Jesus Calls the First Disciples | Mark 1:16-20
Thursday | September 10, 2020 |
Mark 1Jesus Calls the First Disciples | Mark 1:16-20
By Krista Vaughn
Mark 1:16-2016 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.”[f] 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.
A few things to consider in studying the bible consists of understanding the context of the scripture, the culture at the time, and the chronological order of information. In this case of Jesus calling His first disciples, the focus is on Simon (who is later called Peter or Cephas), Andrew (the brother of Simon), James and John (the sons of Zebedee). All of the four gospels mention this encounter varying from perspective, and I would like to bring attention to the mention of how “immediate” the encounter was.
There are two different perspectives of immediacy I would like to discuss.
First in looking at context, in both Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark 1:16-20, the disciples mentioned that Jesus’ followers left their career and current lifestyles to directly follow Jesus. Were they complete strangers to Jesus? Well, no. Let’s look at this chronologically.
In John 1:35-42, John brings in a timeline detail to the scenario. In this part of the gospel, we learn that Andrew was already a disciple of John the Baptist before his actual encounter with Jesus Christ. And as O’neill Trull mentioned in a previous previously, John the Baptist was the “one who prepared people to encounter Jesus.” As we continue in the Book of John, Andrew followed Jesus and then told his brother, Simon about Jesus. Thus, began their discipleship, although it was only part-time.
In this, we see the immediacy in believing in Jesus and wanting to follow Him.
Second, we further our study in chronology and context as we now dapple into the culture of the time with the Gospel of Luke 5:1-11. Luke brings to us the view of the disciples’ jobs at the time. They were fisherman. In this encounter, Jesus shows them a miracle, a representation of stability for their families, as well as an invitation to delve deeper into their discipleship and become a full-time disciple while literally following Jesus where He goes. They then take on the task of learning how to be fishers of men.
In this, we see the immediacy to delve deeper into their relationship.
Where does your immediacy stand?
Through this understanding, we now know that the disciples immediately followed Jesus knowing it was to increase their discipleship after the preparation John the Baptist made for them.
Where does your immediacy stand?
Is God asking you to follow Him or is God asking you to go deeper?
In either case, we are here for you!
If you want to see the in-depth version of this study, please check out what John W. Schoenheit discusses at https://thesowermagazine.com/the-calling-of-the-disciples/
I would not have understood it as much without his guidance.
AuthorKrista Vaughn
