The beginning of the Gospel According to Mark, the previous thirteen verses have been Mark’s introduction, John the Baptist’s ministry by the Jordan, Jesus baptism and Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. These are the preceding events to todays readings, a rather long period of time, summarised by Mark for literary efficiency.
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,
John has been arrested, for many years previous to this, Herod Antipas had feared the influence of John, attested to by Josephus the Jewish historian. Herod has feared not just John personally but the way the people perceived him. John had to do something significant in order for Herod to take action against him because of the possible revolt by the people, Herod does not take this action until John rebukes him for his unlawful marriage to his brothers wife, this will be explained later in the Gospel.
Following this arrest, Jesus comes into Galilee from the wilderness where he stayed during his temptation. This brief sentence does not quite articulate the multi-day journey of continuous walking this this journey actually entailed. Jesus is in the Judean desert near Bethany where John was baptising, the walk from there to Galilee is between 80-100 miles which could be up to a week long walk depending on terrain.
Jesus comes “preaching the gospel of God”. Preaching means public proclamation and “gospel” or euangelion in Greek. This means the “Good News”. Typically associated in Greco-Roman culture with the news brought by a messenger of a new King of a region. Euangelion comes from the word Angelos which means “messenger”. Jesus is proclaiming the Good News that God has come to lead his people as king, a long awaited expectation by the Jewish people.
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”
He continues saying the “time is fulfilled” so the long time of expectation is up, they do not have to wait for God to come as king, the time has arrived. The “Kingdom of God is at hand; repent” the Kingdom is here and they must repent. Most people think of repent as meaning “admit you’re wrong” and although by extension it does mean this, its direct meaning to turn to turn back on the direction you’re going. In this context it means “stop going in your own direction, turn back and follow God because he is here and you can directly follow him.”
He tells those listening to “believe in the Gospel” this means for them to believe in the Good News of the Kingdom of God that has arrived. The current Jewish position is that they are still waiting for this event. Jesus said two thousand years ago, “hey, believe it, it’s here”. This was supposed to be an end to their millenia of waiting, even extending back to the beginning in Genesis with the proto-evangelion itself but many still rejected this message regardless of how clear it was.
16 And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.
Jesus walks by the shore of the Sea of Galilee, this was a prominent place of the fishing industry. It his here he sees Simon who he would later call Peter and his brother Andrew. Both fishermen by trade, they are going about their daily work, casting nets into the sea. This was the common method for hauling large amounts of fish, as its a job not a hobby.
This is not actually Jesus’ first seeing of Simon Peter and his brother. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus met and interacted with both of them before they were called to follow him. This explains what is typically seen as an immediate sense of obedience in accepting their calling but their following disobedience whilst being Jesus’ disciples. They were not actually immediately obedient in their calling by a stranger that they just trusted upon first hearing him, although that makes for a good homily, this is actually at least their second meeting with Jesus so he is not a stranger to them.
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Jesus uses their livelihood as a living parable, “follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” The brothers understand their occupation as fishermen, Jesus is inviting them to join him and they will become fishers of people, they will act as messengers and recruiters for Jesus mission and the Church.
It was common in this era, and later for that matter, for disciples to choose their rabbi’s. This was the typical order of things. If you wanted to study, you found the teacher you liked and listened to them and learned but in the case of Jesus and his disciples, he chooses them. This reverses the normal paradigm between Rabbi and disciple. This is a limited occupancy in Jesus’ inner circle and you do not get to choose to be a part of it, he picks you. This sets the standard for religious vocations even to our current time, Jesus calls men to the priesthood. Vocation actually comes from the Latin word vocātiō which means “to be called” or “to be summoned”.
18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Upon being called by Jesus personally and having their earlier interactions with him during John the Baptists ministry both Simon Peter and his brother Andrew drop their nets and follow him. This immediacy is still to be commended even without it being done by a stranger, they are still abandoning their livelihoods to follow Jesus without even putting away their equipment. It’s like they don’t care about their current way of life anymore when compared to what Jesus can offer them.
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.
The situation repeats itself with the two brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were mending their own fishing nets on their family boat whilst Jesus came by. He calls them just like Andrew and Simon and they abandon their fathers boat (which had hired servants, implying a much larger enterprise than that of Simon and Andrew) and follow Jesus.
Not only do they abandon a prosperous fishing business (they did have enough success to have servants) they abandon their family business with their father no small action. What Jesus is calling them to must be more important or otherwise this would be breaking the commandment of dishonouring your parents. Their vocation with Jesus must honour their father more than fishing with him.
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