Gospel of Mark Chapter 1 Vs. 19

 Jesus Calls the First Disciples

Mark 1:19 “And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.

he saw James… The second set of fishermen brothers called by Jesus (Ref. verse 16). Their mother and Jesus’ mother may have been sisters (15:20; Mat. 27:55-56 with John 19:25).

This is not a discrepancy from the account we studied in the last lesson. This is just the difference in several people relating the same scripture. We see here that all the important details are the same as in the other accounts.

Now in addition to Peter and Andrew, the Lord had discovered James and John. These were fishermen whom the Lord would make fishers of men. We see that James and John were the sons of Zebedee, the sons of thunder.

A little farther

Added by Mark.

mending their nets...

Mending (καταρτίζοντας)

Not necessarily repairing; the word means to adjust, to put to rights. It may mean here preparing the nets for the next fishing. Mat. 4:21.

He does not, as unthinking readers fancy, come upon two utter strangers, fascinate and arrest them in a moment, and sweep their lives into the vortex of His own. Andrew had already heard the Baptist proclaim the Lamb of God, had followed Jesus home, and had introduced his brother, to whom Jesus then gave the new name Cephas. Their faith had since been confirmed by miracles. The demands of our Lord may be trying, but they are never unreasonable, and the faith He claims is not a blind credulity.

A little further on, He finds the two sons of Zebedee, and calls them also. John had almost certainly been the companion of Andrew when he followed Jesus home, and his brother had become the sharer of his hopes. And if there were any hesitation, the example of their comrades helped them to decide-- so soon, so inevitably does each disciple begin to be a fisher of other men-- and leaving their father, as we are gracefully told, not desolate, but with servants, they also follow Jesus.

Thus He asks, from each group, the sacrifice involved in following Him at an inconvenient time. The first are casting their nets and eager in their quest. The others are mending their nets, perhaps after some large draught had broken them. So Levi was sitting at the receipt of toll. Not one of the Twelve is recorded to have been called when idle.

On the same occasion Jesus saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee (cf. Mark10:35), in their boat, preparing from katartizō put in order, make ready their nets for another night’s fishing. They were partners to Simon (cf. Luke 5:10).

Discipleship is prominent in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus’ call would pose two questions in the minds of Mark’s readers: Who is this One who calls? and What does it mean to follow Him? Mark gave them an answer in his Gospel. He assumed similarities between the Twelve cf. Ref. 3:13; 13:37) and his readers. Discipleship is the expected norm for all who believe the gospel (cf. Mark 1:15).