The evangelist Luke complicates the simple story both Mark and Matthew tell about Jesus calling his first disciples. Luke cannot tell the story of Jesus calling Peter without hinting at its ultimate result — the miraculous numbers of believers whom Jesus’ disciples have gathered into his new community by the time Luke writes his gospel.
Homilists often exhort us to respond to Jesus’ call with the same instant wholeheartedness that Peter, Andrew, James, and John show in Mark and Matthew’s gospels. Jesus says come. These four drop everything and follow.
This is not the story in Luke. The third evangelist thinks the short, fast-paced scenes of Mark’s narrative keep us from asking, “On what basis do these fishermen decide to follow Jesus? What do they know about him? How can they abandon their livelihoods and change their lives because a passerby asks them to? What kind of blockheads are that suggestible?”
In Mark, Jesus’ first preaching takes one verse. “This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand. Reform your lives and believe in the gospel.”
In Luke, Jesus’ first preaching takes 17 verses. Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah in his hometown synagogue, announces he fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy, and infuriates his hearers by contrasting them with Gentiles in Israel’s history who accepted the word of God’s prophets. Here, as in last Sunday’s gospel, Luke cannot tell a story about Jesus’ early public ministry without hinting at how the story plays out—people of many nations will accept the one who fulfills God’s promises.
- Who or what has convinced you to follow Jesus?
Luke reorders the early events in Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus moves on from Nazareth to preach in Capernaum. The new order puts the call of Peter’s mother-in-law before the call of Peter, James, and John. Jesus rebukes the fever that has her in bed. In response she begins to serve him, making Peter’s mother-in-law Jesus’ first disciple.
Only after Luke carefully describes Jesus’ growing reputation does he tell the story of Jesus calling his best known disciples. Crowds press around Jesus to hear the word of God when Sunday’s gospel begins.
Jesus asks Peter to put his boat out a little from shore so he can teach from it. When he finishes teaching, Jesus turns his mind to fishing for disciples and commands Peter, “Put out into deep water, and lower your nets for a catch.”
The poor night fishing and the miraculous day catch suggest in contrasting images the history of the first-century Church, in which great numbers of Gentile believers and not as many Jews joined the communities of Jesus’ followers. Two boats overflow with believers in Luke’s story.
In the A.D. 80s when Luke writes, communities of faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus have spread throughout the Mediterranean world. The response of the Gentiles has surprised Peter and Jesus’ other disciples in the same way the great catch surprises Peter in this story.
- What attracts new believers to the gospel today?
In Jesus Peter is encountering God at work in our world, calling him off the lake and into a future as a follower and a leader. Luke portrays Peter more positively than Mark and John do. Luke also respects the realism of Peter’s bumpy journey to true discipleship. Before his passion Jesus prays especially for Peter that his faith will not fail, even though the coming events will sift his followers like wheat (Luke 22.31-32).
The incredible catch moves Peter to humility. The divine action scares him. He falls on his knees and urges Jesus to go away from him. “I am a sinful man,” he confesses, acknowledging God’s holy presence in these actions. Perhaps he fears being asked too much. Perhaps in Peter Luke is conveying the fear of the friends of God for whom he writes. God’s inbreaking presence in Jesus makes profound claims on the whole hearts of believers.
Jesus commissions Peter in this humbled state, “From now on, you will be catching people.” Peter knows future catches will come as the miraculous catch of fish has come, namely, in response to the word of God.
God’s word baits the human heart for liberation. Peter, James, and John leave their own nets behind in order to teach the empowering and liberating word of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
- What inspires you about Peter as a leader?
- What fears are people in the Church feeling today?
- For what liberation is the Spirit baiting our hearts?
Compare the beginning of Mark’s gospel with Luke’s rearrangement. What changes in Mark’s narrative does Luke make and why?
| In Mark | In Luke |
| 1 Jesus announces God’s reign is near; | 1 Jesus arrives in Galilee and teaches in the synagogues; |
| 2 calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John; | 2 announces in the Nazareth synagogue that he fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy and infuriates people; |
| 3 cures a possessed man at the synagogue; | 3 cures a possessed man at the Capernaum synagogue; |
| 4 heals Peter’s mother-in-law; | 4 heals Peter’s mother-in-law; |
| 5 prays before dawn and moves on to preach throughout Galilee; | 5 prays before dawn and moves on to preach throughout Judea; |
| 6 heals a leper. | 6 calls Peter, James, and John after a miraculous catch of fish; |
| 7 heals a leper. |