Hello dear friends,
Today, let’s take a look at how Jesus called His first disciples and see what we can learn from His recruitment process and the disciples’ response:
As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.
— Mark 1:16
The first thing we notice here is that this is a Jesus story rather than a Peter or Andrew story. We see that this narrative is being told from Jesus’ point of view. If this were a movie, the camera angle would focus on Jesus as the main character.
This clearly points us to the central character of the whole biblical narrative: God, not man. We see in the book of Genesis how it starts with God:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
— Genesis 1:1
We see how the last prophecy to Israel in the final book of the Old Testament has God narrating future events:
And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.
— Malachi 4:6
Furthermore, we see how the opening book in the New Testament begins with a genealogy of God the Son, Jesus Christ:
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
— Matthew 1:1
Finally, we see how the closing book of the New Testament has Jesus making His final remarks about future events:
He who bears witness to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
— Revelation 22:20
It’s important to understand that the Bible is about God—the central character, the main character, the one we focus on. This is crucial because, in our self-centered mindset, it’s easy to twist and turn the narrative to make it all about us, as we often do with many aspects of life.
As fallen humans, we have an uncanny ability to make everything about us. We’re often the heroes of our stories or the victims of tragedies, all in the name of garnering attention. We feed off this attention. Sadly, we often do the same with the Bible. Modern-day gospel and preaching frequently place man at the center, with man choosing God, man as the hero of all biblical narratives, and Scripture twisted to serve man’s desires.
In Mark’s narrative about the selection of the disciples, we see a deliberate effort to make it clear that this is a Jesus-centered story. This brings to life the more obvious statements that we later see Jesus make, such as the one in the Gospel of John when He’s speaking to His disciples:
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
— John 15:16
The next thing we see in Mark’s narrative is the introduction of these two first disciples, Simon and his brother Andrew. Mark emphasizes their vocation as fishermen, which is also true for the Zebedee brothers a few verses later:
And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.
— Mark 1:19
This is an important point: these people had lives before Jesus came along. They weren’t just sitting around doing nothing when Jesus appeared. They had vocations, families, and responsibilities, as was the case with Simon.
It’s important to note that a calling to ministry can come at times when we’re deeply immersed in our vocations. There is often an unspoken expectation regarding ministry, that the call will come when we’ve settled in, when life has calmed down, and when there’s nowhere else to go. However, we see that this wasn’t the case for these four disciples or even for Levi, the tax collector, who was at his booth when Jesus called him.
We should understand that a call to ministry can come at any time. It might find us still in school, just starting a new career, in the midst of life’s turmoil, or ready to start a new chapter.
Again, the overarching theme here is that Jesus decides the timing, not us. When such a time comes, we need to be able to respond as the disciples did when Jesus called them:
And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
— Mark 1:17And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.
— Mark 1:20
Another important observation is how Jesus calls them. To Simon and Andrew, He specifically associates His call to ministry with their current vocation: “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” This reminds us that God is aware of their previous vocation and often uses the skills honed from that previous life for the kingdom.
When instructing the Corinthians on lifestyle changes after coming to Christ, Paul tells them to remain as they were, whether slave or free, married or single:
Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.
— 1 Corinthians 7:20
Here, we see that the radical change in the heart of the new believer, one now called into the ministry of God’s word, does not necessarily indicate a total shift in their vocation but rather a major shift in priorities. For Simon and Andrew, their shift was from fishing for fish to fishing for men for the kingdom of God. Paul’s point to the Corinthians is similar to Jesus’ approach here: whether one remains a slave or free, married or unmarried, they all become fishers of men in their state.
This means that as believers, we need to look at how we can become fishers of men in our current condition. Our condition can be the classroom, the family, the workplace, the neighborhood, or a position of authority granted to us.
Finally, let’s look at the disciples’ response. Mark employs his fast-paced literary style to show the urgency of their response. In parallel passages, however, we see that these men had prior knowledge about the coming Messiah. In the Gospel of John, we read that Andrew had heard about Jesus and had told his brother Simon about Him before Jesus called them:
One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. When Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
— John 1:40-42
Here we see that the decision to follow Jesus when they were called was not merely impulsive. In Mark’s fast-paced writing, one could assume that these men were blindly following someone they didn’t know. However, it’s important to understand that these were Jewish men who knew of the coming Messiah, who at some point had listened to Him teach, and who had weighed their options so that when Jesus eventually came around to call them into ministry, they were ready to make a sober and conscious decision. Jesus would later make this point:
For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Lest, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
— Luke 14:28-30
Such is the case with a call to ministry; it’s not made impulsively but with careful prayer and consideration. We need to understand the cost of ministry, what we may have to give up, but also recognize that what is gained is priceless because it is of God and for God.
We also see that James and John left their father to follow Jesus:
And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.
— Mark 1:20
This reminds us to measure the cost. These two brothers valued their calling as more precious than their vocation, their servants, and even their father. Jesus also addresses this later on:
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
— Luke 14:26-27
The choice to follow Jesus cannot be a half-hearted one. When we choose to follow Christ, we declare that everything else is secondary; the main focus will always be Christ.
I pray that this word reminds us of our calling, how we are called to serve and be fishers of men, and how we need to be fully committed, prioritizing our calling above everything else in our lives.
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
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