And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew, [Simon's] brother, casting out a net in the sea, for they were fishers.
Jesus has just stepped out into public service, and here He walks by a lake and sees two brothers at the trade that fed them. Why does the One who needs no help call anyone at all, and why these men?
He did not call these men because He needed help.
Not that there was need on His part for such, or for any associates. Weak and fallible man tries to cover his own built-in defects. He does it as a careful, even necessary step: by the strength of "big battalions," or by the wisdom of many advisers. But this Servant had no limitations, except the ones He placed on Himself. He was fully able to carry out all that He was given to do. And yet Mark invites us to notice this. As soon as He stepped out into the path of public service, He called some fishermen to follow Him on that path.
Simon and Andrew had already met Jesus once before.
It is not a personal call here; that is elsewhere; here it is the call to service. I earnestly ask you to notice that. It is not the call of people to find their part in Christ and to find Christ everything; it is the call to service. You find the personal call in John 1, and the call to service is here in Mark.
Galilee had its religious professionals. He walked past them.
We then learn the grace of the Lord that identifies others with Himself in service. He passes by the official priests, the learned scribes and the religious Pharisees. He takes up humble fishermen. Simon is one who can say, "I have no silver and gold," and of whom the world said he was an "uneducated, common man" (Acts 3:6; Acts 4:13). The lack of riches and human learning is no hindrance to being a companion of the Lord, or to being used in His service. Still, their work may be humble, but the people the Lord takes into His service are not out of work. These simple men were busy as fishermen when the Lord called them to become fishers of men. The Lord's service is not to be taken up by those who have nothing else to do.
The word for the net points to one particular tool.
The word amphiblestron occurs only in Matthew 4:18. It is implied in Mark 1:16 too, where the oldest manuscripts leave the noun out. It means a casting net, thrown round the object, and that is where the term came from. The more usual word is diktuon… But the sagene (in Matthew 13:47 only), from sattein, to pack or load, was a dragnet, on a larger scale.
The trade itself pictures the work they were about to be given.
Their trade was a picture of the work they were called to. Casting the net into the sea surely speaks of the work of the gospel, the drawing of souls to the Lord. He showed this by His own words: "Follow Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." His Word had a precious effect. They left their nets at once — their very means of living — and followed Him… It appears that Andrew's work was personal evangelism, and Peter's public.
Does serving Christ mean giving up your job?
His servants need to be made fit for service, and this training can only happen in His company… We may not be called to leave everything behind, as the disciples did while the Lord was here on earth. But we can serve Him only as He becomes, in spirit, the blessed Object before the soul. Not everyone is called to give up their daily work. That, in fact, is the path of only a few. Most of God's people are plainly told to stay in the work they already have (1 Cor. 7:20). Still, the Lord has some service for all.
What does this call ask of a reader now?
Many today claim to have received the gospel. But how few follow the Lord in the path of faith, in that humility and obedience which marked His steps in this world!… The Lord here calls men in order to make them fishers of others. Let us also seek others, so that they too may enjoy the glorious happiness the Holy Spirit gives, a happiness beyond words. We may not be apostles, but whoever is full of Christ will give testimony to Christ.
- Chosen — He needed no helpers, yet the first thing He did in public service was call some fishermen to walk it with Him.
- Called twice — John 1 records the personal call; this shoreline word is the call to service. Meeting Christ and being sent by Him are two distinct moments.
- Common — He walked past priests, scribes and Pharisees and took up men with no money and no schooling. Poverty and lack of learning are no barrier.
- Occupied — He called men mid-work. Service is not a job for those with nothing else to do, and their nets already pictured the gospel work ahead.
- Company — "I will make you" means training, and the training is His nearness. Most stay in their daily work, but every believer has some service.
And Jesus said to them, Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men;
By the Sea of Galilee, Jesus walks up to four men at work. One sentence ends their old career and starts a new one. It raises three questions: why these men, what "Follow me" asks before any preaching, and who does the making.
One writer notes whom the Lord passed by to reach these men.
Here we learn the grace of the Lord that joins others to Himself in service. He passes by the official priests, the learned scribes and the religious Pharisees. He takes up humble fishermen. Simon is one who can say, "I have no silver and gold," and of whom the world said he was an "uneducated, common man" (Acts 3:6; Acts 4:13). The lack of riches and human learning is no hindrance to being a companion of the Lord, or to being used in His service. These simple men were busy at their fishing when the Lord called them to become fishers of men. His service is not for people who have nothing else to do.
Notice what the Lord does not say first. His opening word — "Follow me" (older translations: "Come after Me") — points to Himself.
Is it, "Go out and preach"? Not a word of it. "Come after Me." Oh, the sweetness of that! Fellow servants of Christ, that must come before all service to others. It must be first to Him in our own souls — "Come after Me." This is the school. This is the college. This is the training-house. This is where everything is adjusted. Don't we often leave the impression on those who hear us that we have not been much with the Master? And notice what follows: "I will make you become fishers of men." That is to say, I will train you. There is only one Master of the art of catching men, and that is Jesus.
The promise is not that they will manage it, but that He will make them into it. That shifts the weight of the work off the disciple.
He chose simple, unlearned fishermen with just what they had and called them to follow Him, promising that He would make them into instruments He could use in the wonderful work of saving the souls of men. Their preparation and training for this work was to be gained by following Him each day, by being in His company and learning from Him. He would teach them all that was necessary and would make them real soul winners for Himself.
Fishing is a learned skill. That picture carries a warning about how we handle people.
I am sure you know the pains, the care, the patience, and everything else needed to make a man a really skilful angler. And don't you know how difficult a thing it is to win people? Isn't it too often the case that we try to drive them instead? It is very easy to wound, to repel, to knock down. But to win — and may I add, to warm, and to catch — these are the words here in the gospel.
Another writer asks how those men actually fished.
When they caught fish, did they wait for the fish to swim into their net? Or did they cast it where the fish were and close it round them? Or when the net was full, did they say, we will not throw it again into deeper and untried waters? And shall they act less wisely or energetically when serving a divine Master, and fishing for men? Most certainly not.
One commentator draws out how wide the phrase "fishers of men" is.
From being fishermen in the ordinary sense of the word, He could make them fishers of men. They were Galilean fishermen, with none of the learning that the scribes and other educated men of the nation would recognise (Acts 4:13). He called them to a work that no member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, and no great teacher of the law had ever entered. "Fishers of men" is a very wide term, for it could include work among Gentiles as well as among Jews.
One writer traces that leaving back to its source, and notes that even family ties gave way.
The grace which called them gave them power to leave earthly things behind and to come after Him. They left behind boats and nets, their trade as fishermen, and even their father Zebedee. What a blessed place — to serve the Lord Christ and give obedience to His call. We must own Him as Lord and follow Him in His own path of faith, obedience and humility. To seek others and bring them to Himself is the service He still calls us to.
Another writer applies the call to readers who cannot leave everything behind.
Perhaps we cannot literally leave everything, as the first disciples did. But we can walk in the spirit in which they walked, and value Christ as everything for our souls. The Lord here calls men to make them fishers of others. Let us also seek others, so that they too may enjoy the glorious happiness the Holy Spirit gives. We may not be apostles. But whoever is full of Christ will bear witness to Christ. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
- Chosen — He passed by priests, scribes and Pharisees and took up fishermen. No money and no education ruled them out. But they were not idle men with time on their hands.
- Company — "Follow me" comes before any commission. His company is the school, and hearers can tell when a servant has not been much with the Master.
- Craft — "I will make you" puts the training in His hands. Only He knows the art. He teaches us to win people rather than drive them, and to cast the net where the fish are.
- Cost — The grace that called them also gave them power to leave boats, nets, trade and father behind.
- Continuation — "Fishers of men" was wide enough to reach Gentiles as well as Jews. Not everyone leaves all, but whoever is full of Christ will speak of Christ.
and straightway leaving their trawl-nets they followed him.
Mark's Gospel presents Jesus as the Servant of God. Here that Servant walks by the sea and calls working men away from their trade. One word rules the verse — immediately. Why these men? What did it cost them? Does the same call still reach people at work today?
The speed in this verse belongs first to Christ and only then to the two pairs of brothers by the sea:
He Himself was the great Fisher of men, as the two incidents in verses 16 to 20 show. He knew whom He would call to His service. Seeing the sons of Zebedee, He called them "immediately." Of the sons of Jonas we read that when He called them, "immediately they left their nets and followed Him." As the great Servant of God, He was prompt in issuing His call: as under-servants they were prompt to obey.
That word keeps coming back through this Gospel, and on purpose:
Speed or diligence marks this service at once, and that on purpose. A servant should be known by his diligence. So we find the word "at once," or "immediately," so common in the first chapter.
Notice whom He passed over, whom He picked, and what these men were doing when the call came:
He passes by the official priests, the learned scribes, and the religious Pharisees, and takes up humble fishermen. Simon is one who can say, "I have no silver and gold," and of whom the world said he was an "uneducated, common man" (Acts 3:6; Acts 4:13). Having no riches and no learning is no barrier to walking with the Lord or serving Him. Still, however humble their trade, the people the Lord takes into His service are not out of work. These simple men were working as fishermen when He called them to become fishers of men. His service is not for people who have nothing else to do.
These four already believed in Him. This call goes further:
It is one thing for Christ to reveal Himself to a soul; it is another to make that soul a fisher of men. It takes a special faith to act on the souls of others. Simple saving faith takes Christ for one's own soul. That is not at all the same thing as understanding the call of Christ, which summons a person away from all the natural objects of this life to do His work… They had already believed in Him and had eternal life. But even with eternal life a man may be following a good deal of the world. Taken up with what makes his own life comfortable here below, he stays one more member of the society of men.
Their obedience was not grim resolve. It came from what they had seen and heard:
Boats, nets, fish, natural ties — all given up without hesitation and without reserve. This was not cold duty or legal service. It was the grand and necessary result of having seen the glory and heard the voice of the Son of God.
So must every believer walk away from a job? One writer answers directly:
We may not be called to leave everything in a literal way, as the disciples did when the Lord was here on earth. Yet we can serve Him only as He becomes, in spirit, the blessed Object before the soul. Not all are called to give up their daily work. That, in fact, is the path of only a few. Most of God's people are plainly told to stay in their earthly calling (1 Cor. 7:20). Still, the Lord has some service for all… That service will mean giving up everything that would entangle us in the affairs of this life, and we can carry it out only as we keep near to Him.
One writer sets these four names beside the founders of the great empires:
Founders of world-empires there have been; great as the world counts greatness. But where are Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and their founders? The names of Simon and Andrew, of James and John, however, are cut into the rock foundations of that church which the very gates of hades shall not overcome… In the dazzling vision of the prophet on Patmos we see twelve names only (Rev. 21:14). They include these four, once scratched as proof of ownership on a couple of fishing boats on the Galilean lake.
- Immediately. The Servant issues His call without delay, and His under-servants answer without delay; the same word marks both.
- Grace calls. He passed over priests, scribes and Pharisees and took up fishermen — no money and no learning stood in the way.
- Grace moves. They dropped the nets without hesitation. It was not cold duty. They had seen the glory and heard the voice of the Son of God.
- Grace claims. They already believed. This call summoned them away from the natural objects of life. Most believers are told to stay in their trade, and to drop whatever entangles them.
- Grace crowns. Egypt, Babylon and Rome are gone. Names once scratched on fishing boats stand among the twelve in the vision of the holy city.