Matthew 4:18-22 18Now while walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of people.” 20And immediately, after leaving their nets, they followed him. 21And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22And immediately, after leaving their boat and father, they followed him.
The first detailed public event of Jesus’ ministry according to Matthew was the recruiting of four disciples. Jesus must have walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee often during his stay in Capernaum. Matthew gives little details about when this event took place. The text assumes Jesus was still in that area. The Sea of Galilee is a lake rich with fish, but the work of fishing in the first century was labor intensive. Matthew does not say where Simon and Andrew were fishing, but since there is no mention of a boat, they could have been shore fishing using a net. James and John were in a boat fishing with their father, Zebedee. We do not find out any further information about these men. We can assume they were relatively young and healthy to be doing that type of rigorous work.
Jesus called to Simon and Andrew with a simple invitation that has echoed throughout the centuries. The call in verse 19 has two parts. First, Jesus gives the invitation to come after him. He invites them to become his followers. Come (deute) is not a verb in the Greek but an adverb that expresses the need for faith (11:28). After me shows the new direction one must take. The second part gives the promise to those who follow Jesus. Jesus uses a simple analogy that those fishermen could understand, although they may not have understood the implications. They knew what it took to catch fish, but what would it take to catch people and bring them to Jesus? They did not need to do this on their own since Jesus said, I will make you. He is the strength and guide for fulfilling the call of discipleship. Matthew does not record the words of Jesus’ invitation to James and John.
We do not know if these fishermen had heard yet Jesus preaching about repenting and the coming kingdom, although it is certainly possible. Matthew’s emphasis is more on their response. The remarkable phrase used twice, once for each set of brothers, is immediately they left. The radical nature of their response is significant and sets the paradigm for all who would follow after Jesus. There was no hesitation about putting their nets away, selling the boat, saying good bye to the family, or making arrangements to sell the business. Their identity was immediately changed from being fishers of fish to fishers of people. Jesus’ invitation is given to people today through these recorded words and the voice of the Holy Spirit. How willing are we to follow the path of faith when we hear the invitation to come?
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