Page 39 - Life of Christ w videos

Jesus Calls Disciples and Then Apostles (Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:23-25, Mark
1:35-39 and Luke 4:42-44; Luke 5:1-11; Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:12-16)

Jesus had earlier met Peter and Andrew in Judea when he was with John the Baptist, but evidently after
the miracle of Cana, they returned to Capernaum to return to their trade – fishing. Now the Gospels tell
us that Jesus was walking by the sea and he called to them again asking them to follow Him. At the
same time, he called James and John, both sons of Zebedee, to leave their trade of fishing and to come
and follow him full-time as disciples.

In the culture of first century
Judaism, the calling of disciples
required the disciple to abandon
home and profession and travel with
the rabbi. By day the disciple would
find day-work and then put the
wages in a common bag. A rabbi
who had disciples following him
generally traveled from place to
place. In the case of Jesus, his home
base was Capernaum, but from
there He and his disciples traveled
up to 80 miles away at times and

were gone for several months. Ancient Synagogue in Capernaum

In Jesus’ early Galilean ministry, many began to follow Him as disciples, not just the 12 that were chosen
by Jesus Himself. Some would come and go, others followed unfailingly.

In Matthew 9: 9-13, Jesus called Matthew the tax collector to follow Him, which he did immediately. In
Mark 3: 13-19 Jesus called out of all the disciples twelve men who were to be not only the men Jesus
would pour His life into, but also those who would become the Apostles of the Church. This was done
rather late in Jesus’ Galilean ministry as Jesus knew His enemies were growing and that His time among
them was to be short.

It is interesting that the Roman government farmed out the job of collecting taxes. Regional tax
collectors bid for the responsibility of taxing a certain area, and then they generated their own income
by collecting a surplus over and above what Rome expected. This system invited abuse and those
associated with it were usually very unpopular among the Jews.

Whether Matthew was an abuser of this system, we do not know. However, we know that Jesus came
to “not call the righteous, but sinners” to repentance.

Jesus Saturates Galilee with His Message (Matthew 4:23-25, Mark 1:35-39 and Luke 4:41-44;
Luke 8:1-3; Matthew 9:35, Mark 6:6-13 and Luke 9:1-6)

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