Peter and John Become Disciples of Jesus

John 1:29-42; Mark 1:16-20

GOLDEN TEXT: “And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.”—Mark 1:17

TODAY’S lesson begins a new quarterly series dealing with the life and epistles of Peter and John. It is thought that a period of about a year elapsed between Jesus temptation in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry and the scene of this lesson on the Lake of Galilee. In the meantime some of John the Baptist’s disciples and others had accepted Jesus as their teacher and were more or less in His company, becoming acquainted with Him and learning something of the wonderful words which proceeded out of His mouth. Among these were Peter and John.

As the narrative shows, Jesus was on the shore of the Lake of Galilee—mentioned in Luke’s account (Luke 5:1-11) by its other name, Lake of Genesareth. The accounts of Mark and Luke present different details of what occurred in connection with the call of these apostles into the ministry, yet they are, nevertheless, in agreement. While these fishermen had been more or less in association with Jesus for a time, the Master evidently thought it necessary in connection with His call for them to become His apostles, to give them a firm foundation of faith in His Messiahship by performing a miracle.

When Jesus put in an appearance this particular morning Peter and John were washing and mending their nets after having toiled all right without results. Jesus suggested to Peter that he take the boat to deep water and let down his net for a catch of fish. Peter’s response was that there was no use doing this, but if the Master wished they would try again. The result was a net full of fish the weight of which began to break the meshes of the net.

There was at the time a great multitude on the shore who heard the Lord’s teachings but these did not comprehend its import as did the disciples of our lesson. Only a few were specially chosen and called, not because the Master was not interested in the multitude but because the time had not yet come for the blessing of all mankind.

It was not enough that Peter and John were part-time associates of the Master and in a casual sort of way believed Him to be the Messiah and were blessed by His teachings. True discipleship means more than this. The false idea that becoming a Christian is a means of escaping eternal torture has led millions into professing discipleship who in reality do as little about it as they possibly can with safety. This however is not the purpose of the Christian life.

True Christians are those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus, suffering and dying with Him in order that they may live and reign with Him in His Kingdom, for the blessing of all mankind. To be thus true followers of the Master and co-workers with Him, nothing short of full-time devotion is acceptable, as illustrated in the course of the disciples who, when they were invited by the Master to follow Him and become fishers of men, forsook all they had in order to respond to His invitation.

It is not always possible for those who make a full consecration to the Lord to give up their business or home in order to follow the Master. Jesus takes into consideration the natural handicaps with which one is hindered from actually devoting all his time to the service of the Lord. The basic principle of discipleship, however, is full-time service and all-out devotion of all that we have and hope for to the divine service.

The Golden Text is specially meaningful in that it shows that the call to discipleship is not merely that the individual called might be “saved,” but rather that he might be used of God for the reconciliation of others. True Christian discipleship is primarily a service of others, helping them to know and serve God better. While rejoicing in the richness of divine grace as it has reached us, let us never forget that we are called to be instruments through which that same grace may be extended to others.

QUESTIONS:

Why was it important that Jesus perform a miracle in connection with His call of the disciples into the ministry?

Is Christian discipleship a part-time or full-time occupation?

What is meant by the Master’s statement concerning “fishers of men”?

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