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.