Jesus Calls Four Fishermen
Mark 1:14-20
Good News Translation (GNT)
*************************
14 After John had been put in prison, Jesus went
to Galilee and preached the Good News from
God.
15 "The right time has come," he said, "and the
Kingdom of God is near!
Turn away from your sins and believe the
Good News!"
16 As Jesus walked along the shore of
Lake Galilee, he saw two fishermen, Simon
and his brother Andrew, catching fish with a
net.
17 Jesus said to them, "Come with me, and I will
teach you to catch people."
18 At once they left their nets and went with him.
19 He went a little farther on and saw two other
brothers, James and John, the sons of
Zebedee. They were in their boat getting their
nets ready.
20 As soon as Jesus saw them, he called them;
they left their father Zebedee in the boat with
the hired men and went with Jesus.
*************************
Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)
The Calling of the First Disciples
Mark 1:14-20
After John was put in prison, Jesus returned to Galilee and began to preach.
His preaching was simple: "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near".
The kingdom of God is God's presence, power, and rule in men's hearts and in society.
In a way, Christ was Himself God's kingdom which had come to earth.
Through Him the power of evil was broken and men began experiencing joy and peace and healing.
Christ was the embodiment of God's kingdom.
When men and women accept Jesus, they become citizens of the kingdom of God.
Jesus came to establish a new nation of believers; whose ruler is God.
Therefore, Jesus says to us, "Repent and believe the good news" (verse 15).
The first step always is to repent.
Repentance is not only feeling sorry for our sins; it is also turning from our sins.
To truly repent of a sin means that we cease committing that sin.
Otherwise our repentance is false.
When we have repented, we are ready for the second step: to believe in the Saviour Jesus Christ.
To "believe," that is, to have faith in Christ means not only that we accept Him as Lord of our lives but that we also obey Him.
If we say we believe in Jesus but do not obey Him, we are liars
(see Matthew 7:21; James 2:14,17,20-24;
1 John 2:4).
The good news is this:
Jesus has come into the world to save sinners and to give all who believe in Him eternal life.
This, in short, is the Gospel of Christ.
Thus Jesus gives everyone a choice:
to be a citizen of the kingdom of God or to be a citizen of the kingdom of Satan;
to believe and receive eternal life, or to disbelieve and receive eternal punishment.
In this life there are only two choices.
Mark here describes how Jesus chose His first four disciples.
First He met Simon and his brother Andrew fishing in the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus said, "Come, follow me."
At once they left their work and followed Him (verse 18).
In the same way, He called James and John (not John the Baptist); they, too, immediately arose, left their family, their boat, their work, and followed Him
Like Abraham, they didn't know where they were going; but they knew who they were going with.
Earlier, Simon and Andrew had met Jesus and believed in Him.
Now Jesus was calling them to be His close disciples.
He was telling them to leave everything and follow Him.
In the same way, Jesus also calls us to be His disciples.
He says to us only this: "Come, follow me."
Like Peter and Andrew, James and John, let us, too, rise and without a word of argument follow Jesus.
Jesus said to Simon (Peter) and Andrew, "I will make you fishers of men" (verse 17).
Jesus took their natural abilities (as fishermen) and transformed them into something useful for the kingdom of God.
In the same way, Jesus takes us and our natural gifts and abilities and transforms us into useful disciples fit for the work He has appointed us to do.
Finally, we can see that these disciples were ordinary men - fishermen.
They were poor men.
They had to work hard and endure hardship.
They were uneducated.
They were from Galilee, the most backward province of Israel.
Yet Jesus chose these men to help establish His kingdom.
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