made no figure in life, but were despicable and contemptible: this he did, to make it appear, that they were not qualified for such service of themselves; that all their gifts and qualifications were from him; to show his own power; to confound the wisdom of the wise; and to let men see, that none ought to glory in themselves, but in him. The Jews have a notion of the word of God and prophecy being received and embraced only by such sort of persons: says R. Isaac Arama f,
“his word came to heal all, but some particular persons only receive it; and who of all men are of a dull under standing, , “fishermen, who do business in the sea”: this is what is written; “they that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord”: these seem not indeed fit to receive anything that belongs to the understanding, because of their dulness; and yet these receive the truth of prophecy and vision, because they believe his word.”
I cannot but think, that some respect is had to these fishers, in
Eze 47:10 “it shall come to pass that fishers shall stand upon it”: that is, upon, or by the river of waters, said in Eze 47:8 to “issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert”: which both R. Jarchi and Kimchi understand of the sea of Tiberias; the same with the sea of Galilee, by which Christ walked; and where he found these fishers at work, and called them. See also Jer 16:16
d T. Hieros. Moed Katon, fol 82. 4. Avoda Zara, fol 42. 3. e T. Hieros. Megilla, fol. 75. 2. & Geracot, fol. 2. 3. f Apud Galatin. de Arcan. Cathol. ver. l. 3. c. 5. p. 119. & Crocium de Messia Thes. 213. p. 62, 63.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ Calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John. |
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18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
When Christ began to preach, he began to gather disciples, who should now be the hearers, and hereafter the preachers, of his doctrine, who should now be witnesses of his miracles, and hereafter concerning them. Now, in these verses, we have an account of the first disciples that he called into fellowship with himself.
And this was an instance, 1. Of effectual calling to Christ. In all his preaching he gave a common call to all the country, but in this he gave a special and particular call to those that were given him by the Father. Let us see and admire the power of Christ’s grace, own his word to be the rod of his strength, and wait upon him for those powerful influences which are necessary to the efficacy of the gospel call–those distinguishing influences. All the country was called, but these were called out, were redeemed from among them. Christ was so manifested to them, as he was not manifested unto the world. 2. It was an instance of ordination, and appointment to the work of the ministry. When Christ, as a Teacher, set up his great school, one of his first works was to appoint ushers, or under masters, to be employed in the work of instruction. Now he began to give gifts unto men, to put the treasure into earthen vessels. It was an early instance of his care for the church.
Now we may observe here,
I. Where they were called–by the sea of Galilee, where Jesus was walking, Capernaum being situated near that sea. Concerning this sea of Tiberias, the Jews have a saying, That of all the seven seas that God made, he made choice of none but the sea of Gennesaret; which is very applicable to Christ’s choice of it, to honour it, as he often did, with his presence and his miracles. Here, on the banks of the sea, Christ was walking for contemplation, as Isaac in the field; hither he went to call his disciples; not to Herod’s court (for few mighty or noble are called), not to Jerusalem, among the chief priests and the elders, but to the sea of Galilee; surely Christ sees not as man sees. Not but that the same power which effectually called Peter and Andrew would have wrought upon Annas and Caiaphas, for with God nothing is impossible; but, as in other things, so in his converse and attendance, he would humble himself, and show that God ha chosen the poor of this world. Galilee was a remote part of the nation, the inhabitants were less cultivated and refined, their very language was broad and uncouth to the curious, their speech betrayed them. They who were picked up at the sea of Galilee, had not the advantages and improvements, no, not of the more polished Galileans; yet thither Christ went, to call his apostles that were to be the prime ministers of state in his kingdom, for he chooses the foolish things of this world, to confound the wise.
II. Who they were. We have an account of the call of two pair of brothers in these verses–Peter and Andrew, James and John; the two former, and, probably, the two latter also, had had acquaintance with Christ before (Joh 1:40; Joh 1:41), but were not till now called into a close and constant attendance upon him. Note, Christ brings poor souls by degrees into fellowship with himself. They had been disciples of John, and so were the better disposed to follow Christ. Note, Those who have submitted to the discipline of repentance, shall be welcome to the joys of faith. We may observe concerning them,
1. That they were brothers. Note, It is a blessed thing, when they who are kinsmen according to the flesh (as the apostle speaks, Rom. ix. 3), are brought together into a spiritual alliance to Jesus Christ. It is the honour and comfort of a house, when those that are of the same family, are of God’s family.
2. That they were fishers. Being fishers, (1.) They were poor men: if they had had estates, or any considerable stock in trade, they would not have made fishing their trade, however, they might have made it their recreation. Note, Christ does not despise the poor, and therefore we must not; the poor are evangelized, and the Fountain of honour sometimes gives more abundant honour to that part which most lacked. (2.) The were unlearned men, not bred up to books or literature as Moses was, who was conversant with all the learning of the Egyptians. Note, Christ sometimes chooses to endow those with the gifts of grace who have least to show of the gifts of nature. Yet this will not justify the bold intrusion of ignorant and unqualified men into the work of the ministry: extraordinary gifts of knowledge and utterance are not now to be expected, but requisite abilities must be obtained in an ordinary way, and without a competent measure of these, none are to be admitted to that service. (3.) They were men of business, who had been bred up to labour. Note, Diligence in an honest calling is pleasing to Christ, and no hindrance to a holy life. Moses was called from keeping sheep, and David from following the ewes, to eminent employments. Idle people lie more open to the temptations of Satan than to the calls of God. (4.) They were men that were accustomed to hardships and hazards; the fisher’s trade, more than any other, is laborious and perilous; fishermen must be often wet and cold; they must watch, and wait, and toil, and be often in perils by waters. Note, Those who have learned to bear hardships, and run hazards, are best prepared for the fellowship and discipleship of Jesus Christ. Good soldiers of Christ must endure hardness.
III. What they were doing. Peter and Andrew were then using their nets, they were fishing; and James and John were mending their nets, which was an instance of their industry and good husbandry. They did not go to their father for money to buy new nets, but took pains to mend their old ones. It is commendable to make what we have go as far, and last as long, as may be. James and John were with their father Zebedee, ready to assist him, and make his business easy to him. Note, It is a happy and hopeful presage, to see children careful of their parents, and dutiful to them. Observe, 1. They were all employed, all very busy, and none idle. Note, When Christ comes, it is good to be found doing. “Am I in Christ?” is a very needful question for us to ask ourselves; and, next to that, “Am I in my calling?” 2. They were differently employed; two of them were fishing, and two of them mending their nets. Note, Ministers should be always employed, either in teaching or studying; they may always find themselves something to do, if it be not their own fault; and mending their nets, is, in its season, as necessary work as fishing.
IV. What the call was (v. 19); Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. They had followed Christ before, as ordinary disciples (John i. 37), but so they might follow Christ, and follow their calling too; therefore they were called to a more close and constant attendance, and must leave their calling. Note, Even they who had been called to follow Christ, have need to be called to follow on, and to follow nearer, especially when they are designed for the work of the ministry. Observe,
1. What Christ intended them for; I will make you fishers of men; this alludes to their former calling. Let them be not proud of the new honour designed them, they are still but fishers; let them not be afraid of the new work cut out for them, for they have been used to fishing, and fishers they are still. It was usual with Christ to speak of spiritual and heavenly things under such allusions, and in such expressions, as took rise from common things that offered themselves to his view. David was called from feeding sheep to feed God’s Israel; and when he is a king, is a shepherd. Note, (1.) Ministers are fishers of men, not to destroy them, but to save them, by bringing them into another element. They must fish, not for wrath, wealth, honour, and preferment, to gain them to themselves, but for souls, to gain them to Christ. They watch for your souls (Heb. xiii. 17), and seek not yours, but you,2Co 12:14; 2Co 12:16. (2.) It is Jesus Christ that makes them so; I will make you fishers of men. It is he that qualifies men for this work, calls them to it, authorizes them in it, gives them commission to fish for souls, and wisdom to win them. Those ministers are likely to have comfort in their work, who are thus made by Jesus Christ.
2. What they must do in order to this; Follow me. They must separate themselves to a diligent attendance on him, and set themselves to a humble imitation of him; must follow him as their Leader. Note, (1.) Those whom Christ employs in any service for him, must first be fitted and qualified for it. (2.) Those who would preach Christ, must first learn Christ, and learn of him. How can we expect to bring others to the knowledge of Christ, if we do not know him well ourselves? (3.) Those who would get an acquaintance with Christ, must be diligent and constant in their attendance on him. The apostles were prepared for their work, by accompanying Christ all the time that he went in and out among them, Acts i. 21. There is no learning comparable to that which is got by following Christ. Joshua, by ministering to Moses, is fitted to be his successor. (4.) Those who are to fish for men, must therein follow Christ, and do it as he did, with diligence, faithfulness, and tenderness. Christ is the great pattern for preachers, and they ought to be workers together with him.
V. What was the success of this call. Peter and Andrew straightway left their nets (v. 20); and James and John immediately left the ship and their father (v. 22); and they all followed him. Note, Those who would follow Christ aright, must leave all to follow him. Every Christian must leave all in affection, set loose to all, must hate father and mother (Luke xiv. 26), must love them less than Christ, must be ready to part with his interest in them rather than with his interest in Jesus Christ; but those who are devoted to the work of the ministry are, in a special manner, concerned to disentangle themselves from all the affairs of this life, that they may give themselves wholly to that work which requires the whole man. Now,
1. This instance of the power of the Lord Jesus gives us good encouragement to depend upon the sufficiency of his grace. How strong and effectual is his word! He speaks, and it is done. The same power goes along with this word of Christ, Follow me, that went along with that word, Lazarus, come forth; a power to make willing, Ps. cx. 3.
2. This instance of the pliableness of the disciples, gives us a good example of obedience to the command of Christ. Note, It is the good property of all Christ’s faithful servants to come when they are called, and to follow their Master wherever he leads them. They objected not their present employments, their engagements to their families, the difficulties of the service they were called to, or their own unfitness for it; but, being called, they obeyed, and, like Abraham, went out not knowing whither they went, but knowing very well whom they followed. James and John left their father: it is not said what became of him; their mother Salome was a constant follower of Christ; no doubt, their father Zebedee was a believer, but the call to follow Christ fastened on the young ones. Youth is the learning age, and the labouring age. The priests ministered in the prime of their life.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Casting a net into the sea ( ). The word here for net is a casting-net (compare in Mr 1:16, casting on both sides). The net was thrown over the shoulder and spread into a circle (). In 4:20 and 4:21 another word occurs for nets (), a word used for nets of any kind. The large drag-net () appears in Mt 13:47.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The sea [ ] . The small lake of Gennesaret, only thirteen miles long and six wide in its broadest part, is called the sea, by the same kind of popular usage by which Swiss and German lakes are called See; as the Konigsee, the Trauensee. So, also, in Holland we have the Zuyder Zee. The Latin mare (the sea) likewise becomes meer in Holland, and is used of a lake, as Haarlemmer Meer; and in England, mere, as appears in Windermere, Grasmere, etc.
A net [] . From ajmfi, around, and ballw, to throw. Hence the casting – net, which, being cast over the shoulder, spreads into a circle [] . The word is sometimes used by classical Greek writers to denote a garment which encompasses the wearer. In ver. 20, the word net again occurs, but representing a different Greek word [] which is the general name for all kinds of nets, whether for taking fish or fowl. Still another word occurs at Mt 13:47, saghnh, the draw – net. See farther on that passage.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee,” (peripaton de para ten thallasan tes Galilaias) “Then walking along the seashore of Galilee,” near Capernaum where He had taken residence and begun His preaching ministry, Mat 4:13-17; Mr 1:14,15. The Sea was also called the Lake or Sea of Gennesaret or of Tiberias, Mat 14:34; Joh 6:1.
2) “Saw two brethren,” (eipen duo adelphous) “He saw a duo (two) brothers,” whom He had seen and with whom He had conversed before, Joh 1:35-42; Luk 5:1-11.
3) “Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother,” (Simona ton legon enon Petron kai Andrean ton adelphon autou) “Simon who was named Peter and his brother Andrew;” Simon or Simeon was his Hebrew name and Peter from Greek “Petros”, meaning “a stone”, his Greek name. Cephas was also given to him as an Hebrew name, Joh 1:42. He and Andrew were fishermen with their father by trade.
4) “Casting a net into the sea:” (Ballontas amphiblestron eis ten thalassan) “Busily casting a net into the sea,” engaged actively in their occupation when Jesus sought them out and called them. He calls busy men, as Moses was herding Jethro’s flock and David was tending his father’s when the two were called as lawgiver and king.
5) “For they were fishers. (esan gar halelis) “Because they were fishers,” by trade or occupation, in which they were busily engaged at their calling, Luk 5:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mat 4:18
. And Jesus walking. As this history is placed by Luke after the two miracles, which we shall afterwards see, an opinion has commonly prevailed, that the miracle, which is here related by him, was performed some time after that they had been called by Christ. (336) But the reason, which they allege, carries little weight: for no fixed and distinct order of dates was observed by the Evangelists in composing their narratives. The consequence is, that they disregard the order of time, and satisfy themselves with presenting, in a summary manner, the leading transactions in the life of Christ. They attended, no doubt, to the years, so as to make it plain to their readers, in what manner Christ was employed, during the course of three years, from the commencement of his preaching till his death. But miracles, which took place nearly about the same time, are freely intermixed: which will afterwards appear more clearly from many examples. (337)
That it is the same history, which is given by the three Evangelists, is proved by many arguments: but we may mention one, which will be sufficient to satisfy any reader, who is not contentious. All the three agree in stating, that Peter and Andrew, James and John, were made apostles. If they had been previously called, it would follow that they were apostates, who had forsaken their Master, despised their calling, and returned to their former occupation. There is only this difference between Luke and the other two, that he alone relates the miracle, which the others omit. But it is not uncommon with the Evangelists, to touch slightly one part of a transaction, and to leave out many of the circumstances. There is, therefore, no absurdity in saying, that a miracle, which is related by one, has been passed over by the other two. And we must bear in mind what John says, that, out of the innumerable miracles “which Jesus did,” (Joh 21:25,) a part only has been selected, which was sufficient to prove his divine power, and to confirm our faith in him. There is therefore no reason to wonder, if the calling of the four apostles is slightly touched by Matthew and Mark, while the occasion of it is more fully explained by Luke.
(336) “ Quelque temps apresque Jesus Christ ent appelle a soy Pierre, Andre, Jean, et Jaques.” — “Some time after that Jesus Christ had called to himself Peter, Andrew, John, and James.”
(337) “ Ils ne s’amusent pas, esplucher de pres lequel est le premier, ou le second .” — “They do not give themselves the trouble of investigating closely which is first or second.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CHAPTER FOUR
Section 9. JESUS CALLS FOUR FISHERMEN
(Parallels: Mar. 1:16-21; Luk. 5:1-11)
TEXT: 4:18-22
18. And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.
19. And he saith unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20. And they straightway left the nets, and followed him.
21. And going on from thence he saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them,
22. And they straightway left the boat and their father, and followed him.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS
a.
How long do you suppose these four fishermen had known Jesus before He called them to be fishermen of men?
b.
What does Jesus mean by calling them to be fishers of men? What does He want them to do in that capacity?
c.
Why do you think Matthew emphasizes the immediacy of their response? (straightway of Mat. 4:20 and Mat. 4:22)
d.
How are the families of these working men to be supported if these four bread-winners leave their occupations to follow this itinerate rabbi over the countryside? Very likely, someone asked this question that day. How would you answer it?
e.
Vigorous efforts are being made to enlist the most capable young men for hundreds of promising vocations. Such efforts and the procedures used are generally approved or at least expected by the parents of these young men. Yet, when efforts are made to encourage these same young people to enlist themselves in the Christian ministry, their parents sometimes object strenuously to the pressure being put on their children. What is your reaction to the problem?
f.
Apparently, Zebedee made no effort to hinder his sons entering What kind of man does this seem to the discipleship of Jesus. indicate him to have been?
PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY
One morning while Jesus was walking beside the Lake of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother, Andrew, throwing their cast-net into the sea, for fishing was their occupation.
On this same day, the people were crowding closely around Jesus to hear Gods message. As He stood on the shore, He noticed that the fishermen had given up their fishing and had beached their boats, leaving them there while they washed their nets. Jesus boarded Simons boat and asked him to push off a little from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and continued His teaching the crowds from His seat in the boat.
When He had finished speaking, He addressed Simon, Put out into deep water and all of you let down your nets for a catch.
But Simon argued, But, Sir, we have been hard at work all
night and caught nothing at all. But if you say so, I will lower the
nets.
They did so and caught an enormous shoal of fish-so big that the nets began to break! So they signaled to their fellows in the other b a t to come and help them. This they did, loading both boats so full of fish that they rode so low in the water that they almost sank. When Peter saw what had happened, he threw himself down at Jesus knees, exclaiming, Master, leave me, for Im a sinful man! For Peter and his companions, James and John, Zebedees sons who were Simons partners, were staggered at the haul of fish which they had taken. Jesus replied to Simon, Do not be afraid, Simon. From now on your catch will be men.
So they brought the boats to shore at different parts of the beach. As Jesus stepped from Peters boat, He invited Peter and Andrew, Follow me and I will teach you how to take men alive! They left their nets at once and followed Jesus.
Going on up the beach a little further from there, Jesus saw James and John aboard their boat with their father Zebedee, repairing the nets broken in places by the recent catch. Immediately He called them and, just as quickly, they left the boat, their father Zebedee, the hired servants-everything, and followed Him.
NOTES
I. THE MEMOIRS OF THE CALL.
In the PARAPHRASE/HARMONY it is assumed that the incidents recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Mat. 4:18-22; Mar. 1:16-21; Luk. 5:1-11) are basically the same event told from two quite different points of view. A simple comparison of the first two Gospels will indicate very slight variations in wording, whereas Luke describes a miraculous catch of fish, an event which concludes with the call of Peter and several fishermen to leave all to follow Jesus. It is quite possible that what is described in two ways is really two stories of two separate events. Matthew, according to his topical arrangement, places the call of the four fishermen in a general relationship of Jesus entrance into Galilee; Mark does the same (Mar. 1:14-20). However, Mark makes the event precede the busy day of miracles (Mar. 1:21-38), whereas Luke (Luk. 4:31 to Luk. 5:11) lists the call of the fishermen after it. Yet, Luke is not too precise about the time element, although his tendency is to follow chronological sequences. For this latter reason, it might well be asked whether Luke intends to tell the same basic event as the other two. Resolving this question involves letting the witnesses tell their story and our attempting to harmonize the facts they present, without our being able to cross-examine the witnesses. The importance of trying to solve the problem lies in the determination whether we have all the available materials at hand before beginning to interpret the passage, or whether we have too much material, putting together two separate events as if they were one.
There are at least two ways to harmonize the facts, if the story be one told from two viewpoints:
1.
First, the call; second, the miraculous catch. Edersheim (Life, I, 476) argues for the first view, showing Peters need for such a demonstration of Jesus power to make him truly a fisher of men. Peter heard it all in the boat, as he sat close by, in the shadow of His Majesty. Then, this was the teaching of which he had become a disciple; this, the net and the fishing to which he was just called. How utterly miserable, in one respect, must it have made him. Could such an one as he ever hope, with whatever toil, to be a successful fisher? . . . Presently it shall all be brought to light; not only that it may be made clear, but that, alike, the lesson and the help may be seen.
2.
First, the miraculous catch; second, the call of the fishermen. There is good psychological reason for placing the miraculous catch first. In this case, Jesus is pictured as wanting to impress upon the minds of these fishermen the majestic authority of this One with whom they were to serve. In addition, providing them with such a large catch which they, in turn, could sell for no small sum, he could help them to justify their absence from home and business for a time. Further, the force of this miracle would not be lost on the people at home either, for their reluctance to permit these able-bodied bread-winners to forsake their occupation would disappear in the same confidence in Jesus to provide in the future, even as He did on this occasion of their call.
Therefore, the notes which follow take the general view that the Synoptics provide here merely two views of the same event. The sequence of action suggested here is that of the PARAPHRASE/ HARMONY. The exact relation of the accounts in Matthew and Mark to that of Luke, however, must remain in doubt, inasmuch as the essentials are tenuous or missing.
II. THE MEN WHO WERE CALLED
Mat. 4:18 Walking by the sea. Where Jesus has been, cannot be known with surety, due to the chronological problems in harmonizing the accounts. Perhaps this call of the four fishermen is the first intention of Jesus as He returns to Capernaum from Nazareth; however, His fame precedes Him and a crowd gathers, following Him to the beach. Accordingly, although He saw the fishermen first, He taught the crowd before commanding these men to haul in the miraculous catch. Sea of Galilee is only a large lake, being only 6 miles wide by 12 miles long. It has probably been called a number of names by men caught out upon its boiling surface during one of its notoriously sudden, furious storms. The official names, however, have been Sea of Chinnereth (Jos. 12:2-7) probably from a fortified city that stood near its western shore (Jos. 19:35); Waters of Gennesar (1Ma. 11:67) or Lake Gennesaret (Luk. 5:1) from the small plain on its western side (Mat. 14:34); Sea of Tiberias was the name drawn from the prominent city of the NT period, located on its western shore (Joh. 6:1; Joh. 21:1). For further description, see on Mat. 8:23 ff. The waters of this lake teemed with fish, thus providing food and employment for these commercial fishermen.
He saw two brethren . . . fishers. But what really did Jesus see? He saw men whose principle distinguishing characteristics were their being undistinguished in practically every regard. Any other’s eye might not have seen in these men the sterling qualities that Jesus could discern there and later develop:
1.
They were accustomed to hardship, Because of their experiences with the hard life, they were well-seasoned men.
2.
They were humble men, capable of being taught, There heads were not completely jammed with rabbinic foolishness to the point they would rather argue than listen and learn from Jesus.
3.
They were diligent, working men, not ashamed of honest toil nor seeking the easy life.
4.
They were already His disciples. logically, Jesus sought for apostle-material among those who were already aware of some of His teachings, character and mission. Such a call as He would address to them could not have been made, unless they had something of this understanding. (See on Mat. 4:19)
Casting a net into the sea. Three modes of fishing are mentioned
in the Scriptures:
1.
Hook: Mat. 17:27; Job. 41:1-2
2.
Spears: Job. 41:7
3.
Nets, of which there are two principle types:
a.
The Cast-net (amphiblestron) is a circular net which is thrown out over the water and allowed to settle down in the water, weighted down by lead weights fixed to its perimeter. The fish are thus entrapped in the center under the net as the fishermen tread down the net and draw the bottom edges together. Obviously, such a net would be that used by the men when Jesus first saw them near the beach (Mat. 4:18; Mar. 1:16).
b.
The Dragnet (sagene) or also (diktuon) is a long net, leaded on one edge with floats on the other edge which make it literally stand up” in the water, producing a fence which fishermen may use to surround a school of fish by extending the net between two boats which bring it close enough to shore that fishermen may land the catch in the shallows. If the water is deep, the boats can bring the ends slowly together to form a circle. A diver closes the bottom of the net and the entrapped fish are hauled out of the water and loaded into the boats. Jesus ordered the men to lower this net for the great catch. (Luk. 5:2; Luk. 5:4-6)
c.
The nets (Mat. 4:20-21 : ta diktua) probably indicates a general expression for all nets of whatever type.
III. THE MOMENT OF THE CALL
Mat. 4:19 And he saith unto them, Come ye after me. The events which preceded this call and the circumstances in which it was given help to explain both what Jesus meant by what He said, as well as the reaction of the men to whom it was directed:
1.
These fishermen had already been personally acquainted with Jesus for at least eight or nine months (John 1-4), having both heard His teaching and seen some miracles.
2.
The call came after Jesus first open break with traditional religious authority and after the beginning of the persecution of Jesus by the Jews (Joh. 2:13-22; Joh. 4:1). Thus, Jesus challenged these men to enter into a formal fellowship with Him and His strained rapport with formal Judaism.
3.
The miraculous catch of fish is also suggested as preceding this call. Plummet notes (145) that it frequently happens that one experience touches a man, when many similar experiences fail to do so. Yet, without being realized, they prepared the heart for that one experience that changed the mans life. These disciples had already seen some of Jesus miracles, but this one struck home to them personally. The striking feature about this one was its relation to their daily toil: it was done with their nets and their boats. It is natural that it should make such an impression upon them.
IV. THE MEANING OF THE CALL
Mat. 4:19 Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men. What did Jesus intend these fishermen to understand by this invitation?
A.
What Jesus did not mean:
1. This is not a call to become His disciples, for that they were already. He is calling them to learn evangelism.
2. This is not a call to worldly glory, for they were still to be, in some way, fishermen, What compensation did He offer them to leave all and follow Him? Apparently, He promised them nothing but the joy of righteousness and the satisfaction of servants of the Messiah, (Cf. Mat. 19:27) Only at the Last Supper did Jesus announce positions of honor in His kingdom in terms that approximated even remotely the language of compensation expected by self-seeking disciples, (Luk. 22:28)
3. Jesus is not causing them to vow never again to touch their nets, for they could certainly, without prejudice to their devoted acceptance of this call, earn a little occasionally at their old work, And they probably went fishing whenever Jesus remained in Capernaum. They still had to eat and support families. (Cf. Joh. 21:1 ff)
4. This is not merely a call to learn more doctrine or better practice of already known truth. but a call to begin a completely new life of discipleship on a higher, vaster level than ever before realized in their acquaintance with Jesus.
B. What Jesus did mean:
Come ye after me. He wanted these disciples to be with Him! He wanted them to learn His spirit. His message, His ways. They had listened to Him before. They had seen Him in action. Until now they were relatively uncommitted to the movement He represented. But in this moment there came to them this challenge to throw in their lot with Him. Such a call could not come too soon, for these four and others were to be His witnesses. It would be their specific task to give to the world a trustworthy record of the Masters message and deeds. They must represent His character and mirror His spirit accurately. But to do this, their impressions of Him must be formed over long periods and under many, diverse conditions. But their following Jesus must also mean the habitual abandonment of their former occupations and earthly ties whereinsofar these interfered with their acceptance of this call.
2.
I will make you. They who become apostles of Jesus are not to be self-made men. He calls them to learn to evangelize by practical experiences, both by watching Jesus and by doing it themselves. Bales (166) quotes Weigles beautiful description of Jesus method of teaching:
His training of the twelve was by life with them and for them. . . . Not content merely to teach them by word of mouth. He bade them follow Him. He gave Himself to them, and gave them work to do for Him. They went with Him in His journeys; they dwelt constantly in His presence. They helped Him preach His kingdom; they too worked miracles. He even sent them out for themselves, to travel throughout the land teaching and healing. He was preparing them to take His place and to carry on His work; and He prepared them thoroughly. They learned by doing. They caught His spirit by association with Him. Through knowledge, friendship and work He brought them to spiritual maturity . . . He was Himself the Ideal that He sought to teach.
What sheer, matchless courage Jesus must possess to speak these words to any man! He knew that the next few years would be spent not only in the public eye but under the closest scrutiny of these whom He calls to be His most intimate personal associates. Bales (ibid.) cites Stalkers observation :
To the Twelve the most valuable part of their connection with Christ was simply the privilege of being with Him – of seeing that marvellous life day by day, and daily receiving the silent, almost unobserved impress of His character. St. John, reflecting on His three years experience long afterwards, summed it up by saying, We beheld His glory! . . . No eyes are so keen as those of students. If admitted close to a man, they take immediate stock of his resources. They are hero-worshippers when they believe in a professor, but their scorn is unmeasured if they disbelieve in him, They can be dazzled by a reputation; but only massiveness of character and thoroughness of attainment can be sure of permanently impressing them,
How desperately they needed that molding which would be provided in the instruction and example of Jesus is best seen by contrasting what they were when Jesus called them with what they must be when He left them to return to the Father. The preachers of the Christian Gospel would have to have greater hearts than narrow, Jewish provincialism, freer consciences than those bound by traditional religion, greater intellectual attainment than that represented by the conventional learning of the day. They must learn to rejoice and triumph in the stumbling-block and foolishness of the cross. They must be willing to bear a cross themselves. But at the moment of their call to service what were they? They were the products of an environment made up of people who ultimately rejected and crucified Jesus. Obviously, they had much to learn and more to unlearn. They, like us, were slow to do both.
But the confidence of Jesus in His words, I will make you, is contagious! Although there are some who will betray our trust, there are others who would respond to our confidence in them. How much more Jesus would be able to get out of His men simply because He showed them that, for all their weaknesses and failures, He could still trust them to the important task to which He called them! If Peter, for instance, feels the expanse of distance between Christ and himself as a sinful man, because of a new sense of the Lords holiness and majesty, he must have heard these confident, comforting words of Jesus as great encouragement to believe that the result of his ministry and life was in the hands of Jesus.
3.
Fishers of men. Out of these three words grows that magnificent task which forms the book of Acts! He was calling them to the glorious honor of saving souls from death and establishing a Church that would march across the Mediterranean world conquering mens hearts and which would endure to the end of time.
V. MOBILIZATION TO THE CALL
Mat. 4:20; Mat. 4:22 And they straightway left the nets . . . the boat and their father, and followed him. Did not these stalwart brothers comprehend the implications of this call to their family, friends and acquaintances? Yes, Peter later expresses the clean break that they had made, lo, we have left everything and followed you. (Mat. 19:27 a) But who would take care of Peters family in his absence? Possibly a near relative, too old to attempt active campaigning with Jesus, could handle the fishing business well enough to justify the absence of Peters hands at the nets. Hired servants stepped into the place of James and John (Mar. 1:20).
But, why did they follow Jesus that day? A. B. Bruce (Training, 16) rightly denies that these men were either idle, discontent with their former lot, or ambitious:
Ambition needs a temptation: it does not join a cause which is obscure and struggling, and whose success is doubtful: it strikes when success is assured, and when the movement it patronizes is on the eve of its glorification.
Considering how little they really understood of the nature of the King in whose service they were enrolling themselves, or of the kingdom that they would proclaim, one would say that they were enthusiasts. For the moment, at least until Jesus could teach them better, their heads were pounding with visions of a glorious messianic kingdom about to be set up with Jesus wearing Davids crown. These visions, immature and ill-conceived as they might have been, drove them from their families and occupations to go into the service of Jesus. Though it appeared that they left on a fools errand, yet, with all their misconceptions and ignorance, it was into JESUS hands that they placed their strength. their influence, their lives. They were just ordinary folk who gave themselves to Him and He can do anything with people like that! What faith to follow the unknown Jesus of Nazareth!
Whatever became of those men and that enthusiastic decision? look up these passages, for they tell the heart-warming story of their discipleship: Peter and Andrew: Mat. 8:14; Mat. 10:2; Mat. 14:28-29; Mat. 15:15; Mat. 16:16-23; Mat. 17:18; Mat. 17:24 ff; Mat. 18:21; Mat. 19:27; Mat. 26:33-75; Mar. 5:37; Mar. 11:21; Mar. 13:3; Mar. 14:29-72; Mar. 16:7; Luk. 8:45-51; Luk. 22:8; Joh. 1:40-44; Joh. 6:8; Joh. 6:68; Joh. 12:22; Joh. 13:6-9; Joh. 13:24; Joh. 13:36; Joh. 18:10-27; Joh. 20:2-6; Joh. 21:2-21; Acts 1-15; Gal. 1:18; Gal. 2:7-14; I, II Peter. James and John: Mat. 10:2; Mat. 17:1 f; Mar. 1:29; Mar. 5:37 f; Mar. 9:33; Mar. 10:35 f; Mar. 13:3; Mar. 14:33; Luk. 5:10; Luk. 9:54; Luk. 22:8; Act. 1:13; Act. 3:4; Act. 8:14; Act. 12:2; Gal. 2:9; Rev. 1:1; Rev. 1:9; Rev. 22:8; the Gospel of John, I, II, III John and Revelation.
Behold the glorious, surpassing wisdom of Jesus. He chose fishermen to change the world! He ever chooses the foolish to confound the wise. (1Co. 1:18-31, esp. 1Co. 1:26-28) If Jesus can make such everlasting good use of such humble instruments as these four fishermen, dear friend, what can He do with your life when surrendered to Him?
FACT QUESTIONS
1.
Name the four fishermen.
2.
The father of James and John was ___; the father of Peter and Andrew was ___.
3.
Did Peter and Andrew live in Capernaum? (Cf. Joh. 1:44)
4.
What were the fishermen doing when Jesus first saw them?
5.
At what time of day approximately did Jesus approach them?
6.
What did Jesus ask Simon to do?
7.
Why did Simon do it?
8.
Had these men known Jesus before? If so, when or how long?
9.
What did Jesus ask all the four fishermen to do?
10. What did He promise or predict concerning them?
11. What inducement did Jesus offer them to justify their leaving all to follow him? Did Jesus mention any compensations What was the motivation that caused this sudden, clean break with one occupation to take up that of following Jesus?
12. The four forsook all and followed their Master. (Luk. 5:11) Did the all in any case include wife or children?
13. Tell all you know about each of the lives of the four fishermen, their past, their work with Jesus, their families, their service as leaders in the early church, and, if possible, their death.
14. What is the significance or importance of Jesus’ calling these and other disciples to be with Him from this point of time on? Or, why must the choice of certain disciples to be with Jesus be made early in His work? (Cf. Act. 1:21-22)
15. Describe a typical fishing trip of the four fishermen, telling how they used’ their boats, nets, their hours for fishing, their methods.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(18) And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee.In no part of the Gospel history is it more necessary to remember St. Johns record as we read that of the Three, than in this call of the disciples. Here, everything seems sudden and abrupt. There we learn that those who were now called had some months before accepted Him as the Christ (Joh. 1:35-43), and had, some or all of them, been with Him during His visit to Jerusalem. Simon had already received the surname of Cephas or Peter or the Rock. Putting these facts together, we have something like a clear outline picture of their previous life. The sons of Jona and the sons of Zebedee had grown up in Bethsaida (probably on the north-west shore of the Lake of Galilee), and were partners in their work as fishermen. The movement of Judas of Galilee, in his assertion of national independence, had probably served to quicken their expectations of a good time coming, when they should be free from their oppressors. When they heard of the preaching of the Baptist, they joined the crowds that flocked to hear him, and received his baptism of repentance. Then they were pointed to the Lamb of God, and received Him as the Christ. Then for a short time they were His companions in His journeyings. When He began the first circuit of His Galilean ministry He was alone, and left them to return to their old calling. They could not tell whether He would ever care to use their services again, and it was under these circumstances that the new call came. St. Matthews narrative and St. Marks (Mar. 1:16-20) agree almost verbally; St. Lukes presents more difficulty. Is it another and fuller version of the same facts? or, if different, did what he records precede or follow the call which they relate? The first view seems the most probable, but see Notes on Luk. 5:1-11.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. CALL OF FOUR DISCIPLES, PRECEDED BY MIRACLES, Mat 4:18-22 .
18. Saw two brethren Of this call of Simon and Andrew a fuller account is given in Luk 5:1-11. This was not the first meeting of our Lord with the brothers, for that is narrated in the first chapter of John. Nor is it to be identified with their incorporation into the body of the twelve apostles, which is narrated in Mat 3:14. This call to follow him as a disciple was intermediate between those two events and preparatory to the latter. It may be remarked that in the apostolic college there were two couples of brothers, namely, Simon and Andrew, James and John. All four were from Bethsaida, on the Galilean side of the Jordan.
Simon, called Peter A Hebrew and a Greek name, according to the custom of that day. The Greek name, Petros, was given by our Lord in allusion to the hardy nature of this, the oldest, the most ardent, and, from the boldness of his character, the most conspicuous of the apostles. Hence he was chief of the apostles until surpassed by St. Paul; but not in the Romish sense. He possessed not a primacy of office, but a pre-eminence of character. On the contrary, Andrew, of the same stock, is tame in character and obscure in history. As apostles, they were officially equal; as men, they possessed by nature a great disparity.
They were fishers We have already remarked that the waters of the Gennesaret were prolific of fish, the taking of which formed a large share of the occupation of the dwellers upon its shores.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.’
Jesus knew, of course, where to look for the ones whom He was about to call for He knew that they were fishermen and lived in Capernaum, having originally come from Bethsaida (Joh 1:44). Thus He went walking by the sea where the boats of the Capernaum fishermen could be found. And there he found Peter and Andrew industriously casting their round throwing nets from the shore in order to try to catch some fish. (Matthew gives us none of the detail. He is only interested in the end in view, and in preparing for Jesus’ next words). In terms of their day Simon and Andrew would not have been seen as poor, but they were certainly not wealthy or politically influential. Thus they would class among ‘the poor’ spoken of by the Psalmists, the lowly and unimportant. Simon’s name was Hebrew, but Andrew’s was Greek, reflecting the mixed culture of Galilee. Both names had clearly been seen as equally natural to their parents.
‘The Sea of Galilee.’ A not very large fresh water lake, twenty one kilometres by eleven kilometres (thirteen miles by seven miles), which was in the Jordan rift valley about 700 feet below sea level and was fed by the Jordan, abounding in fish but subject to infamous sudden storms. All fishermen knew of friends who had perished in such storms.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Begins To Establish The Basis Of His New Community (4:18-22).
Jesus’ plan for the future now begins to unfold. He begins to call men to follow Him, men whom He can instruct and train, with the intention of them becoming ‘fishers of men’. He already has in mind His new community (His congregation of the new Israel – Mat 16:18) The first ones that He called, as far as Matthew is concerned, were men whom He already knew, men who had served with Him while He Himself was supporting John the Baptiser, and who had come back to Galilee with Him earlier. (Philip may well, however, have also been with Him, as described in Joh 1:43).
The calling of these four symbolises the call of all His disciples. They are probably mentioned because of their importance, for Peter, James and John are regularly selected out for special experiences (Mar 5:17 – Jairus’ daughter; Mat 17:1 – the Transfiguration, Mat 26:17 – in Gethsemane). But we learn later that others are called on to follow Him in the same way, men such as Matthew (Mat 9:9), an unknown disciple (Mat 8:22) and (unsuccessfully) the young man (Mat 19:21). We are probably to see these as examples of what must have included many others (compare Mat 8:19; Luk 8:2; Luk 9:57-62).
We should note that Jesus method of seeking out the disciples who would become prominent, rather than waiting for them to approach Him, parallels Elijah’s call of Elisha. In the case of Elisha, Elijah sought him out and called him to follow him, and Elisha then did leave all and follow him, having first said goodbye to those at home, and having destroyed any temptation to return home (1Ki 19:19-21). This copying of Elijah, but in more abundance, may suggest that He saw His disciples as intended to be the prophets of the new era.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Calls His Disciples Compare This Passage with the Disciples Following Jesus in Joh 1:35-51 ( Mar 1:16-20 , Luk 5:1-11 ) We read in Mat 4:18-22 about how Jesus Christ called four of His disciples while walking along the Sea of Galilee. This calling of disciples took place during His Galilean ministry. Note also the fact that John’s Gospel tells us that these disciples had previously encountered the Messiah earlier during Jesus’ Judean ministry (Joh 1:35-51) and these disciples had even followed Jesus prior to the imprisonment of John the Baptist (Joh 3:22-24). This Judean ministry took place during the first year of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The calling of His disciples along the shores of the Sea of Galilee occurs much later, perhaps several years later, after John was imprisoned. Therefore, the quick response of these disciples can partially be explained by the fact that they already knew Him to be the Christ from His earlier Judean ministry. But the difference of the calling in Matthew’s Gospel is that these disciples were now asked to immediately forsake all and follow Him permanently. In summary, John’s Gospel emphasizes the fact that the disciples recognized Jesus Christ as the Son of God while Matthew’s Gospel places emphasis upon Jesus selecting and training His disciples.
Jesus Calls Those Who Are Busy, Not Lazy – When Jesus called his twelve disciples, He called men who were busy working, doing their jobs. He did not call lazy and idle people. The Lord knew that if these men were busy working at a secular job, then they would also be busy working in His Kingdom. Jesus called Matthew while he was busy at the receipt of customs.
Mat 9:9, “And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.”
Elijah called Elisha while he was plowing in the field.
1Ki 19:19, “So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.”
Mat 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Mat 4:18
Mat 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Mat 4:20 Mat 4:20
Mat 4:21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
Mat 4:22 The calling of disciples one of Christ’s first official acts:
v. 18. And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.
The Sea of Galilee, also called Lake Gennesaret, Luk 5:1, and Sea of Tiberius, Joh 21:1, is a small body of water formed by the river Jordan, having an average length of thirteen and an average width of about seven miles. Its water is fresh and clear, and contains an abundance of fish. The hills on its western shore are low and calcareous in nature; the mountains rising along the eastern shore are much more prominent. Jesus deliberately followed the path along the shore out from Capernaum, attended by a great multitude that insisted upon His preaching to them, Luk 5:1. It was then that He saw Simon, whom He had called Cephas at the first meeting, Joh 1:42, the Aramaic equivalent of Peter, and his brother Andrew, of Bethsaida, plying their trade as fishermen. Both of these men were not unknown to the Lord, having been with Him in the plains of the Jordan, Joh 1:40-42, and later at Cana. Having come with Jesus into the neighborhood of their home, they had returned to their old occupation. At His word also they cast their nets into the sea for the miraculous draft, Luk 5:4-6.
Mat 4:18. And Jesus, walking, &c. Respecting the calling of Peter, &c. see the notes on Mark 1. Instead of fishers, we may read, fishermen. It appears from Joh 1:35; Joh 1:51 that they had already acknowledged Jesus for the Messiah, upon the testimony of John the Baptist.
Mat 4:18 . Comp. Luk 5:1 ff.
. .] Lake of Gennesareth or Tiberias (see on Joh 6:1 ) is 140 stadia long and 40 broad, with romantic environs, and abounding in fish (Josephus, Bell . iii. 10. 7), about 500 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. See Robinson, Pal . III. pp. 499, 509; Ritter, Erdk . XV. 1, p. 284 ff.; Retschi in Herzog’s Encykl . V.; Keim, Gesch. J . I. p. 599 ff.
. ] not a , but see on Mat 16:18 . That the evangelists always have (with the exception of the diplomatic passage, Joh 1:43 ) the name Peter , which in Paul is certainly found only in Gal 2:7 f., not Cephas , is explained in the case of Matthew by the circumstance that his Gospel is only a translation, and that at the time of its composition the Greek name had become the common one.
C. Mat 4:18-22
(The Gospel for St. Andrew s Day)
Contents:In His obscurity and retirement from the world, which He had renounced, the Saviour commences the conquest of the world by calling four fishermen by the Sea of Galilee.
18And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter,19 and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he 20 said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straight way left their nets, and followed him. 21And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a [the]19 ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat 4:18. By the Sea of Galilee.Lake Gennesaret, , Luk 5:1 (also , , Genesara, ); , Joh 21:1; . , Mat 15:29, etc. The lake, which is formed by the river Jordan, is about six hours, or 150 stadia long, and about half as broad [twelve or fourteen miles long, six or seven miles in breadth, and 165 feet deep.P. S.]. The water is salubrious, fresh, and clear; it contains abundance of fish; the banks are picturesque, although at present bare; toward the west they are intersected by calcareous mountains,toward the east the lake is bounded by high mountains (800 to 1,000 feet high), partly of chalk and partly of basalt formation. It is of an oval form, being a deep depression in an upland country (according to Schubert, its level is 535 feet below the Mediterranean).20 Besides these remarkable natural features, the contrast between the present desolation of its shores and their flourishing state at the time of Jesus, when covered with cities and inhabited by a busy throng,above all, the solemn remembrance of the Lords labors, render it a most striking object. On the difference between the accounts of Schubert and of Robinson in regard to the beauty of the lake, comp. Winer, art. Genezareth. Recent travellers have furnished ample details of the district (comp. Josephus, De Bello Jud. iii. 10, 7).
Simon called Peter.The designation Peter is given by way of historical anticipation. Simon, contracted from Simeon, (hearing, favorable hearing). On the name Peter, comp. Mat 16:18.
Andrew.A purely Greek name (see Winer sub verbo); which, however, also occurred among the Jews at a later period. Andrew and John were the earliest disciples of Jesus,the first who joined the Saviour, following the direction of John the Baptist, whose disciples they had been (Joh 1:39). It is uncertain whether Andrew was the elder brother of Peter. His home was at Bethsaida (Joh 1:44). For further particulars about this disciple, see Matthew 10
Casting a net into the sea.The circumstance that they were just about to commence their daily labor, is mentioned for the purpose of bringing out the significancy of their instantly following Christ. The same remark applies to the narrative of the calling of the sons of Zebedee when preparing their nets.
Mat 4:19. Follow me.Meyer has again repeated the old objection, so frequently refuted, that this passage is incompatible with Joh 1:37, and with Luk 5:4. But John only refers to the first summoning of disciples, while here we have an account of their express call to follow the Lord, in the sense of becoming His servants and messengers. In Luk 5:4 we have the details of a scene connected with this calling. Wieseler rightly distinguishes, 1. between their preliminary call, implying discipleship in general and adoption of His cause, but without any special obligation, Joh 1:35 sqq.; 2. their selection as continuous and regular followers of the Lord, Mat 4:18 sqq. (also Luk 5:4); and 3. the choice of twelve to be Apostles, Mat 10:2-4. These stages may also be arranged as follows: 1. Reception as disciples in the most general sense (catechumens) 2. selection for service, by continuous following of the Lord (Evangelists); 3. selection to be the representatives of the Lord, with bestowal of the power to work miracles (Apostles). The latter distinction was, however, bestowed upon the Apostles with certain conditions and limitations, until after the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:4).
I will make you fishers of men.The meaning evidently is, that by devotion, prudence, and perseverance, they were to gain souls for the kingdom of Christ from the sea of the world. Thus the imagery employed by the Saviour connects their former with their new vocation,their secular employment serving as emblem of their spiritual calling. On the other hand, the words indicate the infinite superiority of the work to which they were now called.
Mat 4:21. James the son of Zebedee.From this passage it has rightly been inferred, that James was the elder brother of John. The sons of Zebedee, too, immediately relinquished their former occupation at the moment when they were about to resume it with fresh ardor. Another feature in their spiritual history is, that along with their nets, they are called to leave their father also. The narrative seems to imply that Zebedee gave his consent.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The sea is the emblem of the world. The number four is the symbolic number of the world. The first step in the conquest of the world was taken when Jesus summoned these four Apostles to become fishers of men to all the world.
Christs spiritual renunciation of the world forms the commencement of its spiritual conquest. This conquest is accomplished by the power of the kingdom of heaven, and for the kingdom of heaven of which Jesus has become the king by His renunciation of the world. Among these four disciples, Peter may be regarded as representing the foundation of the new church; James the elder (as James the younger at a later date) the government and preservation of the same. Upon Andrew it devolved to prepare the way of the Gospel, and its extension throughout the world; while John sounded the inmost depths of spiritual realities. In striking contrast with the practice sanctioned by corrupt traditionalism, the Lord chose as His instruments pious though unlearned fishermen, and not Rabbins. These humble men had, indeed, also their prejudices, which required to be overcome, but in vastly different measure from the learned of that age. It is therefore an entire mistake on the part of some older divines, to speak of the want of proper qualification and preparation in the disciples. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Christs retirement by the Sea of Galilee the inauguration of the kingdom of heaven.The commencement of the new era.The Lords walking His most glorious work.The irresistible power of the call of Jesus in the hearts of the elect. 1. As inherent in the call itself. It is the irresistible power, (a) of the Redeemer, the God-Man; (b) of the Holy Spirit setting us free; (c) of blessed love; (d) of supreme power guiding and directing us. 2. As springing from spiritual influence on the heart of the disciples: (a) The Father drawing them, (b) by the word of prophecy; (c) by their first converse with the Lord.Only the call of the Lord can confer the miniaterial office.Faithfulness in a lower sphere is the condition and preparation for a higher.The call of the Lord, Follow me, 1. an invitation to full communion with Him; 2. a demand of perfect self-renunciation for His sake; 3. an announcement of a new sphere of activity under Him; 4. a promise of rich reward from Him.The call of Jesus to follow Him, 1. a call to faith; 2. a call to labor; 3. a call to suffering and cross-bearing; 4. a call to our blessed home.How the Lord transforms our earthly calling into an emblem of our heavenly.The work of apostleship under the simile of the art of fishing. 1. We must know the lake; 2. we must know how to allure; 3. we must be able patiently to wait; 4. we must be ready to hazard our lives; 5. we must cast out the net in confidence; 6. we must expect a draught.The Divine character of the Church of Christ, as manifest in this, that it was founded by unlearned fishermen and publicans.Christ manifesting Himself as the heavenly Master, in the selection of His first Apostles.He who would follow the Lord, must be ready to leave all things.The four Apostles, brethren after the flesh, and brethren in the kingdom of God. 1. A tokes how true brotherly feeling leads to the Lord; 2. how the highest brotherhood is that in the Lord; 3. how heavenly brotherhood sheds a halo around earthly relationship.The four friends by the Like of Galilee, or the blessing of true friendship. 1. It leads to seeking the Lord; 2. it springs from finding the Lord.How the sovereignty of Christ over the world appears by His making four fishermen from the Sea of Galilee princes in the kingdom of God.If we are to win others for the Lord, we ourselves must have been first won by Him.The ideal perfectness of every art and vocation in Christ.That which Christ teaches He also works in us.The calling of the Apostles the commencement of a new creation.
Starke:Jesus still chooses teachers for His work, nay, He has chosen them from all eternity.Let none fancy that he can succeed by himself; even Christ chose assistants.A minister must be called of God.We must first follow Jesus ourselves before bringing others to Him.Let us not only call each other brethren, but prove ourselves such.He who would enter upon the ministry in the spirit of the Apostles, must be ready to renounce every human tie.
Heubner:If Christ asks much, He also promises much.The Apostles are our ensample how to follow Christ.
Footnotes:
[19] Mat 4:21.[ . Tynd., Cranm., and the Bishops Bible correctly: in the ship; Wicl., Ger., Auth. V., and Bheims: in a ship;P. S.]
[20][According to Lieut. Symonds it is 328, according to Lieut. Lynch 653 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. See the various Biblic. Dictionaries.P. S.]
DISCOURSE: 1287 Mat 4:18-22. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
IT has pleased God on many occasions to give marks of his special approbation to persons while they were employed in their worldly callings. David was taken from his fathers sheep-folds, when he was appointed to feed and govern the kingdom of Israel. The shepherds were watching over their flocks by night, when a choir of angels announced to them the Messiahs birth. And four of the Apostles were occupied in spreading, or in mending their nets, when the Lord Jesus selected them for his stated and most intimate attendants. We do not mean to say, that a discharge of earthly duties can merit any thing at the hand of God, or that he will have respect to it in that view: but certainly, to fulfil the duties of our respective stations is a service highly pleasing and acceptable unto God; nor are we ever more likely to receive blessings from God, than when we are occupied in performing the offices which he himself has assigned us.
But it is not so much to the season when these Apostles were called, as to the call itself, that we now propose to direct your attention. For this end let us inquire,
I.
How far the call given to them is applicable to us
We must consider our Lords address to them as relating, in part, to the high office to which he had destined them as his Apostles. The world at large were not called to renounce their worldly occupations, and become itinerant ministers of the word: on the contrary, the great body of Christians were repeatedly bidden to abide in the calling wherein they were called, yea, to abide therein with God. Thus far, therefore, the command given to them is not properly applicable to us. But, in part, the command referred to their general duty as Christians: and in that sense it is given to every one to whom the Gospel itself is sent. We may consider our Lord as at this moment addressing us, and requiring us,
1.
To embrace his religion
[We cannot follow Christ one single step, without first coming to him as the Saviour of the world. We must regard him as the true Messiah; we must view him as invested with all power in heaven and in earth, that he might redeem us to God by his blood, and deliver us by his almighty grace. We must consider him as having all fulness treasured up in him for us, that we may receive out of it, according to our respective necessities, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. It is not merely to give an assent to certain truths that we are called, but to realize them, and to live upon them. We must not merely acknowledge that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and that he has reconciled us to God by his blood, but we must determine, with the Apostle, to know nothing but Christ crucified, to trust in nothing but his righteousness, and to glory in nothing but his cross ]
2.
To walk in his steps
[Next to our believing in him is that obedience which we are to render to his commandments. If faith in him is the root, obedience to him is the fruit, which must immediately and with increasing abundance, proceed from it. Our blessed Lord came, not only to save us by his meritorious death and passion, but, to set us an example that we should follow his steps. To follow him, therefore, we must walk as he walked. Behold his zeal for the glory of his God and Father; it even consumed him, so ardently did it burn within him: such should be our zeal also: it should be our meat and drink to do our Fathers will. Behold his humility [Note: Joh 13:4-5; Joh 13:15.], his self-denial [Note: Php 2:5-8.], his meekness [Note: Joh 18:23.], his patience [Note: Isa 50:6; Isa 53:7 and 1Pe 2:21-23.], his compassion [Note: Luk 19:41.], his love [Note: Eph 5:1-2.]: in all of these we are to resemble him; and to be progressively changed into his image from glory to glory by the Spirit of our God O that all who profess themselves his followers were more like Him in the whole of his spirit and temper! It is this that marks the Christian: all without this is hypocrisy and delusion.]
3.
To devote ourselves openly to his service
[It is well to be Christians in our secret chamber: but we must remember, that our light is also to shine before men. We must confess Christ before men: and if we are ashamed or afraid to do so, we cannot be his disciples. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. His name, his cause, his people are despised by an ungodly world: and we must share in their contempt: we must follow him without the camp, bearing his reproach. There is no occasion to affect singularity in trivial matters; (that should rather be avoided:) there are points enough of importance in which we must be singular; we cannot resemble him without being singular; because the ungodly world are as opposite to him as darkness is to light: of course, therefore, we must be as lights in a dark place, as cities set upon a hill. Nay, we are not to be contented with abstaining from fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; we are actively and boldly to reprove them; and must shew ourselves on the Lords side; endeavouring to maintain his honour, and to advance his interests in the world ] II.
In what manner we should obey it
We need only notice the conduct of these holy Apostles, and we shall be at no loss how to regulate our own. The command itself is plain; and we must obey it,
1.
Instantly, without delay
[We see not the smallest hesitation in any one of those whom Jesus called, in our text. Elsewhere we find that one expressed a wish to go first and bid farewell to his friends; and another desired to go first and bury his father [Note: Luk 9:59-61.]. But there is no time for compliment on an occasion like this. The call of God is of paramount obligation: nothing is for a moment to interfere with our obedience to it. We know not but that it may be the last call we ever shall receive. The persons invited to the marriage supper wished to excuse themselves for that time; but they were never invited again: on the contrary, the founder of the feast resolved, that no one of them should ever taste of his supper [Note: Luk 14:18; Luk 14:24.]. A similar resolution may at this very moment be formed by the Lord Jesus Christ, if we now refuse to become his followers. His Spirit will not always strive with man. There is a day when the things which belong to our peace may be for ever hid from our eyes; and our God may swear in his wrath, that we shall never enter into his rest. O that that day may never come with respect to us! O that we may not foolishly dream of a more convenient season, which shall never arrive! But let us to-day, while it is called to-day, comply with this divine call. Let us imitate the man after Gods own heart, whose experience is recorded in those memorable words, I made haste, and delayed not, to keep thy commandments.]
2.
Fully, without reserve
[Whilst some are wishing to defer their compliance with this command, others make exceptions against it in some particulars, and would gladly have it lowered to their taste and convenience. Thus it was with the Rich Youth, who, when required to sell all and give it to the poor, and to look for his treasure in heaven, accounted it a hard saying, and parted with Christ and heaven rather than with his wealth. One thing he lacked; and that one thing as effectually ruined him, as ten thousand would have done. O that we may learn from his fate, not to make any exceptions or reserves; but to follow the Lord fully, even as Caleb and as Joshua did! It was a great trial to Peter and Andrew to leave their nets; and to James and John to leave their father also: but the grace of Christ was sufficient for them;, and they willingly forsook all for him. Thus must we do: we must give a preference [Note: Mat 10:37-38.], a strong and decisive preference [Note: Luk 14:25-27; Luk 14:33.], to Christ, above all earthly relatives, or worldly possessions. We cannot now be called to act as Levi did; but the zeal of Levi must be in us [Note: Deu 33:9-10.], and all things, not excepting parents or life itself, must be hated in comparison of Christ [Note: Mat 16:24-25.]. We are plainly warned respecting the terms on which alone our Lord will consider us as his [Note: Act 20:24; Act 21:13.]; and we must count the cost, gladly parting with every thing, that we may obtain the pearl of great price.]
3.
Perseveringly, without end
[Religion is not for a day or a year, but for the whole of our lives. Our hands being once put to the plough, we must look back no more: God warns us, that, if we draw back, his soul shall have no pleasure in us. It is he who endures to the end, and he only, that shall be saved at last. As for a temporary obedience to this command, it would be worse than a continued opposition to it: It were better not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to depart from it. The latter end of an apostate is worse than his beginning. We are particularly told to remember Lots wife, who was made an everlasting monument of his vengeance, not for going back to Sodom, but for looking back, and thereby shewing, that her heart was yet cleaving to the things which she had left behind. Happy will it be for us if we bear her in mind, and consider the danger of departing even in heart from the Lord If our trials be multiplied, we must cry the more earnestly to God for help, that through his all-sufficient grace we may say with David, All this has come upon us; yet is not our heart turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way [Note: Psa 44:17-19; Psa 119:51; Psa 119:157.].]
Address Those who think that such obedience is impracticable
[See how powerfully the word of Christ wrought on them It is no less powerful now Pray that it may come to your hearts in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.]
2.
Those who are hesitating whether to obey or not
[If it appear formidable to you to follow Christ now, think what it will be to be hidden to depart from him hereafter That you will meet with trials is certain: but your losses shall be repaid a hundredfold in this life, besides a proportionable weight of glory in the world to come [Note: Mar 10:28-30.]. Thousands can attest the truth of this O choose the better part, which shall never be taken away from you!]
3.
Those who are engaged in following the Lord
[Though you may not be called, as preachers, to be fishers of men, yet in your several stations God will make you instrumental to the salvation of men. A holy life will operate on many who would never have been wrought upon by the preached word [Note: 1Pe 3:1-2.]. None prove such stumbling-blocks as you, if your lives be unsuitable to your profession, and none such blessings, if you walk worthy of your high calling Seek therefore more and more to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things [Note: Mat 5:13. 2Co 3:2-3. 1Pe 2:12; 1Pe 2:15.].]
And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
I pray the Reader not to overlook the sovereignty of the LORD’s call. What a marvellous light, and what a marvellous power must have accompanied his words! And I pray the Reader to keep also in remembrance, what the HOLY GHOST hath said of those effectual calls of grace, by his servants, Rom 8:29-30 ; 2Ti 1:9 ; 2Pe 1:10 .
Chapter 14
A Cry to Heaven the Divine Call to Service Suffered Nothing for Christ a Picture of Christ’s World men Who Play the Scrutineer
Prayer
Almighty God, if thou dost answer us out of thy mercy, who then can tell the measure of thy reply to our prayer and our thanksgiving? Behold, thy love is a sea whose depths have never been searched, and thy mercy is higher than the sky, yea, no man can lay a line upon all the pity and compassion of God. Our life stands in thy goodness, we are surrounded by thy mercy, verily we live and move and have our being in God. Show us that thou art not a God far off, but a God nigh at hand, yea, within us, nearer than our own breath and our own life, without whom, indeed, we could not live. We bless thee for the house of prayer, the place of silence and of song, the house of inspiration, the sanctuary of defence, the place where prayer is wont to be made, and we bless thee for the wide and open way to thy throne through Jesus Christ our only Saviour. We keep that living way, we are all found in it this very moment, so is the moment the sweetest in our life, and there is in it a brightness above the light of the sun, and it is alive with the most sacred and elevating hope.
Thou dost not disappoint the heart of man; when his soul is lifted up towards thee thou dost bathe it with all the light of heaven’s morning, and when his cry rises from his heart to thy throne, thou dost turn it into a sweet hymn, and enrich the heart with all the graciousness of thy love. We have come to thine house to-day with no small expectancy, our hearts” are inflamed into a great desire, our tongue is open before thee with speech, demanding in the name of Christ, and not our own, all the promises to be fulfilled; yea, is ours a violence we come to take the kingdom of heaven by force. So hast thou allowed us to do, yea, thou hast charged us to seize the gates of thy kingdom and to open them with the violence of importunate love. We bless thee for these heavenly desires, we thank thee for influences that move the heart upwards from the dust and through the stars, and onward to things divine and everlasting. May those noble desires never die, may our life be a continual petition for enlargement and sanctification. We have been content too long to live in the dust and eat its perishing roots; we would now live in the heavens, and sustain our hearts on God.
We bless thee for all thy Bible of love, wide as the heavens and green as the earth in summer-time, and tender as all the songs of love. We bless thee for that inner revelation of the spirit, that sacred ministry which is beyond all words, and too holy for song. O dwell within us, abide with us, soothe us with all the comforting, stimulate us with all the hopefulness which thou dost bring to bear upon the lives of men who are given to thee wholly, body, soul, and spirit. Turn the discipline of thy rod to the advantage of our souls, save us amid the gathering gloom from the last darkness of despair; when every earthly prop and hope is given up, do thou grant unto us the defences and assurances of thy sanctuary and thy presence.
Thou knowest us altogether; the old and the young, the rich and the poor are here, the head hoary with the snows and frosts of many a winter, and the face bright and unwrinkled and young, and the life full of charming hope. Thou knowest those who are in bitterness and sorrow of soul, thou understandest all our life; we therefore come before thee assured that in Christ Jesus all our wants shall be supplied and our poverty shall become the occasion of our wealth.
The Lord help us to do every good work with earnestness, the Lord work in us a holy dislike and detestation of all evil things, and the Lord grant unto us such answers in the course of his providence to our best desires and holiest vows as shall assure us that the voice of the heart does not fall to the ground.
We would read thy word attentively, we would listen to every tone of thy revelation, as if our soul’s best interests depended upon hearing it. Whilst thus we attend thou wilt not withhold the illuminating and confirming spirit, but thou wilt pour out upon us all that we need as zealous and adoring students of thy holy book.
Bless us altogether, those of us who are old friends and old fellow-students of thy word, well known to one another as common suppliants at thy throne, and bless the stranger within our gates, who joins our worship to-day for the first and only time: destroy all feeling of distance and strangeness and exile, and fill his soul with all the light and love of heaven, and thus in the unity of the spirit, with common and undistracted fellowship, may we wait upon God to our soul’s profiting.
The Lord speak to the indifferent man and awake him to attention, the Lord rebuke the worldly man whose heart is at this moment far away from thy house though his body is here, and the Lord grant great rich answers of peace and assurance, pardon and love, to those whose best desire is to know the Lord more fully, and to serve him with increasing earnestness and delight. Amen.
Mat 4:18-25 .
18. And Jesus (a considerable time after the temptation), walking by the sea of Galilee (the lake of Gennesareth or Tiberias), saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19. And he saith unto them. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24. And his fame went throughout all Syria (the province of which Palestine was Considered a part), and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils (demons), and those which were lunatic (affected by the moon), and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25. And there followed him great multitudes (plural, on account of the places whence they came) of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis (a group of ten cities), and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.
We are not to understand that this event took place immediately after our Lord’s temptation. A very considerable interval passed between the temptation and this work by the sea of Galilee. Still the incident comes with infinite beauty and suggestiveness after that great crisis in the history of our Lord. Shall we be too fanciful if we think of the places in connection with the events the quiet river and the sacred baptism, the solitary wilderness and the fierce assault of hell’s chief, the busy sea and the call to service? If a painter seeks a background, and if the novelist feels it needful roughly and with the haste of great skill to thrust in a little scenery and landscape in order to throw up the figures, why should we hesitate to connect certain great events in our Lord’s life and certain special events in our own life with the peculiar atmosphere in which they were developed the river and the baptism, the wilderness, silent, solemn, awful, and its temptations, and the sea, never at rest, and its call to labour, heroic sacrifice, noble toil?
We are not to understand that these men never saw Jesus Christ until the day referred to in the text. They knew him perfectly well. Jesus Christ had been preaching and labouring in many places, and these very men sustained the relation of a kind of nominal discipleship to him already. There was in them a wonder, nearly equal to faith, there was in them an expectation which sometimes almost dignified itself into a religion. They knew his person, they knew his voice, they knew somewhat of his claim, and they had seen somewhat of his power. They were already in a sense followers of Christ just as some of you are, in a distant way, gropingly, wonderingly, well inclined towards him, with a mind half set in all the loftiness of the direction which he himself took. They would have been wounded if you had told them they did not care for him, and yet they would have been puzzled if you had asked them why. Why this is just your case; if you could be suddenly and rudely told that you did not care for Christ, you would half resent the impeachment. Yet you are not in the circle wholly and for ever. The time now came when Jesus Christ called these men with a more definite call to service. This was not a call to piety, to religious devotion, in the sense of mere worship. Understand that this was a call to toil, service, work. “I will make you fishers of men.” He was not reasoning with the persons referred to, saying, “Give your hearts to God, be good in the truly religious sense of the word, leave your atheism and worship the true and living God”; it was not an appeal of this kind that was addressed to the fishermen, it was a call to service “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
There is a time in every life when such a call is addressed to it. Have you heard your call a ghostly hour in which you heard a voice and could not tell whence it came? You said you were moved, stirred, all but inspired, and you knew not what to make of that strange incident in your life. Did it ever occur to you that it was the voice of Christ? Did you ever give a broadly and sublimely religious interpretation to the ghostly ministries which have affected your thinking and toned your ambition? If you have been looking downward for small interpretations that might be written with a fool’s finger in the dry dust, let me now ask you to lift up your eyes and see if the meaning be not found in the stars rather than in the cold stones.
You do not deny the call, but how to carry it out is your difficulty. You have nothing to do with that. Hear this voice and tell me if everything be not in it “Follow me.” That may mean a great tax upon my strength. “Follow me.” That may mean a rash adventure. “Follow me.” I may not be equal to the occasion. But the call does not end with “Follow me.” He who spake these words spake other words which address themselves immediately to every misgiving of the modest heart. The other words are, “I will make you” as if he had said, “Rely on me for the power, puzzle not yourselves with vain enquiries as to how this following is to be sustained and completed; he who gives the call gives the power.” Herein we are entitled to bind Christ to his own promise. We do not start upon a warfare or a race at our own charges. We have come out at the bidding of God, to do God’s work and to do it in God’s strength where, then, is your cleverness, your ingenuity, your self-supplying strength? You have none, you need none: your daily bread is in heaven; go for it every morning, live upon God, make yourselves strong with his promises. I know not what I shall do for the next seven years; they will oppress me, they will kill me, they will utterly put an end to me so would I talk if I were dependent upon my own suggestiveness and fertility of invention. But when Christ says, “I will make you “he never leaves unfinished any tower that he begins. He has not left any star unrounded, there is no useless rubbish in his universe. I will then even live in him, and wait for his word, and when I am most dumb because of my self-exhaustion, he will be most eloquent if my eyes be lifted up to him in the prayerfulness of a confident expectation.
So many of you are standing back because you think you have to do everything at your own charges. You are afraid you would fail if you went forward to attempt this or that work in the name of Christ. Let me tell you the secret of your fear you have not read the call right through from beginning to end. You have heard the words “Follow me” the most of us only hear parts of sentences; there are very few men that can quote any sentence right through from end to end. They hear the leading word, they forget all the other words that give it perspective and tone and colour. Men hear according to their moral condition; we often hear only what we want to hear; our attention is not of that round and complete kind that takes in the entire statement and weighs it to the utmost syllable and tone.
How are we to know when a divine call has really been addressed to the heart? There are many calls that may only be voices that we should not listen to how then are we to know when the call does really come down from heaven, ringing with all its music and filled with all its gentle persuasiveness? The text will tell you the answer is here. Know that your call to service is likely to be a divine vocation if it involve sacrifice. You want to know no more. “Leave your ship, leave your father, leave your nets, leave your friends, and follow me.” A call that summons men to surrender all things in this way is likely to be a healthy and true call.
I never knew God address any call to any human soul that did not involve loss. Anticipating our natural and eager desire to know whether a call is heavenly or earthly, God has always associated with his calls sacrifice. When Moses was called, he counted it greater honour to follow God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and to enrich himself with all the riches of Egypt. When Hadad astounded Pharaoh by saying he wanted to go back to Edom, Pharaoh said, “What hast thou lacked?” and the young man said, “Nothing, howbeit in anywise let me go.” The Lord had stirred up the heart of Hadad, and Hadad went from Egypt to poor Edom, from rest to battle, from assured and continued prosperity to all the perils and adventures of hazardous war. So through all history having digressed for a moment from the text now under consideration.
This man Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, left their nets and followed Christ. Have we ever left anything for the Saviour? I have left nothing. He has given me more than I ever gave him the whole advantage is on my side. If ever he should say to me, “I was sick and in prison, and ye came unto me,” I will contradict him to his face. He will have to prove it. There are those of us, perhaps, who think we have given up a good deal for the gospel; I am not of that number I have given up nothing for the gospel. There have been men who have not counted their lives dear unto them that they might follow and serve Christ, It would be my distress not to follow him. There would be no poorer wretch on all the earth’s green surface than I should be were he to dismiss me from his service. I have never been bruised for him. I have had gardens of flowers given to me because I have endeavoured to preach him, and all times of comfortableness and honour: if ever he should say to me, “Blessed one, because I was an hungered and thou didst give me bread,” if I have not strength to contradict him, I hope I shall have the honesty to hang my head and deny by silence what I would gladly contradict by speech. Let none of us set up as sacrificing anything for Christ we have never done it.
We observe further, from this incident, that Christ’s calls are always to something higher. “I will make you fishers of men.” He gives the broadest interpretation to our daily want. Whatever you are, he spiritually uses as a type of the other service to which he calls you. Are you fishers in the ordinary sense of the term? He comes to you and says, “I will make you fishers of men.” Are you builders of stone and wood? He says, “I will make you builders of a living temple.” Are you servants of masters who pay you? He says, “I will make you servants of the King of kings.” If we have not realized the spiritual side of our earthly vocation, we are still in the outer court, and have much to learn. Oh, ye who heal the body, come, and Christ will show you how to heal the soul. Oh, ye tradesmen, and merchants, and money-turners, come, and he will show you how to make fine gold and imperishable wealth. Accept your present secular position as a type and hint of the call which Christ is addressing to the soul.
So Christ Jesus called men to his ministry, and unless a man is called to his ministry he had better not enter it. I hold that no man is a true minister who is not directly called by Christ. This limits the ministry, but it strengthens it indefinitely. You cannot learn to preach, you cannot learn to expound the spiritual word all your vocables may be neatly enunciated, you may learn the art of breathing and the art of delivering the voice, but you have not learned on earth, for it is not taught in the schools of men, how to touch the sin-cursed and sin-burdened soul; that art is taught in heaven: there is but one Master, and he never tires.
What is true of the spiritual ministry is true of all the ministries of life. Whatever you are, you will succeed in it only in proportion as Christ has called you to it. Some of you are in wrong positions altogether, you ought never to have begun where you did begin. By providences, over which you had no control, you were turned into wrong lines, and you know it, and your life is a daily pain and a continual sacrifice. After fifty years of age you cannot shift over to the right lines. Make the best of your position. You are like men who are working against the tide, and it is hard work rowing, but inasmuch as you did not enter upon that arduous undertaking of your own conceit or self-will, inasmuch as others are to blame for it more than you are, I now give you good heart, I now cheer you in the name of the merciful One he knows your distresses and disadvantages, and he will not overlook these when he audits the account of your life.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy,” what a world he came into! And he knew it before he entered it. If the world had been less” damned he need not have come. In these verses you have a picture of the real state of humanity as Jesus Christ found it. I want to go where the people are all well. Tell me where the lepers are, where divers diseases and torments dwell, and where those live who are possessed with devils, and those which are lunatic, and those which have the palsy, and I will flee away. What are terrors to me were attractions to the infinite heart.
This is the real condition of the world in every age it is a world full of sickness, and disease, and torment, a world in which men are who are possessed with demons, who are moon-struck, and shivering and trembling with humanly incurable palsy. Do we want men of culture to go into such a world nice, dainty-fingered men who faint at the sight of blood, and shudder if they see a paralytic on the streets? Is that the cruel irony we are going to perpetrate in such a world as this? Let us send down a hundred and fifty nice kid-gloved young men, who never speak above their breath, and who are infinitely gifted in the art of saying nothing in many words. They will return, they will sigh for summer days, and calmer climes, and fairer sights. Alas! “We are adapted to certain classes of people of a more elevated, dignified, and cultured kind.” Fie on thee, my soul, if thou art cursed with a conceit like that. The world is a sick world, a dying world, a mad world, and thy little daintinesses, and prettinesses, and machine-turned sentences will never touch it. The world wants blood; no other price will redeem it. Oh, church of the living God, Zion, Jerusalem, called by a thousand tender names, what art thou doing but running away to pick up flowers when thou shouldst be labouring with coat off, with both hands earnestly at the deliverance and the healing of souls.
If you do not buy the world with blood you will never buy it. There be those who object to the expression, The blood of Christ. We have now refined that very much into the Love of Christ, the Example of Christ, the Sweet Influence of Christ. We are now unwilling to say, The blood of Christ. Why? If I read your human history, I find you have never got anything worth having unless you paid blood for it. How were the slaves redeemed and emancipated? What was laid down on the counter? Blood. Have you your Magna Charta, and do you boast of that large paper? What paid you for it? Blood. Show me in all English history a single great treasure you have, and I will show you as the signature of its lawful purchase red blood, heart blood, human blood. Yet, when I come into a church and think of redeemed men, I am told not to mention the word blood, but to substitute for it example, love, sympathy, kindness. No, no. The music is one, the anthem is indivisible, redemption is always by blood, and he who has paid less than blood for any redemption has bought it at the wrong counter and paid for it with counterfeit coin.
Imagine a man coming into such a world as is described in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth verses to do anything for it merely by way of example. It is by tragedy that we live. Your home life owes all its beauty and dignity to the tragedy which is at the heart of it. If we are ever to impress this age we must do it by something more than dainty words and accurately regulated ecclesiastical mechanism. When we go nearer the city we must weep over it, and when we go into the city we must die for it. Other programmes you may write, but the angels will tear them and scatter them as waste paper upon the mocking winds.
Wondrous is one little word in this twenty-fourth verse. “He healed them,” as easily as the light fills the firmament, without struggle or noise or huge effort. Mark the infinite ease of the expression, “He healed them.” Set that expression beside “He created them, he set them in their places, he rolled the stars along he healed them.” It is part of the same music, omnipotence never fluttered on account of weakness, and never despaired because of miscalculation. What is thy complaint, O heart of man? He will heal thee. Do not go in the detail of complaints, there is but one disease and its short name is sin. All diseases are but details of that awful fact. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth from all sin. There is a fountain opened in the house of David for sin. The details are innumerable, the central and vital disease is one.
Jesus Christ’s ministry was thus twofold. It was not a literary ministry, it was a philanthropic ministry in the noblest interpretation of that term, a man-loving ministry, a ministry that loved the body and that loved the soul. What are we doing for the body? I know there are great dangers in doing for the body, lest people should become hypocrites. I would rather make a few hypocrites than miss the chance of doing good to one really deserving soul. But who am I that I should set up as scrutineer into real deserts? What are my deserts? None. Shall we pass up to the judgment bar in the official character of scrutineers and say to the great King-Judge, “Lord, I played the part of scrutineer, I examined the credentials of other people, I plucked the mask from the hypocrite’s face, I stood nigh to see that no undeserving ones got a crumb from the loaf of chanty: what am I to have as a scrutineer?” There are too many scrutineers. I was the other night accosted, walking with my wife, by a poor creature, who said, “I am very faint, sir.” It well became me to play the scrutineer and to say, “All due to her evil behaviour.” How dare I say so? Her evil behaviour? If she was faint it was my business to help her to overcome that faintness. I would rather be taken in, deceived, in response to such a petition, than go home and sit down over a smoking supper and applaud myself as a sagacious scrutineer.
I like, as you dc perhaps best of all, to help the little children. We say, at all events they cannot be much to blame. And a friend, known to us all, saw two little children the other day, cold cold looking into a confectioner’s window, the heaven of youth, the paradise of the undisciplined mind. Poor ragged little creatures! And the friend said, “Would you like one of these things?” “Yes,” and two of them were bought, and the one child was too far gone to feel much interest in it, the other’s face glowed with unspeakable delight. How much better it would have been to have played the scrutineer, to have gone into the detail of the case, and to have shown that three generations ago this disease began its cankering work in the family. May God save me from such scrutineering, and may I play the fool a thousand times a day, in giving to the deserving or the undeserving, rather than be so sagacious. I should have nothing this day if the benefits of heaven were given to merit. He is kind to the unthankful and the evil, he sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust. Thy dinner will choke thee to-day if thou dost not eat it with a mouth first opened in gratitude.
This practical ministry of our Saviour has yet to be repeated on a very great scale. We shall be taken in many times; I myself have been more taken in than any living man I ever heard of, and still they are trying to take me in, and I am always going to learn better and never do. Yesterday a letter reached me from a friend who had been much benefited by my ministry, and he asked me to find for him what he calls some large-hearted Christian who will say to him, “Here, are forty or fifty pounds for you to commence business with.” That is the kind of man who never takes me in, and I never take him in. I am not speaking of persons of that sort; but you know in the Galilee you go through, and the Decapolis and the Jerusalem and the Judea and the Jordan known to you, there are thousands to whom you can minister, and that is part of the Christian vocation as truly as preaching the gospel in any merely literary sense. These are all ministries of Christ teaching the ignorant, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, teaching the intellect, stirring the ambition to nobler daring, and in all ways fulfilling, completing, glorifying our call from heaven. And then, at the last, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” May we all hear that sweet word we shall need no other heaven.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Ver. 18. And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee ] Not for recreation’s sake, or to deceive the time (for he had a great multitude attending upon him to hear the Word of God, as St Luke noteth), but as laying hold on the opportunity of calling Peter and Andrew, and after that James and John, to the apostleship. Our Saviour knew that a well chosen season is the greatest advantage of any action; which, as it is seldom found in haste, so is too often lost in delay. The men of Issachar were in great account with David, because they had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, and when to do it,1Ch 12:321Ch 12:32 . So are they in great account with the Son of David, who regard and improve (as he did here) the season of well doing, which they that lose are the greatest losers and the most wasteful prodigals. For of all other possessions two may be had together; but two moments of time (how much less two opportunities of time!) cannot be possessed together. Some are semper victuri always about to conquer (as Seneca saith), ever about to do better; they stand futuring and whiling out the time so long, till they have trifled and fooled away their own salvation. Let us sit ready in the door of our hearts (as Abraham did in the door of his tent) to apprehend occasions of doing good, as he to entertain passengers, to set a word or work upon its wheels, that it may be as “apples of gold in pictures of silver,” Pro 25:11 , pleasant and profitable; for everything is beautiful in its season, and how forcible are right words! Ecc 3:1 ; Job 6:25 . As the bee (as soon as ever the sun breaks forth) flies abroad to gather honey and wax, so be thou ready to every good work, waiting the occasions thereof, Tit 3:1 . Now, now, saith David, and after him Paul, because (for aught we know), it is now or never, today or not at all, Psa 95:7 ; 2Co 6:2 . Opportunities are headlong, and once past, irrecoverable; Ex hoc momento perdet aeternitas. (August.) God hath hanged the heaviest weights upon the weakest wires. Be quick, therefore, and abrupt in thine obedience, thou knowest not what a great bellied day may bring forth, Pro 27:1 . Nescis quid serus vesper vehat. Yea, thou mayest the very next hour be cut off from all further time of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever.
He saw two brethren ] He knew them and admitted them into his friendship well nigh a year before, Joh 1:39 , but now calleth them from being fishers to be fishers of men. Peter is famous for his first draught, Act 2:41 , whereby he caught and brought to the Church three thousand souls.
Casting their nets into the sea ] God calleth men when they are busy; Satan, when they are idle. For idleness is the hour of temptation, and an idle person the devil’s tennis ball, which he tosseth at pleasure, and sets to work as he liketh and listeth. ( Veteres Romani Agenoriam Stimulam et Strenam intra moenia pro diis coluerunt. Quietem vero extra urbem constituerunt. Senec.) God hath ordained that in the sweat of his brow man should eat his bread,Gen 3:19Gen 3:19 . The Hebrew hath it, In the sweat of his nose; for he must labour till the sweat run down his nose. Which if he do, God hath promised that manus motans, the diligent, nimblehanded man shall not stay long in a low place. He shall stand before princes, as these painful fishermen were to stand before the Prince of Peace, and to be of his constant retinue; as, till then, their busy attendance on their calling was no less pleasing to Christ than an immediate devotion. Happy is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find serving God and man with his fat and sweat, as the fig tree and vine in Jotham’s parable, Pro 10:4 ; Pro 22:29 ; Jdg 9:9 .
For they were fishers ] Asinos elegit Christus, et idiotas, saith one, sed oculavit in prudentes, simulque dona dedit et ministeria. Christ sends forth none to preach but whom he gifteth: where the comfort is, that a small hand may thread a needle, and a little bark do better in a small river than a great ship.
18. ] The lake of Gennesareth or Tiberias ( Joh 6:1 ), called in the O.T. “the sea of Chinnereth,” Num 34:11 , or Chinneroth, Jos 12:3 ; the of Josephus, Antt. xviii. 2. 1: Strabo xvi. p. 755: Plin. Mat 4:16 : Ptol [30] Mat 4:15 . It is of an oval shape, about 13 geographical miles long, and 6 broad: and is traversed by the Jordan from N. to S. “Its most remarkable feature is its deep depression, being no less than 700 feet below the level of the ocean.” See the interesting article by Mr. Porter in Smith’s Biblical Dictionary.
[30] Ptolemus gnosticus apud Epiphanium
If we give any consideration to the circumstances here related, we cannot fail to see that the account in John is admirably calculated to complete the narrative. We have there furnished to us the reason why these two brethren were so ready to arise and follow One, whom, if we had this account only, we should infer they had never before seen. Add to this, that there is every probability that one of the other pair of brethren, John the son of Zebedee, is there described as having gone with Andrew to the dwelling of our Lord. It also tends to confirm the chronological view here taken, that Philip, the only one mentioned expressly by John as having been called by Jesus, is not mentioned here as called: and that Andrew, and the other disciple of John the Baptist, clearly were not called by Jesus in Joh 1:35-40 , or the words , could not have been used: that these two continued disciples of the Baptist, is not probable; but that they were henceforth, but not invariably, attached to our Lord. I believe that the disciple whom Jesus loved was in His company during the whole of the events in Joh 2:1-25 ; Joh 3:1-36 ; Joh 4:1-54 ; Joh 5:1-47 , and on His return from Juda with His disciples, John having for a time returned to his business, as our Lord was now resident in Capernaum, received, as here related, this more solemn and final call. We must remember, that the disciples would naturally have gone up to Jerusalem at the Passover, Joh 2:23 , without a call from the Lord , and by what they saw there would become more firmly attached to him. The circumstance related in Joh 21:1-25 , that even after they were assured of the Resurrection, the Apostles returned to their occupation as fishermen, gives additional probability to the usual explanation of the call in our text.
Mat 4:18-22 . Call of four disciples . The preceding very general statement is followed by a more specific narrative relating to a very important department of Christ’s work, the gathering of disciples. Disciples are referred to in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:1 ), therefore it is meet that it be shown how Jesus came by them. Here we have simply a sample, a hint at a process always going on, and which had probably advanced a considerable way before the sermon was delivered. : simply introduces a new topic, the time is indefinite. One day when Jesus was walking along the seashore He saw two men, brothers, names given, by occupation fishers, the main industry of the locality, that tropical sea (800 feet below level of Mediterranean) abounding in fish. He saw them, may have seen them before, and they Him, and thought them likely men, and He said to them, Mat 4:19 : . From the most critical point of view a genuine saying of Jesus; the first distinctively individual word of the Galilean ministry as recorded by Matthew and Mark. Full of significance as a self-revelation of the speaker. Authoritative yet genial, indicating a poetic idealistic temperament and a tendency to figurative speech; betraying the rudiments of a plan for winning men by select men. plural form of = , . being an adverb of place with the force of command, a verb of commanding being understood: here! after me; imperial yet kindly, used again in Mat 11:28 with reference to the labouring and heavy-laden. and (= sea-people) are samples of old poetic words revived and introduced into prose by later Greek writers.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 4:18-22
18Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
Mat 4:18 “the Sea of Galilee” This fresh water lake is about 12 miles by 8 miles. It was known in the Bible by four different names.
1.the Sea of Chinnereth (cf. Num 34:11)
2. Lake Gennesaret (cf. Luk 5:1)
3. the Sea of Tiberias (cf. Joh 6:1; Joh 21:1)
4. here, the Sea of Galilee
“He saw two brothers,” It is uncertain if this was the first time that these men had met and heard Jesus. Apparently their immediate response reflected an earlier meeting, possibly recorded in Joh 1:45-51. It must be remembered that John records an earlier Galilean and Judean ministry. John’s chronology of Jesus’ life records events in: Galilee, Judea, Galilee, and Judea.
“net” This refers to a hand-cast, round net, but the word “net” in Mat 4:20-21 is a different word and refers to larger nets pulled by boats.
1. behind the boat or between boats
2. one end anchored at the shore, the other end taken straight out by a boat and then in a semi-circle, brought to shore.
Mat 4:19 “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” In its Jewish setting, Jesus was officially calling these men to become His disciples. There were set rules and procedures on how a rabbi did this. The terminology is a word play on their current profession of fishing and their new one as witnesses and evangelists.
by = beside. Greek. para. App-104.
a net = a large net. Greek. amphiblestron. Not the same word as in Mat 4:20, or Mat 13:47.
18. ] The lake of Gennesareth or Tiberias (Joh 6:1), called in the O.T. the sea of Chinnereth, Num 34:11, or Chinneroth, Jos 12:3; the of Josephus, Antt. xviii. 2. 1: Strabo xvi. p. 755: Plin. Mat 4:16 : Ptol[30] Mat 4:15. It is of an oval shape, about 13 geographical miles long, and 6 broad: and is traversed by the Jordan from N. to S. Its most remarkable feature is its deep depression, being no less than 700 feet below the level of the ocean. See the interesting article by Mr. Porter in Smiths Biblical Dictionary.
[30] Ptolemus gnosticus apud Epiphanium
If we give any consideration to the circumstances here related, we cannot fail to see that the account in John is admirably calculated to complete the narrative. We have there furnished to us the reason why these two brethren were so ready to arise and follow One, whom, if we had this account only, we should infer they had never before seen. Add to this, that there is every probability that one of the other pair of brethren, John the son of Zebedee, is there described as having gone with Andrew to the dwelling of our Lord. It also tends to confirm the chronological view here taken, that Philip, the only one mentioned expressly by John as having been called by Jesus, is not mentioned here as called: and that Andrew, and the other disciple of John the Baptist, clearly were not called by Jesus in Joh 1:35-40, or the words , could not have been used: that these two continued disciples of the Baptist, is not probable; but that they were henceforth, but not invariably, attached to our Lord. I believe that the disciple whom Jesus loved was in His company during the whole of the events in Joh 2:1-25; Joh 3:1-36; Joh 4:1-54; Joh 5:1-47, and on His return from Juda with His disciples, John having for a time returned to his business, as our Lord was now resident in Capernaum, received, as here related, this more solemn and final call. We must remember, that the disciples would naturally have gone up to Jerusalem at the Passover, Joh 2:23, without a call from the Lord, and by what they saw there would become more firmly attached to him. The circumstance related in Joh 21:1-25, that even after they were assured of the Resurrection, the Apostles returned to their occupation as fishermen, gives additional probability to the usual explanation of the call in our text.
Mat 4:18. , Sea of Galilee) See verses 15, 23.-, Simon) Simon, the first who followed on this occasion, was the first to remain.
Mat 4:18-22
2. CALL OF PETER, ANDREW, JAMES AND JOHN
Mat 4:18-22
18 And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother.-The account of Luke is fuller than that of Matthew. (Luk 5:1-11.) “Walking by the sea of Galilee” does not mean that Jesus was idly strolling along; he is still carrying out his program of ministry and redemption. “Sea of Galilee” is also called Lake of Gennesaret (Luk 5:1), Sea of Chinnereth (Num 34:11), Chinneroth (Jos 11:2; 1Ki 15:20), and Tiberias (Joh 6:1; Joh 21:1). The most common name of this body of water is here mentioned by Matthew; this body of water is formed by the waters of the Jordan and is about twelve miles long and six miles broad. It is an expanse of the river Jordan; its most remarkable feature is its deep depression, being no less than seven hundred feet below the level of the sea.
“Simon who is called Peter” (Joh 1:42); Jesus gave him the name of Peter; it is a designation with a historical anticipation; it means “rock” or “stone.” Simon is contracted from Simeon and means hearing or favorable hearing. This is the first mention that Matthew makes of this disciple. “Andrew his brother” is mentioned here with Peter. Peter and Andrew, and probably John, had accepted Jesus as the Messiah nearly a year before this event (Joh 1:35-42), and had accompanied him to Cana of Galilee (Joh 2:2) as his disciple. They did not receive a formal call at that time to leave all and follow Jesus permanently, and probably they had returned for a time to their occupation as fishermen, till they were called expressly to be fishers of men. Peter had another name “Cephas” which means rock or piece of rock. “Andrew” is a Greek word meaning manly we do not know whether he was older or younger than his brother Simon; they had formerly lived in Bethsaida (Joh 1:44), but had afterward gone to Carpernaum to live. (Luk 4:31; Luk 4:38.)
These brothers were busy; God or Jesus never called one while that one was in idleness. These brothers were “casting a net into the sea” as they were fishers by occupation. There may be a distinction between “casting a net” and the hauling in of a net the one is smaller than the other and may be handled by one man. Fishing was a humble but respectable occupation one who follows that occupation is usually vigorous of body.
19, 20 And he saith unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men.-The meaning evidently is that they were to gain souls for the kingdom of heaven from the sea of the world; the figure that Jesus employed connects their former occupation with the work that he now has for them to do. Their secular employment served as an emblem of their spiritual calling; again they are now catching fish merely to feed men, but their occupation is to be that of catching men. This was a glorious work for them and elevated them to the highest calling on earth. In order to do this they were to “come ye after me”; they were to follow Jesus and he would make them fishers of men. In their present condition they were not as yet ready for this great work. It is commendable in Peter and Andrew that “they straightway left the nets, and followed him.” They immediately, without delay, obeyed his command; they recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and they were willing to follow him; they did not hesitate nor falter in indecision; their minds were made up so soon as the call came. Their nets were the means of their living, but they left these; they were willing to forsake all for the sake of Jesus to follow him wherever he should lead. Their faith in the Messiah and their prompt obedience to his call revealed marks of qualifications for the great work.
21, 22 And going on from thence he saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother.-A little time seems to have intervened which Jesus occupied in conversing with Simon and Andrew; the brief words of Matthew’s record are an epitome of the conversation that Jesus had with Simon and Andrew. He saw after going further along the coast of the Sea of Galilee “two other brethren”; these also are named as James and John; they were partners of Peter and Andrew in the business of fishing (Luk 5:10), and probably John was the disciple not named, who accompanied Andrew in his first visit to Jesus on his return from the temptation of Jesus (Joh 1:37-40). James and John were sons of Zebedee; their father was with them in the boat at this time. James is probably the elder of the two brothers; his name is the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Jacob”; he is usually called the greater or elder to distinguish him from James the less. He was beheaded by order of Herod Agrippa (Act 12:2) about A.D. 44 and was the first martyr among the apostles. John means “the grace of God” he is designated as the disciple “whom Jesus loved.” He was the writer of the gospel that bears his name, three epistles, and Revelation. He was among the first disciples of Jesus, and followed him faithfully through a long life of service and was the last of the apostles to die. He lived nearly seventy years after this call by Jesus. Zebedee means “Jehovah’s gift”; he was the husband of Salome, the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Joh 19:25); she ministered to Jesus (Mat 27:56). James and John were cousins of Jesus. Zebedee is not mentioned among the disciples of Jesus. The mention of hired servants (Mar 1:20), of the two vessels employed (Luk 5:7), and the subsequent allusion of John’s acquaintance with a person in so high a position as the high priest (Joh 18:15) seem to indicate that Zebedee, if not a wealthy man, was at any rate of some position at Capernaum.
And they straightway left the boat and their father, and followed him.-They were mending their nets at the time Jesus came along; the nets were broken by the great draught of fishes. (Luk 5:6.) Jesus called them to become fishers of men as he had called Peter and Andrew. They immediately “left the boat and their father” and followed Jesus. Some think that they probably got the consent of their father before they accepted the call; they were men and not boys; it is likely that they would make some arrangement with their father about their business before giving up everything and following Jesus. The call of God is above all earthly demands.’ (Mat 10:37.) The hired servants were there with the father, hence he was not left without some provision. God’s call does not bid us leave our parents to suffer, but rather to make provision for them. (Mar 7:10-13.) This call of these disciples was their call to be his disciples or constant companions and not the formal call to be his apostles; this came at a later period. (Luk 6:12-13.) These disciples not only left their property and their business, but left their homes and their families in order to follow Jesus.
The Calling of the First Disciples – Mat 4:18-22
Open It
1. If you could pass on some skill or knowledge to an apprentice, what would you want to pass on?
2. What kind of leader do you prefer to follow?
3. What are some examples of well-functioning teams?
Explore It
4. Where did these particular events take place? (Mat 4:18)
5. Who did Jesus see as He walked by? (Mat 4:18)
6.What nickname did one of Jesus new disciples have? (Mat 4:18)
7. What were Simon and Andrew doing when Jesus approached them? (Mat 4:18)
8. What did these brothers do for a living? (Mat 4:18)
9. What exactly did Jesus say to Simon and Andrew? (Mat 4:19)
10. What was Simon and Andrews response to Jesus words? (Mat 4:20)
11. How long did Simon and Andrew deliberate over Jesus offer? (Mat 4:20)
12. Whom did Jesus see next? (Mat 4:21)
13. Who was Zebedee? (Mat 4:21)
14. In what activity were James and John involved? (Mat 4:21)
15. What did Jesus do when He saw the two brothers, James and John? (Mat 4:21)
16. How did James and John react to Jesus challenge? (Mat 4:22)
Get It
17. What does it mean to be a “fisher of men”?
18. How risky was it for Peter, Andrew, James, and John to drop everything (jobs and families) to go with Jesus?
19. What thoughts do you think were racing through their minds as they headed off down the beach with Jesus?
20. How do you think you might have responded had you been fishing with these men and heard Jesus direct this challenge to you?
21. What are some reasons people make career changes?
22. How do you think Jesus calls people into the ministry today?
23. What do you think Jesus saw in these men?
24. Why did Jesus handpick blue-collar fishermen to be the leaders of the church?
25. For what would you be willing to leave your family and go far away?
26. What possessions, goals, dreams, or relationships are keeping you from following Jesus wholeheartedly today?
27. What does it mean for us to follow Jesus?
28. What does it mean for you to follow Jesus?
Apply It
29. In what area of your life will you follow Jesus more consciously this week?
30. What can you do or stop doing today in order to become a more expert “fisher of men”?
Opening Works of Mercy and Power
Mat 4:18-25
We must read the first chapter of John into the opening paragraph. Already the Lord had met with these first disciples in the Jordan valley; but they had returned to their homes and nets. Their prompt surrender was the result of the power over their hearts which the Master had already won. Their old craft was to be theirs still-only in a nobler form. The patience, courage, tact which had been elicited by their calling, were now to be enlisted in the service of souls.
The evangelist then groups together the broad features of the early Galilean ministry. It was a triumphal progress. Notice the reiteration of all, Mat 4:23. The words struggle to convey the wide comprehensiveness of Christs influence, even across the border. When the love of God came to our world in the person of Jesus, it immediately began to repair the havoc and damage which sin had caused. There was no hesitation or questioning where it was Gods will to heal. Let us always take that for granted for ourselves and others.
two brethren
Peter and John were already disciples, Joh 1:35-42. This is a call to service.
walking: Mat 1:16-18, Luk 5:2
sea: Mat 15:29, Num 34:11, Deu 3:17, Chinnereth, Luk 5:1, lake of Gennesaret, Joh 6:1, Joh 21:1, sea of Tiberias
two: Mat 10:2, Luk 6:14, Joh 1:40-42, Joh 6:8
for: Exo 3:1, Exo 3:10, Jdg 6:11, Jdg 6:12, 1Ki 19:19-21, Psa 78:70-72, Amo 7:14, Amo 7:15, 1Co 1:27-29
Reciprocal: 1Sa 16:19 – with the sheep 1Ch 17:7 – I took thee Amo 1:1 – who Mat 5:1 – his Mat 8:22 – follow Mat 9:9 – Follow Mat 26:37 – Peter Mar 1:16 – as he Luk 5:3 – which Joh 1:43 – and findeth Joh 21:3 – I go Act 1:13 – Peter Act 2:7 – are Act 4:13 – were 1Pe 1:1 – Peter 2Pe 1:1 – Peter
THE CALL OF ST. ANDREW
Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother.
Mat 4:18
Of St. Andrews life and doings next to nothing is known. After the day of the Ascension we read no more of him. Yet we seem to discern in the few notices three points in his character which deserve study.
I. His courage.It is the first step which costs, and the first step was taken by St. Andrew. He was the leader of the forlorn hope of Christendom, the first to storm the citadel of the kingdom of heaven, taking it as alone it can be takentaking it by force. Be not deceived. Only the violent enter therein, only the brave, resolute soldiers who make straight for truth and righteousness and love, come what may, who are ready to lose their lives that they may save them. St. Andrew was the leader, the foremost man in the foremost rank of the mighty army of God. What was it which inspired such courage? (1) The sense of the sinfulness of sin. (2) The sense of the power of redeeming love.
II. His sympathy.He had that which mediates; the attraction of character which draws others together. After the first meeting with Christ, every subsequent notice of St. Andrew specially brings out this feature in his character. It is not that he does any great thing himself, but that he is the means of getting great things done for or by others.
III. His humility.He who brought others forward was content himself to retire. So it is truly said that the world knows nothing of its greatest benefactors. They are lost in their work, or are lost in others. Unknown, these shall be well known. Is it not ordered so in the Kingdom of Heaven? The first shall be last, and the last first. This effacement of life is the crown of the Christian spirit.
Bishop Lightfoot.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
ST. ANDREWS EXAMPLE
The festival in honour of the memory of St. Andrew is one of the earliest recorded in Church history. Its institution took place about the middle of the fourth century; and it appropriately opens the series of the festivals.
I. St. Andrews life.St. Andrew was a native of Bethsaida of Galilee, and was a son of Jonas, and a brother of Simon Peter. He was the first of all the Apostolic band to begin the work of evangelisation. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. But his call to the work of an Apostle did not take place for a year after his first introduction to Christ. During that time he occupied himself in his ordinary pursuit of fishing. In the narrative of the Gospel, St. Andrew is spoken of in connection with the call of the first disciples (St. Mat 4:19-22). Then on the occasion when Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives, over against the Temple, and predicted the fall of the Holy City (St. Mar 13:3-4). He is also said to have been present at the feeding of the five thousand, for he was the disciple who felt so anxious for the comfort of the famishing multitude (St. Joh 6:8-9); and in the Holy Week, when certain Greeks would see Jesus, Andrew was the first to tell Jesus of their desire (St. Joh 12:21-22). These are most, if not all, of the instances in which St. Andrew is noted in the Gospel.
II. St. Andrews death.Ecclesiastical history states concerning him that when the division of the world was made among the Apostles, St. Andrew undertook Scythia and the adjacent countries as his sphere of labour. Like St. Paul, he was in labours more abundant. geas, the proconsul of Achaia, because of St. Andrews wonderful success in his Masters work, condemned him to be scourged and afterwards crucified. And, in order that his death might be as painful and protracted as possible, he had this noble martyr fastened with cordsnot nailed, as was usualto the cross, which was of the peculiar kind called decussate, and known afterwards by the name of St. Andrew.
III. The lesson of his life.From the conduct of Andrew we may learn that it is the nature of true religion to desire that others may possess it. It does not lead us to monopolise it, nor to hide its light under a bushel; but it seeks that others also may be brought to Jesus. It does not wait for them to come to Him, but it goes for them; it seeks them out, and leads them directly to Him.
Illustration
When the executioners were conducting St. Andrew to this cross, and he was within sight of it, it is said that he apostrophised it thus: Hail, precious cross! thou hast been consecrated by the Body of my Lord, and adorned with His limbs as with rich jewels. I come to thee exulting and glad; receive me with joy into thine arms. O good cross! since thou hast received beauty from my Lords limbs, I have ardently loved thee. Long have I desired and sought thee; now thou art found by me, and art made ready for my longing soul. Take me from among men, and present me to my Master, that He Who redeemed me on thee may receive me by thee. In this brave and sublime manner St. Andrew died.
4:18
According to Joh 1:35-42 these two brothers were disciples of John. They had not ceased their regular occupation since there was nothing wrong about It and the command of John that his disciples repent would not interfere with their business. They were fishermen by occupation and were in the act of casting a net into the water when Jesus came by. That was the principal means of fishing in those days; the other was with a hook (Mat 17:27).
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
[Casting a net into the sea.] Fishing in the sea of Tiberias; in Talmudic speech. There the fathers of the traditions dream that Joshua the son of Nun gave ten laws to the Israelites concerning having some things in common, as lawful, and to be allowed of: Our Rabbins have a tradition that Joshua ordained ten conditions: That cattle graze in common in woody places. And that a man gather wood in common in his neighbour’s field; etc. Among others, And that any, in common, spread his nets for fishing in the sea of Tiberias. But yet under this caution, That none set up a wall, which may be any stop to ships. The Gloss is, “It is the manner of fishermen to fasten stakes in the water, and to make fences of canes or reeds, in which the fish may be taken: but this is not permitted, because it is an impediment to the ships.” However therefore the sea of Tiberias belonged to the tribe of Nephthali, yet it was free for any Israelite to fish in it, so it were under the condition mentioned.
Mat 4:18. And walking. The omission of the word Jesus connects this verse closely with what precedes; the walking was while preaching (Mat 4:17). This close connection is brought out more fully in the account of Luke (Luk 5:1-11).As this verse is the beginning of the Gospel for St. Andrews day, the name of Jesus was very early inserted for the sake of definiteness.
The sea or lake of Galilee. The Greek word, like the German See, is applied to both lakes and seas. This sea of Galilee or lake of Gennesaret, called in the Old Testament. Connereth (Deu 2:17), or Cinneroth (1Ki 15:20), is a body of water of oval shape, from twelve to fourteen miles long and about half as broad. It is formed by the river Jordan, although smaller streams flow into it The water is salubrious, fresh and clear; it contains abundance of fish; the banks are picturesque, although at present bare; toward the west they are intersected by calcareous mountains, towards the east the lake is bounded by high mountains (800 to 1,000 feet high), partly of chalk and partly of basalt formation. It is subject to sudden and violent storms and is remarkable for its depression, being 653 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. See Bible Dictionaries.
Simon, contracted from Simeon. He was called first.
Who is called Peter, i.e., so called at the time when the Gospel was written, not at the time of the event here narrated. The common version does not bring out this distinction; see chap. Mat 16:18. At a previous interview, however, (Joh 1:42) our Lord had declared he should be named Cephas (the Aramaic form of the same name).
Andrew his brother. This Greek name shows how common that language was in the East. It is not known which was the elder brother; sometimes one and sometimes the other is named first. Their home was Bethsaida (Joh 1:44). Andrew and another disciple of John the Baptist, probably the Evangelist John, were the first followers of Jesus (Joh 1:35-40). They may have remained with him. Philip was called to follow him (Joh 1:43).
Casting a net. They were busy at their usual avocation, for they were fishers. This does not imply special poverty or ignorance.
Our blessed Saviour, as he was the great prophet of his church, had power and authority to appoint teachers under him; and accordingly here he begins to call his apostles to that great work; and in his call we have several particulars very observable: as, 1. The meanness of the persons whom he calls, illiterate fishermen; not a Paul, that had long studied at the feet of Gamaliel, is first called; but Peter, who was a stranger to eloquence and human learning.
Hereby our Savior took effectual care that his gospel should be known to be the power of God, and not the wisdom and device of man; and that the instrument should not carry away the glory of the work.
Observe, 2. How our Savior calls his apostles by couples, two and two, Peter and Andrew, James and John; to let us understand, that the work of the ministry requries the concurrence of all hands that are called to it; all the ministers of God should put their hands, join their hearts, and set their shoulders, as one man, to this great work; and all little enough to carry it on with advantage and success.
Observe, 3. The work which they were called to, from being fishermen to being fishers of men. They catched fish before with the labor of their hands; they shall catch men now with the labour of their tongues.
Observe, 4. Our Savior’s command: first to follow him, before they are sent out by him: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. We must be Christ’s disciples before we are his ministers; his followers before his ambassadors. We must learn Christ before we preach him; otherwise we may fish for a livelihood, for honour and applause, but not for souls; if we be not first inclosed ourselves in the net of the gospel, we can have but small hopes of bringing in others.
Observe, 5. The promise which Christ gives the apostles for their encouragement:
1. To qualify them, I will make you fishers.
2. To succeed them, I will make you fishers of men.
Faithfulness and care, diligence and endeavour, is our part: but the blessing and success is Christ’s. “Our labour is only in the cast, Christ’s power is wholly in the draught. Some fish cleave to the rocks, others play upon the sands, and more wallow in the mud; and we shall labour all our days and catch nothing, if Christ doth not bring our fish to the net, and inclose them in it, as well as assist us in the throwing of it.”–Bp Hall.
Observe, 6. The apostles’ ready compliance with our Savior’s call, Straightway they followed him. Whom Christ calls, he calls persuasively and effectually; whom he calls, he draws, and works them to a willing compliance with their duty.
Lastly observe, Upon their call to the ministry they leave off their trade, they forsake their ship and their nets, and lie close to their ministerial employment.
Teaching us, that the ministers of the gospel should wholly give themselves to their work, and not encumber themselves with secular affairs: nothing but an indispensable necessity in providing for a family can excuse a minister’s entangling himself with worldly business.
Mat 4:18. And Jesus, walking, &c., saw two brethren One of the two, at least, namely, Andrew, had been a disciple of the Baptist. And the Apostle John informs us, Joh 1:40; Joh 1:42, that they had both before been called to the knowledge of Christ, upon the banks of Jordan, and that the name of Peter had been given to Simon. And it is probable that, from their first acquaintance with him, they followed Jesus for some time, and went with him to Cana and Capernaum, Joh 2:3; Joh 2:12; and afterward to Jerusalem, Joh 2:13; Joh 2:17; and tarried with him while he continued in Judea, Joh 3:22. But when the Pharisees grew jealous of the number of his followers, and Herod was offended at the popularity of John, we may suppose that Jesus, at his return to Galilee, might think it prudent to dismiss his disciples for a time, till he himself had gone about from place to place to preach the gospel, and had informed the people more particularly of the character of his person, and the nature of his doctrine: or, possibly, they might leave him at the time when the Samaritans prevailed upon him to go with them to their city, Joh 4:40. Be this as it may, we read no more of his disciples being with him, till he now found them at the sea of Galilee. For they no sooner were gone home, but they returned again to their old employment, and continued in it till they were now taken off from any further regard to their worldly business, and were particularly called by Christ to a constant attendance upon him. Doddridge. Casting a net into the sea. Namely, to wash it, for, according to Luk 5:2, they were washing their nets, when he called them. For they were fishers He called such mean persons to show, 1st, the freedom of his grace, in choosing such weak instruments; 2d, his power, in that by such men he could subdue the world; 3d, the depth of his wisdom, in providing thus for his own honour, that the instruments might not carry away the glory of the work.
XXX.
JESUS CALLS FOUR FISHERMEN TO FOLLOW HIM.
(Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum.)
aMATT. IV. 18-22; bMARK I. 16-20; cLUKE V. 1-11.
a18 And walking b16 And passing along by the sea of Galilee [This lake is a pear-shaped body of water, about twelve and a half miles long and about seven miles across at its widest place. It is 682 feet below sea level; its waters are fresh, clear and abounding in fish, and it is surrounded by hills and mountains, which rise from 600 to 1,000 feet above it. Its greatest depth is about 165 feet], he [Jesus] saw atwo brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, {bthe brother of Simon} casting a net in {ainto} the sea [The New Testament speaks of three kinds of nets, viz.: the amphiblestron, which is only mentioned here; the sagene, mentioned only at Mat 13:47; and the dictua, which is mentioned in all other places. The dictua was a casting-net; the sagene, a seine or dragnet; and the amphiblestron was a drawnet, a circular bell-shaped affair, which was thrown upon the water, so that it spread out and [161] caught, by sinking, whatever was below it]; for they were fishers. [Though Simon and Andrew had been companions of Jesus on at least one journey, they did not as yet understand that his service would require all their time. The facts that Jesus now temporarily resided at Capernaum afforded them an opportunity to return to their old occupation, which they readily embraced. Fishing was then a prosperous trade on the lake of Galilee.] b17 And Jesus said {ahe saith} bunto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. [It was an invitation to follow, that they might be instructed by hearing his teaching and beholding his work. Jesus called them from a lower to a similar but higher labor. He calls all honest tradesmen in this manner. He invites carpenters to build his temple, servants to serve the great King, physicians to heal immortal souls, merchants to invest in pearls of great price, etc. The fisherman found many points of resemblance between the old and new calling, such as, 1, daily hardships and dangers; 2, earnest desires for the objects sought; 3, skill and wisdom in the use of means, etc. Disciples are fishers, human souls are fish, the world is the sea, the gospel is the net, and eternal life is the shore whither the catch is drawn.] a21 And going on from thence ba little further, ahe saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, bwho also were in the boat awith Zebedee their father, mending their {bthe} nets. [They also, like Peter and Andrew, were at work when Jesus found them. God calls the busy to his business. For instances where God had called the busy, see cases of Moses ( Exo 3:1, Exo 3:2), Gideon ( Jdg 6:11), Saul ( 1Sa 10:1-3), David ( 1Sa 16:11-15), Elisha ( 1Ki 19:19-21), Matthew ( Mat 9:9), Saul ( Act 9:1-6). Moreover most of these were called from lowly work, for such is God’s method ( 1Co 1:26-29). We should note two reasons why God chose the lowly and unlearned: 1, their minds being free from prejudice were more ready to entertain new truth; 2, the strength of the gospel was made more apparent by the [162] weakness of its ministers ( 1Co 2:3-5, 2Co 4:7, Zec 4:6). Of these two brothers, James was the first apostolic martyr and John the last survivor of the twelve. James was beheaded about A.D. 44 ( Act 12:1, Act 12:2); and John, after upwards of seventy years of Christian service, died at Ephesus about A.D. 100.] 20 And straightway he called them [From Matthew and Mark we would suppose that Jesus was alone when he called the two sets of brothers, and that with them he immediately left the lake. But we learn from Luke that he taught and worked a miracle before leaving the lake]: c1 Now it came to pass, while the multitude pressed upon him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret [This body of water bore many names. It was anciently called Chinnereth ( Num 34:11), or Chinneroth ( Jdg 12:3), from a fortified town ( Jos 19:35) and district ( 1Ki 15:20) in Naphtali bearing that name. It is here called Gennesaret, from a plain of that name upon its northwestern shore (which may be a corruption of the old name Chinnereth.) It received its name, Galilee, from the district to which it belongs, and in later times it bore the name Tiberias ( Joh 6:1), from the city of that name on its western shore]; 2 and he saw two boats standing by the lake: but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets. [We may conceive of the fishermen, in answer to Jesus’ call, drawing their boats together to the point where he stood upon the shore. Then, as Jesus stood teaching, they occupied themselves in the shallow water behind by washing their nets while they listened to him.] 3 And he entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. [He did this that he might avoid the press, and that the people might be better able both to see and to hear.] And he sat down [the usual attitude or posture of a teacher] and taught the multitudes out of the boat. 4 And when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a [163] draught. [“Put out” is in the singular, being addressed to Simon alone; “let down” is plural, being addressed generally to those in the boat.] 5 And Simon answered and said, Master, we have toiled all the night, and took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the nets. [“Master” is a broader word than “Rabbi”; it indicates a superior, but does not confine his superiority to matters of instruction. The words of Peter show a willingness to oblige or honor Jesus, but are devoid of hope as to the thing proposed. Night was the time for fishing ( Joh 21:3); and the proper place to cast the net was near the shore; but if Jesus wished to fish by daylight in the middle of the lake, Simon was not too weary to humor the wish.] 6 And when they had done this, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking [that is, the nets began to snap when they tried to lift them out of the water]; 7 and they beckoned unto their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. [This indicates that they were well out into the lake, where it was easier to beckon than to shout explanations. Some think the marvel wrought by Jesus made them speechless, but they were so engrossed in the magnitude and value of the catch that the full glory of the miracle had not yet come upon them.] And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. [They probably ran a second net under the one which enclosed the fishes, and by thus doubling the strength of the net were able to draw the fish up between the boats. A great load thus suddenly dumped in the side of a boat will cause it to list, dip water and threaten to sink. Such appears to have been the case here until the loads were so distributed as to right the ships.] 8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken [This miracle came home to the soul of Peter because it was wrought in his own boat, with his own nets, and concerned his own business. [164] Religion is only powerful as it becomes personal. Peter’s request shows how deeply the miracle impressed him. It gave him that sense of the divine presence which never fails to overwhelm the hearts of men. No man can behold God in his glory and live ( Exo 33:20-23, Exo 20:18, Exo 20:19); and though there have been exceptions where men have seen God or his representatives and lived ( Exo 24:9-11, Jdg 6:21-23, Jdg 13:22, Jdg 13:23, Isa 6:1-5, Dan 10:16-19, Gen 32:30); yet no man, not even the purest, has ever stood in the presence of God or his ministers without feeling such a sense of weakness and sinfulness as to almost extinguish life– Rev 1:17, Job 42:5, Job 42:6]; 10 and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. [Jesus here shows the purpose for which this miracle had been wrought. It was a prophetic type or picture which foreshadowed the triumphs of the day of Pentecost and other seasons when the apostles had great ingatherings of souls through the preaching of the gospel.] 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they astraightway cleft all [that is to say, Peter and Andrew], bleft the nets [but James and John], aleft the boat and their father, bZebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him. {cfollowed him} [The four partners, boats, different kinds of nets, hired servants, etc., and the fact that Salome, the wife of Zebedee, was one of those who ministered to Christ out of her substance ( Mat 27:55, Mat 27:56, Luk 8:3), all indicate a business of respectable proportions: a fact which suggests that the church of Christ would catch more souls if all its parts were in partnership. Evidently when the four men left the boats and nets Zebedee took charge of them. While the four rightly recognized that the divine call was superior to their earthly obligations, there is nothing which leads us to imply that their sudden departure discomfited Zebedee. The call of Christ here marks a change in their relationship to him. Hitherto discipleship had not materially interfered with [165] business, but this present call separated them from their occupation, and prepared them for the call to be apostles which came later, and which required them to be his constant companions– Mar 3:14.]
[FFG 161-166]
Mat 4:18-22. The Call of the First Disciples (Mar 1:16-20*; contrast Luk 5:1-11 and Joh 1:35-51). Cf. p. 665.The account is almost identical with that in Mk., except that Mt. omits the mention of the hired servants left with Zebedee. He also transfers Mk.s straightway from the call of Jesus to the response of the brothers.
Verse 18
These disciples had previously seen Jesus, on the banks of the Jordan, when attending upon the preaching of John. (John 1:35-42.)
4:18 {3} And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
(3) Christ, thinking that he would eventually depart from us, even at the beginning of his preaching gets himself disciples of a heavenly sort, poor and unlearned, and therefore such as might be left as honest witnesses of the truth of those things which they heard and saw.
3. The call of four disciples 4:18-22 (cf. Mar 1:16-20; Luk 5:1-11)
The calling of these four men shows Jesus’ authority over people. The response of these disciples was appropriate in view of their summons by the King. They obeyed "immediately" (Mat 4:20; Mat 4:22). From here on in the Gospel of Matthew we will not read stories about Jesus alone; He is always with His disciples, until they desert Him in the garden of Gethsemane (Mat 26:56).
The Hebrews referred to lakes as "seas." The Sea of Galilee got its name from its district. [Note: See the map "Palestine in the Time of Jesus" at the end of these notes to locate the places mentioned in this stage of Jesus’ ministry.] Its other name, the Sea of "Gennesaret," came from the plain to the northwest of the lake (Luk 5:1) and from a town on that plain: Gennesaret. The name "Gennesaret" connects to the Hebrew work kinnor, meaning "harp." In the Old Testament this body of water was called the Sea of Chinnereth because of its harp-like shape. [Note: See The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Chinnereth," by R. F. Hosking.] Sometimes people referred to the lake as the Sea of Tiberias. Tiberias was the Hellenistic city that Herod built on its west-southwest shore. This sea was approximately 12 miles long and 9 miles wide at its longest and broadest points. It supported a thriving fishing industry in Jesus’ day with nine towns on its western shore plus others elsewhere. Simon and Andrew had moved from their hometown of Bethsaida (lit. "Fishtown," Joh 1:44) to Capernaum (Mar 1:21; Mar 1:29).
Simon’s nickname was Peter ("Rocky"). "Simon" was one of the most common names in first-century Palestine. [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 146.] The net (Gr. amphibleston, used only here in the New Testament) that Simon and Andrew were casting into the lake was a circular one. It was a common tool of Galilean fishermen. Fishing was a major industry in Galilee.
Jesus’ command (not invitation), "Follow me" (Mat 4:19) was a summons to leave their occupations and literally follow Jesus wherever He would take them as His trainees (cf. 1Ki 19:19-21).
"The expression ’Follow Me’ would be readily understood, as implying a call to become the permanent disciple of a teacher. (Talmudic tractate Erubhin 30 a) Similarly, it was not only the practice of the Rabbis, but regarded as one of the most sacred duties, for a Master to gather around him a circle of disciples. (Talmudic tractates Pirqey Abhoth 1. 1; and Sanhedrin 91 b) Thus, neither Peter and Andrew, nor the sons of Zebedee, could have misunderstood the call of Christ, or even regarded it as strange." [Note: Edersheim, 1:474.]
Etiquette required a rabbi’s disciples to walk behind him. [Note: Ibid., p. 147.] The phrase "fishers of men" recalls Jer 16:16. There Yahweh sent "fishermen" to gather Israelites for the Exile. Here Jesus called fishermen to announce the end of Israel’s spiritual exile (cf. Mat 1:11-12; Mat 2:17-18) and to prepare for His messianic reign. Later, after experiencing rejection by Israel, Jesus re-commissioned these men for duty in the inter-advent age (Mat 28:18-20; Joh 21:15-23).
Evidently Jesus had called Simon, Andrew, Philip, and Nathanael earlier (Joh 1:35-51). Probably they returned to Galilee and resumed their former work. [Note: Cf. Lenski, p. 171.] This would partially explain their quick response to Jesus here (Mat 4:20). Furthermore, Jesus had changed water into wine in Cana, which was not far away (Joh 2:1-11). If the miracle of Luk 5:1-11 occurred the night before this calling, we have another reason they followed Jesus "immediately." Matthew’s interest was not in why these men responded as they did but how authoritatively Jesus called them and how they responded. They recognized Jesus’ authority and left all to follow Him.
Disciples of other rabbis normally continued their trades, but Jesus wanted His disciples to be with Him fulltime (Luk 9:61). Also, in contrast to the rabbinic model, Jesus chose His disciples; typically the disciple chose the rabbi he would follow. Furthermore, Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, not to follow the Law or teaching in abstraction.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2. Luther:If the Gospel required the potentates of this world for its planting and preservation, God would not have committed it to fishermen.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
THE CALL OF FOUR APOSTLES
These are points of universal and unalterable importance: and we are required to follow Christ in these respects, no less than the Apostles themselves. This call, I say, is given equally to us; and it becomes us all to inquire,
1.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)