NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER FOUR

Part III (con’t)

Verses 19-20: Now we are given even more information that may help us understand why Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum. “Jesus said to them, ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you a different kind of fishermen. You will bring in people, not fish.’ Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed Him.”

According to Luke, before Jesus called these diciples He ask them if He could use their boat as a platform to continue speaking to the crowd that had gathered there. They agreed. And after Jesus finished, then He told them they could now go out and fish. But another thing to take into consideration is that it appears that Jesus did not have to introduce Himself to these fishermen. Both Andrew and Peter had met Jesus while they were followers of John the Baptizer, and they spent some time alone with Him,¹ contrary to the way this call to discipleship is often presented. No doubt Jesus was going by what they had previously talked about, and the fact that John the Baptizer was now dead. Jesus saw their skills in being able to catch fish, and applied that to the concept of them becoming fishers of men. The Aramaic Version has “fishers of the sons of men.” One esteemed Rabbi gives us a very insightful comment on how to combine one’s work with one’s studies. He says:

“Until when is a person obligated to study Torah?² Until the day he dies, as it states: ‘Lest you remove it from your heart, all the days of your life.’³ Whenever a person is not involved with study, he forgets.

A person is obligated to divide his study time in three parts: one third should be devoted to the Written Word; one third to the Spoken Word; and one third to understanding and conceptualizing the ultimate derivation of a concept from its roots, inferring one concept from another and comparing concepts, understanding the Torah based on the principles of Biblical exegesis, until one appreciates the essence of those principles and how the prohibitions and the other decisions which one received according to the Spoken Word can be derived using them. The latter topic is called Gemara.⁴

How is the above expressed? A person who is a craftsman may spend three hours each day involved in his work, and devote nine hours to Torah study…The ‘words of the prophetic tradition’ are considered part of the Written Word; and their explanation, part of the Spoken Word. The matters referred to here as Pardes⁵ are considered part of the Gemara.⁶ The above applies in the early stages of a person’s study. However, when a person increases his knowledge and does not have the need to read the Written Word, or occupy himself with the Spoken Word constantly, he should study the Written Word and the Spoken Word at designated times. Thus, he will not forget any aspect of the laws of the Torah. However, he should focus his attention on the Gemara alone for his entire life, according to his ambition and his ability to concentrate.⁷

Over my half century in the ministry, both in seminary, missions, pastoring, chaplaincy and administrative work, I have met so many ministers who were more dependent on their memory of what they heard from others, rather than searching God’s Word to gain insight into what the disciples heard from the Word Himself. When Jesus called these disciples, He gave them a new net to spread and cast, which was the Gospel.⁸ It may have been at this point that Matthew started telling the story, and then continues from there.

Verses 21-22: “Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee. They were preparing their nets to catch fish. Jesus told the brothers to come with him. So they immediately left the boat and their father, and they followed Jesus.”

There can be no question as to Christ’s ability to see the true character of an individual as in the case of Nathanael. And their immediate and uncompromising acceptance of His bidding indicates enough prior knowledge about Him to leave very few questions in their minds that He was not only equal to John the Baptizer, but the One prophesied to replace him. But there were more that Jesus wanted to call to follow Him. As our Lord continued walking along the shoreline, he came to another boat where a man named Zebedee was getting ready with his two sons, James and John, to go out fishing. I can only imagine the look on their father’s face when Jesus walked up and told the two young men, “Follow me,” and they dropped their nets, jumped off the boat and took off after Him. Again, this shows that Jesus was no stranger. They had heard enough to know what an honor and privilege it was to be called by someone many believed to be the promised Messiah.

The Jews make mention of these disciples in their writings: “Akiba you have reminded me, I was once walking in the upper-market of Sepphoris⁹ when I came across one of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene, Jacob of Kefar-Sekaniah by name.”¹⁰ Then again of an incident involving the disciples of Jesus: “It once happened to Ben Dama the son of Rabbi Ishmael’s sister that he was bitten by a serpent and Jacob [James], a native of Kefar Sekaniah.¹¹ Commentators say: “…this Jacob may have been either James the son of Alphaeus¹² or James the Little¹³.”¹⁴ In an earlier writing we read this as well: “There was a case in which a snake bit Eleazar ben Dama. Jacob of Kefar Sama came forward to heal him in the name of Jesus Pantera [Jesus of Nazareth]. But Rabbi Ishmael would not allow him to do so.”¹⁵ And in a later version it says: “Ben Dama, the nephew of Rabbi Ishmael was pious and wise and died of snakebite. He did not want to use the Christian charms against such a wound so as not to contravene the words of his colleagues, for their words are like unto snakebite. For this transgression is more heinous than snakebite. He died immediately and did not feel a thing. Rabbi Ishmael said of him, Blessed are you that you departed from this world in peace, and did not break the fences of the sages, as it says, ‘He who breaks a fence’ etc. The snake bit him but the snakebite of heresy won’t deprive him of the World-to-Come.”¹⁶ So it appears that James was very active within the Jewish community after the resurrection of Jesus, and we will find out later how prominent he became. So the close nit group of people that Jesus called to follow Him, along with His being a relative of John the Baptizer should dispel any notion that these men were all strangers and unknown to our Lord.

I think we could safely say, that when God sends the Holy Spirit to call us to Jesus to receive repentance and follow Him, He does so because He already knows us. He sees our potential. Not as recovering sinners, but as budding saints. That’s why being chosen and experience the new birth is such a privilege to everyone who is called. This gift to become a child of God should be cherished with love and dedication. But just as in the case of these disciples, we are called to follow our Lord Jesus and become fishers of men, not sit on the sideline and watch the game.