Jesus is compelling

Pivotal moments
There are pivotal moments in all our lives when the choices we make will have long term, life-defining consequences. It’s all about timing and when the right opportunity comes at just the right moment it takes courage to take it, acknowledging the cost but seeing the potential.

In these verses it is one of those moments for Jesus and he in turn creates one of those moments for Simon, Andrew, James and John. The arrest of John the Baptist is a trigger.

The bigger story
John said of Jesus, ‘He must become greater; I must become less’ (John 3:30, NIV), and in a very tangible way this is what is happening. Mark gives us the strong sense that Jesus is part of a bigger story; that his life is not random but guided.

For the fishermen it was an extraordinary day. Family loyalty, career and social status were abandoned. Jesus the Rabbi was calling his disciples and these young men would never expect to be among them. They may have felt insecure but they swallowed their fear and obeyed.

Jesus is Lord and he is calling us to be his disciples. Every day we make a life-defining choice – to include Jesus in our daily routine. Today, pray using the words of Romans 12:1: ‘Lord, I offer my body as a living sacrifice’, and be caught up in his salvation plan.

Mark’s story continues at a breathless pace. At this point he merely refers in passing to the story of John’s denunciation of Herod for immorality and his consequent imprisonment (Matthew 14:3–12; Mark 6:14–29). The incident serves as a reference date for focusing on the development of Jesus’ ministry in ‘hard pressed, stubbornly nationalistic Galilee’¹ – a cosmopolitan centre of vibrant commercial and political life, serving as a crossroads for the nations.

‘We must resist the temptation to picture the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as being centred in some gentle, quiet backwater … he began at a place of conflict, threat, racial mix, and busy activity.’² It was into this volatile setting that Jesus announced that the time was pregnant with eternal significance, with the coming of God’s kingly rule by implication bound up with Jesus himself.

This was not something to be easily ignored. It required a wholehearted response of repentance and belief – and, as we see in the calling of the first disciples, a change in priorities. Using language familiar to his hearers, Jesus speaks first to Simon and Andrew while fishing in Lake Galilee, then to another two brothers working in their family fishing boat. He starts where they are at and engages with their world, offering them a very different way of life in terms they would understand. His authority is evident, and they respond without hesitation. Jesus called and they followed.

From the outset Jesus went to where ordinary people were to be found. He didn’t stay in either the wilderness or the synagogue, expecting others to come to him. He went to an area bustling with life and challenge, to the workplace of four fishermen, to choose his first disciples. In view of their jobs, they were likely to be rough diamonds at the best. Is this where the church today should be?

¹ Alan Cole, Mark, TOTC; IVP, 1968
² Donald English, The Message of Mark, BST; IVP 1992 

What were fishermen like?

Fishermen formed a distinct profession. Due to the strenuousness of the work, it was not suitable for wimps or the lazy! Fishermen were frequently rough in speech and in their treatment of others (see Luke 9:49; John 18:10).

Among Jesus’ disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John were professional fishermen, and Thomas, Nathanael and two other disciples were at least familiar enough with the art to go out on a boat (John 21:2). James and John were given the nicknames ‘sons of thunder’ by Jesus (Mark 3:17), which is illustrated by their request to Jesus to ‘call fire down from heaven’ to destroy a Samaritan village that did not welcome Jesus and his disciples (Luke 9:54).

The greatest qualities required by fishermen were courage (due to the dangerous fierce squalls on the lake) and perseverance, qualities very needful in those Jesus called to ‘fish for people’ (Luke 5:10).

The value of fish

A common source of protein, fish was never eaten raw. It was frequently dried and salted for keeping (see John 6:9). Tourists in Galilee today can buy ‘Peter’s fish’ which is sold fresh by the lakeside.

Andrew Clark