After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: 15 “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” 16 As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. 17 Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. 19 He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. 20 Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.
The call of the first Disciples is found in all four Gospels but Mark’s version is the shortest. With the benefit of hindsight when writing his Gospel, Mark uses the arrest of JBap to point the reader to the future event of Jesus’ arrest. After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river by John (Mk. 1:9-11) and ‘driven’ into the wilderness (Mk. 1:12-13) he was ready to begin his ministry. JBap had fulfilled his mission of announcing the coming of Jesus. Jesus’ mission began in Galilee because at that time Galilee was more favorable to him than Judea. The Jews broke their religious history into periods, so Jesus was ushering in a new period and in preparation he proclaimed, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel (v. 15)". God will establish his rule over all creation.
It was the custom at that time for students to choose and attach themselves to a renowned teacher (cf. Mt. 8:19) but in this case Jesus chose his students. The first disciples chosen displayed the model behavior that all followers of Jesus should embrace. The disciples Simon, Andrew, James and John were leading good lives as fishermen. They owned their boats and had hired help. When Jesus called them, “Come after me (v. 17)” they dropped everything with no thought of their financial future or their families and followed Jesus’ command (v. 18). The four of them appeared to form Jesus’ inner circle. They were with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry to the time he ascended. Peter was the first (v. 16) and the last (Mk. 16:7) disciple to be mentioned in Mark’s Gospel.
Almighty God, your Son commanded the first disciples to follow him and become fishers of men. We too accepted Jesus’ invitation to follow him and ask for the strength to cast off all that is harmful to our spiritual life and to truly live the Gospel. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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