And they, having left their trawl-nets, immediately followed him.
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Matthew 4:20 — "And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." — records one of the most decisive moments in the calling of the first disciples. The weight of the verse rests on a single word: "straightway."
A second call, not the first meeting
The disciples' immediate response makes sense only when you realise this was not the first time Peter and Andrew had met the Lord. William Kelly is careful to point this out:
William Kelly"It would be a mistake to suppose that this was our Lord's first acquaintance with them. They knew the Lord long before. How do we know this? John tells us. If you examine the point, you will find that all the incidents in the first four chapters of John's Gospel occurred before this scene."
Kelly then draws a distinction that is essential to understanding verse 20:
"It is one thing for Christ to reveal Himself to a soul; it is another to make that soul a fisher of men. There is a special faith needed in order to act upon the souls of others. The simple saving faith that appropriates Christ for one's own soul is not at all the same thing as understanding the call of Christ summoning one away from all the natural objects of this life to do His work."
The disciples already believed. What Matthew 4:20 records is something further — the surrender of their livelihood, their ease, and their natural ties at the word of the Messiah.
The absolute claim of Christ's call
Kelly presses the point that Christ's call overrides every other obligation:
"Even with everlasting life a man may be following a good deal of the world, and, being occupied with what contributes to his own ease here below, remain a member of the society of men. Many that are godly still continue mixed up with the world; but in order for the Lord to make them to be the companions of His own service, and to fit them for carrying out His own objects, He must call them away. But they have got a father: what is to be done? No matter; the call of Christ is paramount to every other claim."
And again, on the faith that made the parting possible:
"They were casting a net into the sea; and He saith unto them, 'Follow Me.' But they might have caught ever so much fish: what of that? 'They straightway left their nets, and followed Him.' ... They knew who Christ was; that He was the Messiah, the blessed object of hope that God had from the beginning promised to the fathers... Could they not trust all they had in His hands, and confide in His care for their father? Surely they could. The very same faith which gave them to follow Jesus, not alone as a giver of everlasting life, but as One to whom they now belonged as servants, could enable them to confide all that they had pertaining to them in this world into His keeping."
The constraint of His love
Edward Dennett, writing on Mary Magdalene, reaches back to this very scene to illustrate the irresistible power of the Lord's voice:
Edward Dennett"So when Jesus saw Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, and called them, they straightway left their nets and followed Him. For He who called, as with the Magdalene, threw the constraint of His love around them, and they could not but follow. Blessed moment when the call of Jesus reaches the heart!"
This is the inner side of the "straightway." Outwardly it looks like sudden obedience; inwardly it is the pull of a love already known and trusted.
The fruit of an earlier introduction
A. J. Pollock ties the two scenes together — the private meeting in John 1 and the public call in Matthew 4 — as introduction and result:
A. J. Pollock"In John 1 we get the introduction, in Matthew 4 we get the result... Then we find Andrew and Peter evidently retracing their steps to their homes by Galilee's lake and following their calling of fishermen. Then the wonderful day arrived, when our Lord called them to follow Him, and they 'straightway' responded. What a blessed life-long result of their introduction!"
Pollock adds a quiet but searching word behind the outward narrative:
"John 1 and Matthew 4 give us facts, as it were on the surface, but we know there must have been the Spirit's work out of sight with these men that led them to the happy response, the blessed sequel of lives surrendered to their Lord."
The cost, seen alongside Zebedee's sons
G. C. Willis, commenting on the next two verses where James and John leave not only their nets but their father, sets the scene of verse 20 in a single breath with what follows, and puts the response to music:
G. C. Willis"'I heard His call, Come, Follow! That was all. My gold grew dim, my soul went after Him, I rose and followed, That was all. Who would not follow, if they heard His call?'"
He then applies it pointedly to every believer:
"This is the day of our Lord's rejection. This is the day when we may share His cup of suffering and sorrow. Seek not wealth or power for your children... Far better, like James and John, to forsake all and follow Him."
Synthesis
The force of Matthew 4:20 lies in the word straightway. It is not the rash act of men meeting Jesus for the first time, but the ripened obedience of men in whom the Spirit had already been working since their encounter recorded in John 1. Between that earlier day and this one they had returned to their nets; the Lord now calls them out permanently — away from trade, from ease, from father and kin — into the fellowship of His own rejection and the work of gathering souls. Two things make their response possible. First, the person of the One who calls: He is the Messiah, and His claim is paramount to every natural tie, including the care of their father, whom they could safely leave in His keeping. Second, the constraint of His love: as Dennett puts it, He "threw the constraint of His love around them, and they could not but follow." The verse therefore stands as a quiet pattern for every disciple: saving faith is one thing; the call to leave the nets and follow is another, and it is answered not by reluctant calculation but straightway, because the heart has already been won.