Four Fishermen


Mark 1:16-20
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

When you’re old (like me) and reading the Bible has been a part of your entire life it is easy to read over these familiar passages and just move on to the next one, letting the familiarity keep you from finding some gems that take you deeper. Yeah, yeah, Jesus gets some followers. Give me a good miracle or an enticing parable. Maybe that’s just me – in fact I’ll just go ahead and own it.

But there is definitely more here than one would glean from a casual reading of the text. As Jesus gathers followers around Himself and His ministry, he starts with four fishermen. In these brief descriptions, we learn a few things about these men. They were businessmen. James and John leave their nets to the hired servants. So not only were they businessmen, they were successful businessmen. They (well, their father) were the owners of the business. He also calls two sets of brothers which means that they are already into a familial relationship and that gives Jesus a head start in terms of building His community of followers. One can also assume that these two sets of brothers knew one another already as they were of the same profession in the same region.

Jesus specifically labels them as “fishers of men.” This verbiage comes out of the Old Testament, from the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 16:15–16
15‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them. For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. 16Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them.

Now I don’t want to pull this passage out of context. Yes, the Lord does equate the scattered tribes as “fish” in need of retrieval. But in context there is also a great deal of judgment with this passage as He also promises punishment for those who will not hear or heed the message to return to Him. But that’s fodder for another study. Anyway, Peter and Andrew would have been familiar with this analogy nonetheless. But the imagery for God’s people as being in need of those who would bring them in is clear and intentional.

Finally, we cannot overlook the fact that Jesus is the one doing the calling, which was outside of the norm. It was common practice for students to go looking for a rabbi to follow. They would then approach said rabbi and ask to be one of his students. Jesus turns that practice upside down. Instead, He calls us to follow Him. This is a huge departure but one that displays God’s economy. He is the One who does the calling. It is He who called you into His kingdom. It is He who provides the instruction for living in that Kingdom. And it is He who sends you out as His fishermen. You have to love the symmetry.

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