Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 6 Study # 3
January 22, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(042)
1901 ASV
16 And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishers.
17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18 And straightway they left the nets, and followed him.
19 And going on a little further, he saw
James the [
son] of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending the nets.
20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.
- I. Simon and Andrew, James and John.
- A. Simon is the New Testament equivalent of Simeon whose initial introduction to us is in Genesis 29:33.
- a. As an initial individual, Simeon is given his name by his mother because she thinks that he is the result of God's "hearing" ("Simeon" is a derivative of the Hebrews verb for "to hear") because the introduction to Leah's sons begins with "the Lord saw that Leah was hated, so He opened her womb". This "Simeon" is Leah's second attempt to gain her husband's "love" by bearing him sons. Her third attempt was "Levi" and her comment was, "Now this time will by husband be joined unto me because I have born him three sons". This was an admission that Simeon had not fulfilled her expectation of becoming her husband's "favorite wife". In the larger scheme of "theology", "gaining Love by reason of performance" is most fundamentally flawed and is the very root of all "legal" theology.
- b. Thus we have a man whose DNA had "the pride of life" written all over it. It is no accident that Simon, as Peter, had a marked influence upon Mark and is the "traditional" source of much of Mark's record.
- B. Andrew is a name derived from the Greek word "man" when "maleness" is the primary thought. It is sometimes translated "husband" as in "her man". He is the brother of Simon, but he not given any particular prominence in Mark's record, only referring to him by name in four contexts. It is John, the brother of James, who tells us in his record that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptizer who went after his brother, Simon, to tell him of his discovery of Jesus as "the Messiah" (John 1:40-41). Mark, apparently, did not consider this a needed part of his record. However, John's record certainly "fits" the "I will make you a fisher of men" motif in respect to Andrew as he "fished" his own brother out of the "sea" by telling him of the Christ.
- C. James is the Greek form of "Jacob". The Old Testament patriarch was named "Jacob" because he was the one who "supplanted" his brother Esau and connived with his mother to get the birthright blessing. Esau actually ties his name to his behavior in Genesis 27:36. It, therefore, is not a terrible surprise that it was "James" with his brother who came to Jesus to try to get a jump on the other ten disciples in seeking the most coveted positions in Messiah's kingdom (Mark 10:35-37); an action that was not significantly different from his patriarchal namesake and significantly irritated the ten. In this light, it is interesting that Jesus called him and his brother "Boanerges", meaning "the sons of thunder" (a fact that Mark considered significant in Mark 3:17). It was this James that Herod murdered/martyred (Acts 12:2) in contrast to his brother's death by old age (John was the only one of the original twelve who died a natural death). By placing his name first, Mark may have incidentally indicated that he was the firstborn.
- D. John is the name that meant, in Hebrew, "Yahweh is Gracious" and is used, as a name, by Mark 25 times in this record, 15 of which refer to John the Baptizer. It had no significant predecessor in the Old Testament, but became a critical issue in the New. This John is the author of both the gospel that bears his name as well as three relatively short letters and the Book of the Revelation in the New Testament These writings are clearly in harmony with the "net-mender" motif as a dispenser of true doctrine to enable those who escape (are dragged) from "The Sea" to grow beyond the death impact of that environment.
- E. Simon, James, and John all seemed to have a strong penchant for "life by recognition". Andrew does not fall under this observation. Interestingly, Jesus formed Peter, James, and John into a kind of "inner circle" in Mark's record. As "four", these men represent the concept of "disciple" as well as the twin tasks of the Church to come: evangelism (fishing for men) and edification (mending the false concepts built into many of the "nets" used). Priscilla and Aquila are classic illustrations of "net-menders" in respect to their help to Apollo in Acts 18:26.