#1215 Matthew 4 Part 3 Fishers Of Men

 

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Matthew 4: 18-25 ESV

Matthew 4: 18-25

19So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him. 20So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.” “Go on back,” Elijah replied, “for what have I done to you?” 21So Elisha turned back from him, took his pair of oxen, and slaughtered them. With the oxen’s equipment, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow and serve Elijah.… 1 Kings 19: 19-21

…14“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees. 15But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ 16Now, therefore, hear the word of the LORD. You say: ‘Do not prophesy against Israel; do not preach against the house of Isaac.’… Amos 7: 14-16

He saw two brothers - Jesus has started His ministry, and as His grows, that of John the Baptist diminishes. He has been baptized by John, and later, John, on another visit from my Lord, called Him the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world. He left the baptism to be tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and we have seen Him preaching the gospel now. So now we will see Him in His role as master, Rabbi, and He will call His disciples to Him. This is an important part of ministry, pouring your life into those young men who will continue after you, that will shepherd your flock. This is not the first time He has met Peter and Andrew, but here is their calling, and I don't believe for a moment that they understand the full magnitude of this.

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). John 1: 35-42

Simon (who is called Peter) - He is also referred to as Cephas, which is the Aramaic form of his name, and it means "rock". 

And Andrew his brother - Peter's brother is the one who originally understood Jesus to be the Messiah, and brought his brother to meet Him. Andrew is an evangelist right out of the gate. 

Casting a net into the sea - I have a cast net, and I have taught my daughters how to use one, but we do it for fun, to catch bait to use for larger fish. I rarely use anything over an 8 foot net, which is the measure of it's radius, but I have seen commercial mullet fishermen who can throw nets almost twice as long. They use a different method, but doing this all day would get to your body after some years. They have the water though, even with it's turmoil, windy days, bad weather, you're still outside, you're fishing and enjoying nature. This is what they know, their livelihood, and you have to be at it often, there are no sabbaticals  from this type of work except maybe for down seasons when they would switch to other work; these weren't rich or learned men. 

Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men - Just like Elisha was called by Elijah, away from plowing his field, like Moses, who was reluctant to go, was called away from the rural, peaceful life of a shepherd. Amos was happy doing what he was doing with the herds and pruning fig trees, but then God calls, and He's changing peoples names and vocations. Abram becomes Abraham, Saul becomes Paul, Sarai becomes Sarah; life is not the same. 

In early Jewish writings the description of a follower of a rabbi was that he was to “cover himself in the dust of [the rabbi’s] feet.” In other words he was to follow so closely behind the rabbi that he would walk in the dust stirred up by the rabbi's sandals! The picture was of the disciple walking so closely that he might be able to watch and imitate his every word and action. If you have ever been to the Wailing wall in Jerusalem you may have seen this played out as you watched an old white haired rabbi limping along, bent over, being followed by young men who are also limping bent over despite being young and vigorous! They are imitating their rabbi even to the point of limping like he did! And this is a literal picture of what Jesus was calling Simon, Andrew, James, and John to do in an ethical sense for the next three years so that they might become more and more like Him! - Precept Austin

James and John - People brag about "doing God's work", but mostly they probably aren't, and the reality of it is that God uses earthen vessels, jars of clay, fragile men and women, who He empties out and repurposes. While He changes Peter's name, He changes John's disposition. He goes from being a son of thunder to the Disciple of Love. These two are quite the pair.

…53But the people there refused to welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. 54When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” 55But Jesus turned and rebuked them.… Luke 9: 53-55

Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom - That Messiah had come, that they needed to repent of sin, and that they needed to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. The King was there walking among them, Heaven had come down to earth to conquer sin and the grave.

…17the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”… Luke 4: 17-19

…8But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.… Romans 10: 8-10

…35“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?” 36Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.” 37“Then You are a king!” Pilate said. “You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered. “For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.”… John 18: 35-37

And healing every disease and every affliction - The miracles that Jesus performed fulfilled prophecy, showed that He was Who He said He was, God the Son, and even His critics did not question whether the miracles occurred, but they claimed the power was not of God. 

…21At that very hour Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and He gave sight to many who were blind. 22So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Me.”… Luke 7: 21-23

…9“Which is easier: to say to a paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic, 11“I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”… Mark 2: 9-11