Four Fisherman Abandon Their Boats!

Why Would Four Men Abruptly Follow Jesus?

Summer, AD 27

Jesus encounters James and John with Zebedee and two servants.

The wrong way to read the Gospels:

When I was ten years old I had access to a red letter edition of the Bible--all of Jesus' words were printed in red. On my first pass through the Gospels, I read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--in the order that they were arranged in my Bible. I was impressed with all the red ink in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. The great Sermon on the Mount showed me someone that I wanted to follow.

In Matthew there was an example for me: Jesus walked down the beach and found two fishermen, and  said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt 4:18-22). They left their boat "straightaway." Then he called two more fishermen from another boat and they followed him also.

In Mark was the same story, almost the first words in red: "Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men" (Mark 1:16-20). Then he called the second two, and as in the first story they abandoned their nets and their father in the boat and abruptly followed Jesus.

Jesus calls Simon Peter and Andrew, while James and John wash their nets.

A vaguely similar story appears in Luke's Gospel, when Jesus tells Simon Peter to launch his boat and let down his nets to fish. With their partners in the other boat, they comply and catch so many fish that the boats were almost sinking. They were astonished, and Peter fell at Jesus' feet, saying "Leave me, for I'm a sinful man." Jesus replies, "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." The fishermen abandoned their boats and followed Jesus.

Two fishermen marvel at their catch while Jesus observes.

The story does not appear at all in John's Gospel. Instead there is a series of  scenes near the River Jordan where John the Baptist is preaching and baptizing. Jesus meets and talks with various men, and calls at least some of them to follow him.

What's Going On Here?

If I wanted to follow Jesus, did I have to wait for him to show up, so that I could abandon my old life and venture out into a new one? At least I'd have Jesus there to follow, so that I knew which way to go.

And what's this with the sudden abandonment? Did Jesus have a glowing halo around his head that would convince anyone that he was God-like? Was there something that made him attractive and irresistible? Was he using "The Force" like Obi-wan Kenobe when he told the storm troopers, "This is not the droid you're looking for," and they accepted his word because they were weak-minded? Did the Spirit of God overwhelm the men so they had no other choice?

But the Old Testament describes the Messiah as appearing to be an ordinary person. The abrupt changes as laid out in Mark made no sense to me at age 10, and didn't become more comprehensible as I grew older. I did not understand what was going on until I changed the way I read the Gospels.

The Right Way to Read the Gospels:

The story in Mark seems incredible in part because the Gospels are neither arranged nor written in chronological order. Their writers had no intention to present a biography of the life of Jesus. Instead, their purpose was to present the Gospel of the saving ministry of Jesus the Christ.

If you are reading the Gospels for the first time, I do not recommend reading them with the aid of a chronological study guide. If you were to do that, you would miss key lessons that the Gospel writers are intending to pass to you by their careful arrangement and groupings of the Gospel stories.

I DO recommend that you read the Gospel of John first. This is critical, for in John's Gospel you will find many of the crucial things that happened between Jesus and his followers long before he took that walk down the beach.

Here is the story of what took place, based on a traditional  harmony of the Gospels.

1. Jesus was born around 5 BC and was crucified in AD 30.

2. LATE WINTER, AD 27: Jesus began his ministry by being baptized by John the Baptist, and tempted by Satan in the desert (multiple Gospel stories).

3. Not long after that, Jesus encountered several men near the site where John was baptizing. He met Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael son of Tholmai (Bartholomew). He also met John son of Zebedee (who remains un-named throughout John's Gospel), and probably his brother James. (John 1:35-51) These are later described as "his disciples."

4. Jesus invited these men to be guests at a wedding in Cana, three days journey away. There are strong indications that this was an event associated with Jesus' family, for Jesus' mother appears to have authority over the servants at the wedding. (John 2:1-11)

5. Jesus went to Capernaum (a fishing town) along with his mother and his four brothers and his disciples. They lodged no doubt at the home of Peter's mother-in-law along with Peter's wife. This was a social event that lasted just a few days. (John 2:12)

6. SPRING, AD 27: Jesus went to Jerusalem in Judea for Passover (celebrated on Friday, 11 April, AD 27). He overturned tables in the temple, and met secretly with Nicodemus, a leader in Jerusalem. The disciples are not mentioned, but it is highly likely that they accompanied Jesus on this journey. (John 2:13-3:21)

7. Jesus remained in Judea with his disciples for some time, probably in the "wilderness," using his disciples to baptize people who came out to see and hear him. (John 3:22, 4:22)

8. SUMMER, AD 27: Jesus begins a journey back to Galilee with his disciples. (Matt 4:12, Mark 1:14, Luke 4:14, John 4:1-4)

9. Passing through Samaria, Jesus sends most of his disciples into town to buy food. He waits outside town at a well where he talks with a Samaritan woman. As a result, the townspeople invite him to stay with them for two days, and many of them come to believe in him. (John 4:5-42)

10. Jesus meets a nobleman of Capernaum while he is in Cana, and heals the nobleman's son in Capernaum by long distance. (John 4:46-54) We don't know whether his disciples were with him there.

11. Jesus visits his home town of Nazareth, where he is rejected because he is planning on moving out of town. (Luke 4:16-30) We don't know whether his disciples were with him there.

12. Jesus moves to Capernaum, and takes up residence at the home of Peter with his wife and mother-in-law. (Matthew 4:13-17). Andrew was staying with Peter (at least during fishing season), while James and John with their father Zebedee worked in partnership with them in a commercial fishing business employing at least two boats.

13. A LATE SUMMER MORNING, AD 27: Jesus uses Peter's boat to preach to a crowd on the shore, and then tells Peter to go fishing. Although they had been fishing all night with no success, they put out to sea again along with the Zebedee crew, and catch a huge amount of fish. (Luke 5:1-11)

14. LATER THAT SAME DAY, OR EARLY THE NEXT DAY: Jesus walks down the beach as the two fishing crews are tending to their fishing gear.  He calls Peter and Andrew and James and John to follow him, so that he can make them "fishers of men." Up to this time they were fishermen who were students of Jesus the teacher. From this moment their profession changed, and they were now employees of Jesus--or more correctly, Jesus was their Master and Lord. (Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-20)

What have we learned?

As can be seen, by the time Jesus walked down that beach he had been in the company of his first disciples for at least three months. They had spent time on the Jordan river getting to know one another, more time celebrating together at a family wedding, socializing with Jesus' brothers and mother, and being taught about Jesus' ministry. They had already been baptizing other people in the Name of Jesus. They had formed a team in which they had assignments to buy food. Jesus had moved in with two of the men, possibly along with his own mother.

In short, Jesus was no stranger when he walked down that beach. He had earned the right to speak into their lives by bringing them into his life and entering into their lives. Not only does this answer how we can find our way to Jesus, but also by observing Jesus we can discern how to "make disciples" of others who do not know Jesus. And that obviously requires a lot more than delivering a powerful sermon, if we are to take Jesus as our model.

Jesus wants more than just for us to believe in him. He wants to be a key part of our lives. He wants to be our friend. He wants us to be a part of his life.

And his life goes on forevermore.

Let's Throw Jesus Down the Cliff!

Nazareth's Outrage Against Jesus

Summer, AD 27

The Bible story:

There are two incidents of Jesus being rejected at Nazareth. The second one occurs late in AD 28 and is  found in Matthew 13 and Mark 6. We will be looking at the first instance, which is found at Luke 4:16-30 and occurs early in his ministry during AD 27. (Jesus was crucified in AD 30.)

Jesus arrived at his hometown of Nazareth and entered the synagogue, as was his custom at the weekly Sabbath gathering. They handed the scroll of Isaiah to him, and he read a passage that may have been preselected according to a defined scripture sequence, or (less likely) he may have selected it himself. The reading was one of grace and promise, proclaiming release of captives and freedom for the oppressed.

Then Jesus gave the scroll back and sat down. This was the signal that the Scripture reading was completed and the reader was expected to give a commentary or a sermon on the contents. (The scripture was written in Hebrew, but the commentary was done in Aramaic, the language of the people.) He did not disappoint them. Amazingly, Jesus declared that this scripture had been fulfilled in the hearing of those present around him.

But then Jesus radically changed his tone. "No doubt you will tell me to do here in my hometown those things that I did in Capernaum. saying 'Physician, heal yourself.'" They had clearly heard about healings he had conducted in Capernaum. But then Jesus cited two scripture instances where strangers had been healed or remediated at a prophet's hands, while the hometown people were not.

The townspeople then threatened to throw Jesus down the hillside, but he walked through their midst untouched.

The story in context:

A harmony of the Gospel stories show the sequence that brought Jesus here. After picking up his first five disciples near the site where John the Baptist was preaching, Jesus invited his disciples to come with him to a wedding in Cana. Jesus' mother and his brothers were also invited to the wedding, so no doubt his new disciples became acquainted with Jesus' family. There the servants observed Jesus changing water into wine, and there is no reason not to assume that the servants told everyone else about that.

Right after the wedding, Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum along with his mother and brothers, and visited the house where Peter's mother-in-law (and Peter himself) were living. No healings are recorded here except for the mention by Jesus.

Jesus stayed only a few days at Capernaum on this visit, leaving to visit Jerusalem for the Passover of AD 27, and to overturn tables in the temple court. He did not return to Galilee at this time but went into the Judean wilderness with his disciples to baptize people, while John was baptizing elsewhere.  

When Jesus returned to Galilee he visited Cana and healed a nobleman's son (by long distance) who was in Capernaum near death. Perhaps this was the event in Capernaum of which the Nazarenes were  thinking.

What's Going On Here?

Not only do the Nazareth townspeople know that Jesus did a healing in Capernaum, they evidently know that Jesus intends to move from Nazareth to Capernaum. In fact, this is probably the thing that brings Jesus to Nazareth. I believe that Jesus, as an intense student of the Scriptures, may have owned a collection of scrolls which he had acquired over the years. He may also have inherited some from his adopted father Joseph. As the youngest family member, this may have been his only portion of the inheritance. Oldest half-brother James would surely have inherited the family home.

Nazareth, by the best estimates, was probably a village of 200 or so people. Would a town of 200 people today have their own doctor? Probably not, and very likely not for poor Nazareth. The addition of a man who could heal diseases would surely be a welcome addition. But when Jesus leaves Nazareth on this day, he goes to establish himself with Peter at his mother-in-law's house in Capernaum, which was of a size that could accommodate a great many disciples. Sooner or later, his mother Mary probably moved there also.

Another twist to this story is the presence of Jesus' family in Nazareth, consisting of his mother, four brothers and two or three sisters. It is hard to see how a town that small, with maybe 40 people attending Synagogue (leaving out women and children) would have the nerve to attempt violence on a family member. The brothers would have defended Jesus. They may not have believed in him at this point, but there is no evidence of any rancor against him to the point of violence. My only explanation is to guess that the family was out of town at the time of his visit, The brothers may well have been employed as carpenters at the nearby big city of Sepphoris.

Jesus never refused to heal an Israelite, so that could not have been the problem. But when he returned here later, he found that there were very few in Nazareth who had the faith to be healed. Jesus "marveled" at that.

What's the Lesson?

Have you ever called on Jesus to heal you, or to heal a family member? Have you lost someone who you prayed for? Were you angry, or wanted to push Jesus off a cliff?

I was bitterly angry at God at one time, when my family was falling apart and I had no way to do anything about it. Everything I tried failed. I don't recall wishing Jesus to fall off a cliff, but I do remember refusing to look at God for weeks. That was a terrible time for me. It ended when I answered an altar call and rededicated my life to Jesus.

If you are angry at God, seek him all the more. Reconciliation with Jesus is your only hope. And may God bless you richly and bring you healing in your spirit.

Deacon Rolin

Who Was that Woman at the Well?

Was the Samaritan Woman of "Bad Reputation"?

Early Sumer, AD 27

The Story: (John 4:7-42)

Jesus was returning to Galilee, having  recently put an end to the baptizing ministry that he and his disciples had been doing in the wilderness of Judea. Passing through Samaria, he sent his disciples into town to buy food, then he encountered a lone woman who had come to draw water from the well at which he was resting.

Jesus asks the woman for a drink--an unusual thing for a Jew to ask of a Samaritan--and they strike up a conversation, with Jesus leading her into the message of Salvation. With her interest increasing, Jesus tells her to go into town and bring back her husband.

"I don't have a husband." she says.

Jesus replies, "You're right in saying, "I don't have a husband," for you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken the truth."

The woman then calls Jesus a prophet, for he knew things about her life that he shouldn't have known. She runs into town and tells the people what Jesus said, saying, "Could this be the Messiah?"

The townspeople invite Jesus to stay for a while, and many of them begin to believe in Jesus, saying, "We know that this man is really the Savior of the World."

The Woman:

Blogger Sue Edwards recently investigated this woman (link below). Sue had heard many of the same things that I have heard from the pulpit and from teachers, who paint the Samaritan as a woman of bad reputation, for instance:

She's at the well alone because she's shunned by other women.
She's been married five times.
She may have been divorced five times.
She has a secret past life.
She's not married to the man she's living with.
She must have led an immoral life.

While these are all possible, they are not necessarily true. One counter-indication is that Jesus does not tell her, "Go, and sin no more."

But this is a much-visited well, and may be in an area relatively safe to visit alone.
Five husbands is a lot. But she may have been widowed. Some women of that  time married early (13-14 yrs old) and were sometimes married to older men. The Sadducees bring a riddle to Jesus about a woman who was widowed seven times.
A woman of that time did not have the right to divorce her husband, except under extraordinary conditions. Only a husband could write a divorce decree. A divorce decree was for the protection of the woman, to prevent her from being charged with adultery should she remarry.
Do all of us tell all of the details of our past life? Even if the cause of having had five husbands was completely innocent on her part, she may still have wanted to hide it.

The man she's living with is a conundrum. If she was "living in sin" one would think Jesus would have made reference to it. Sue Edwards notes that she may have been a concubine (legal for Roman citizens), or she may have been waiting on a dowry before the marriage contract could be completed. Sue speculates that she may have been a second wife. Her community would accept this polygamy, but Jesus would not have considered it a valid marriage.

So, there are too many unknowns to make a "bad reputation" certain for this woman. What I notice is that she goes into town and the townspeople consider her story worth checking out. They didn't shun her; they listened to what she said and acted on it. After hearing Jesus himself, they were convinced that she was on the right track. The woman became the first Samaritan evangelist.

Try her shoes on for size:

Five husbands. This woman has led a tumultuous life. Regardless of the reasons, there had to be much sadness in her life, and probably much struggle to make a living. Single women had poor job prospects in the first century AD.

So, say it was me going to the well for water:

Jesus says, "Go home and bring your wife back here."
I say, "I don't have a wife."
Jesus says, "You're right in saying, "I don't have a wife," for you have had three wives, and now you do not have a wife. You have spoken the truth."

My first inclination is to argue: "But all three of them divorced me." "I needed a woman in my life." "The women that married me treated me bad." Etc., etc. But I have had time to reflect on my life, and to put my finger on things that I had done wrong, attitudes that I held wrongly, inadequacies in forming a more perfect marriage. No life is without mistakes; none is without sin.

Jesus doesn't want to hear all that just yet. He wants to tell me that he's here to save me. He wants to share with me the Gospel: "Repent, and believe in me."

Jesus comes to us just as we are, and loves us already, even though we sin.




Here is Sue Edward's post on this subject:
http://blogs.bible.org/engage/sue_edwards/was_the_woman_at_the_well_a_bad_girl

Did Jesus Baptize?

Painting by John McNaughton

Did Jesus Baptize Anyone?

Spring, AD 27

How Did Baptism Get Started?

Baptism was a new concept in the first century. Judaism recognized self-immersion in water as a key element of conversion to the Jewish faith. Self-immersions as acts of faith were also an important element for those who wished to join the Esssene community at Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.  

But the concept that a person should be baptized (immersed in water) by another person as an act of faith--or that a person could be baptized "in the name of" another person--is not recorded before the ministry of John the Baptist. In all likelihood, Baptism was invented by him--or more precisely, it was given to him by the Holy Spirit.

It is possible that John's practice was an expansion upon the Qumran rituals, for many academics have speculated that John spent some time with them "in the desert" of Qumran. David Flusser, former professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, wrote that John's theology of baptism was in accord with the Qumran theology of water immersion, in the sense that no amount of water immersion would have any effect without a change in the heart of the one who was immersed. (This is found in an academic article by Flusser which has yet to be translated from the Hebrew.)

John's baptism was a "Baptism of Repentance," done in the context of expectation of the imminent arrival of the expected Messiah. It was done in preparation for the visitation of God to the Jewish people. 

Who got baptized by John the Baptist?

Clearly, people who heard of John's ministry in the desert flocked to him in droves. They heard his warning of the coming of God's kingdom, and many were baptized. This included people who knew they were not right with God due to sin in their lives, and tax collectors, and probably even Roman soldiers. Pharisees and Sadducees who believed they were all right with God due to their close adherence to the Law of Moses stayed away for the most part.

There is biblical evidence that those who were baptized by John were considered to be his "disciples" (John 4:1). This is true in the sense that those baptized were obeying the Baptist's call, and were intending to follow his ethical teachings (Luke 3:10-14). In this sense, even Jesus has been called a disciple of John, for he allowed himself to be baptized by John.

In the broader sense, a fully trained disciple was expected to become like his teacher. It's unlikely that there were droves of people who moved out into the desert to live with John, put on clothing of camel's hear and a leather belt, and eat locusts and wild honey. But there were likely a few that did just that, for even after John was jailed he had disciples who maintained contact with him and carried messages to Jesus. And many years later, Paul the Apostle encountered men who knew only the baptism of John, and were presumably following his teachings (Acts 19:3).

Who else got baptized during the time of Jesus' ministry?

Did Jesus baptize anyone? According to the picture above, yes. This splendid painting was created by John McNaughton in fulfillment of a commission. (If you google his name, you can buy a print of this on his website.) But a closer look at the Gospel message shows that this depiction is untrue.

In the early part of Jesus' ministry, before the Baptist was jailed by King Herod, John had moved his location to "Aenon near Salim," (John 3:23) which was either in Samaria (Governor Pilate's territory) or in the Decapolis (territory of the ten self-governing polis Roman cities). During this time, Jesus had relocated with his disciples to Judea (Pilate's territory) and according to John 3:22, was "spending time with them and baptizing."

A likely place for Jesus' baptizing activity would be the Ein Feshkha cliff-top spring, overlooking the Dead Sea. This site is just a few miles from Jerusalem, where Jesus could be found by people who heard about him while visiting the big city.

Jesus and the Baptist were simultaneously gaining disciples from their baptism activities, but Jesus was gaining more disciples than the Baptist. Here is where we learn, just a few verses later, that Jesus himself was not baptizing, but that his disciples were doing it, presumably under his direction (John 4:3). Jesus closed up shop and departed from Judea to return to Galilee with his disciples.

Did Jesus' disciples who were baptized by John the Baptist get re-baptized "in the name of Jesus?" The scriptures are silent. Were all the disciples who followed Jesus during his ministry baptized with water? The scriptures are silent.

We know about the prophecy of John the Baptist, who said that the more powerful One who would come after him would baptize not with water but with fire and the Holy Spirit. We read about the fulfillment of John's prophecy on the day of Pentecost, when the gift of speaking in other languages was distributed among Jesus's disciples.

But what about water baptism? Was that supposed to continue? Yes, we find, in just two mentions in the Gospels, and both of them from the mouth of Jesus after he had risen from the dead. Here they are:

Matthew 28:19 (literal translation) -- "Having gone, therefore, baptize all people-groups in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Mark 16:16 (literal translation) -- "The one who has believed and been baptized shall be saved; but the one who refuses to believe shall be condemned."

These are heavy-duty instructions, presumably referring to water baptism. Rivers of ink have flowed with interpretations of just what it means to be water- and Spirit-baptized. Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Baptists, and the Roman church all have theological nuances to be considered.

I  will leave these alone, and let the Scriptures speak for themselves.