A Preacher Who Calls
Matthew 4:12-23
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Key Verse: Matthew 4:19 – “And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
Life is all about beginnings. Each morning begins a new day. Each January begins a new year. Each step of schooling and every stage of life requires a new beginning: jobs, marriage, moves. Every task before us has to be begun before it can be completed. Every obstacle we face is the beginning of another challenge to be overcome.
Jesus’ life was no different in this respect. The gospel of Matthew, which we follow in “Year A” of the lectionary, opens with a story of how Jesus’ life began as an infant (chapters 1-2), then skips to his entry onto the public stage through baptism at the hands of John and public endorsement by the Spirit (chapter 3). Jesus’ spiritual pilgrimage begins with the story of the temptation (4:1-11), and his active ministry begins with 4:12-25: our text for today. [DD]
Jesus preaches (vv. 12-17)
Matthew connects the beginning of Jesus’ active ministry with a sharp break in John’s ministry: “Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee” (v. 12). [DD] [DD]
Matthew gives no specific reason for John’s arrest at this point, and he does not suggest that Jesus returned to Galilee and settled in Capernaum out of fear that he might also be arrested. [DD] Rather, he sees it as a fulfillment of prophecy, which is common in Matthew: this is the fifth of ten times that Matthew says Jesus did something as a fulfillment of prophecy.
Nazareth was within the traditional tribal boundaries of Zebulon, and Capernaum was in the region designated for Naphtali. Perhaps this led Matthew to quote loosely from the Greek translation of Isaiah 9:1-2, where the prophet had predicted that God would cause light to break upon the land of Zebulon and Naphtali, whose people had “walked in darkness.”
A branch of the Via Maris, a major highway known as the “Way of the Sea,” ran through Capernaum, which was located on the northwest edge of the large lake commonly known as the “Sea of Galilee” (also called “Kinnereth” or “Gennesaret”). Many Jews lived in the area, but a largely Gentile population also called it home.
Matthew apparently believed that Jesus’ preaching fulfilled the promise that light would dawn on those who had lived in darkness. “From that time Jesus began to proclaim ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’” (v. 17). [DD]
The call to “repent” (from the verb metanoia) is not an appeal to feel sorry for one’s sins alone, but to turn away from a self-centered lifestyle and turn toward God. It reflects the meaning of the Hebrew word shub, commonly translated as “repent,” that literally means “to turn around.”
Matthew prefers to use “kingdom of heaven” rather than “kingdom of God,” perhaps out of a growing desire among the Jews to show reference for God’s name by not pronouncing it. To this day, observant Jews refer to God only indirectly, through euphemisms such as “the Name” or “the Holy One, blessed be he.”
But what is the “kingdom of heaven”? For many years, the Jews had hoped for God to break into history and set up an earthly kingdom. Prophets like Isaiah and Micah had spoken of a day when all nations would come to Jerusalem to worship God and there would be peace on earth (Isa. 2:2-4, Mic. 4:1-4).
In Jesus’ day, people were more likely to hope for a military messiah to rise up, lead them to victory over the despised Romans, and reestablish an Israelite kingdom.
In the teaching of Jesus, the messianic age had come, but not as expected. Rather than setting up a restored world or a restored monarchy, Jesus introduced a radically different notion. The kingdom of God/heaven was not a particular place, but the spiritual realm in which God is king. The kingdom of God is the rule of God, the realm in which God operates, the “-dom” (think “domain” or “dominion”) in “Kingdom.”
Jesus could say “the kingdom of God is at hand” because he was at hand. The rule of God was at work in his life and ministry. When Jesus called people to repent because the kingdom was near, he was not inviting them to go to any particular place, but to live under God’s rule and so bring the ethics of the kingdom to bear wherever they were.
Jesus calls (vv. 18-22)
As Jesus began his active ministry, he did more than preach inspiring sermons to anonymous crowds: he also spoke to individuals, built relationships, and challenged a small group of people to follow him as disciples. The gospels are agreed that Andrew and Simon Peter were among the first disciples called, though John tells it differently. [DD] [DD]
As Mark and Matthew relate the story, Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee when he saw Simon and Andrew, apparently within shouting distance of shore, casting their nets. The Greek word describes a small circular net, with weights around the outside. When thrown over a school of fish, one could pull a drawstring that would pull in the bottom and trap the fish.
Modern fishermen use a similar net for bait casting. Peter and Andrew were more likely to be after shoals of sardines that often came near shore. [DD]
With no prior recorded conversation, Jesus challenged the fishermen to leave their nets, follow him, and start fishing for people (vv. 16-17).
A little further along, Jesus found James and John sitting in their boat, mending nets, which were often snagged and needed constant repair lest ripped places allow the fish an easy escape. Jesus called to them, presumably in a similar fashion.
In both cases, the story says, the men responded “immediately,” leaving their boats, nets, and family behind. What do we make of this? Mark tells the story as if the first disciples had never seen Jesus before, yet one simple command led them to leave their boats behind and follow him. Would that have been the case? Was Jesus’ call so irresistible that a simple command on first sight was all it took to win their allegiance?
Let’s examine the clues. In vv. 12-17, Matthew indicates that Jesus had already moved to Capernaum and started preaching. Capernaum was a small village, so it’s unlikely that Jesus would have gone unnoticed, either in Capernaum or the surrounding area. We don’t know how much time passed between Jesus’ move to Capernaum, the beginning of his preaching ministry, and his call of these first disciples. Matthew is following Mark, who moved the story along at a rapid clip.
So, we may be fairly confident that Simon, Andrew, James, and John had seen and heard Jesus before, whether they had yet greeted him personally or not. They had heard his preaching, which certainly included more than “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” They were probably already thinking about how they might ultimately respond to him. Perhaps Jesus’ visit to the lakeside and his personal challenge was all that was needed to push them over the top.
Even so, the brevity with which Mark and Matthew tell the story emphasizes the power of Jesus’ charismatic personality and the forcefulness of his call. Jesus called, and they responded. Immediately.
And what did Jesus call them to do? To change their focus from catching fish to catching people. The metaphor is a little unwieldy, because when people who fish for a living make a catch, it’s usually the end of the line for the fish. In Jesus’ world, catching people meant living such lives that we draw others out of the world and into the kingdom, where the old life does end in a sense, but a new and better life begins.
As we wonder how well the first disciples knew Jesus, and what motivated them to leave their livelihoods behind and follow him as disciples, we can’t help but ask ourselves what it took (or would take!) to motivate us to follow Jesus and live as he called us to.
Why should any person give his or her first allegiance to God when the patterns and comforts of ordinary life are so familiar?
What would attract us to a lifestyle of living and loving as Jesus taught us to do?
Would it take more knowledge about Jesus? A sense of desperation in which we felt we had no place left to turn, or a spiritual experience that we can’t understand? In many cases, new followers are motivated by the example of a friend whose life seems so grounded and joyful that they want to be like him or her – and thus they are “caught” for the kingdom.
Jesus ministers (vv. 23-25)
Matthew squeezes Jesus’ early ministry and rapid rise in popularity within three verses (4:23-25). Jesus began to preach throughout Galilee, he said, teaching in the synagogues but more notably healing people of all manner of dread diseases and conditions: he ministered in both word and action. In this way, Jesus’ reputation spread and “great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” Though Jesus remained in Galilee, word about him spread and people flocked from all the surrounding areas.
With these few verses, Matthew illustrates the spiritual hunger of the people, and Jesus’ surprising manner of ministering to it.
How hungry are we, and how needy is our world? Are we ready to go fishing?
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Matthew 4:12-23
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
How many times do you have to call for your students before them answer? Do you have to come up with creative ways to get their attention? Do they roll their eyes when they finally arrive? As they are trying to create their independent personas, they will be less and less likely wanting to be around you. It isn’t you, they are trying to distance themselves from the people that they have defined themselves by so far in life. This is why one of your friends can say the same thing you have over and over and they will listen to the friend.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Matthew 4:12-23
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