Mark 1:18 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Mark 1:18

Comments

‘And straightway [immediately] they forsook their nets and followed him.’ (They forsook their nets then, but they went back to them, yet again.) Why did they respond to Christ so quickly, straightway? Did Christ possess great personal magnetism? Maybe. But they straightway followed him because spiritually he illuminated them – don't forget the Spirit was with Christ too. They saw something of who he was, and his divinity and his greatness. It wasn't his personal magnetism – although we dare not take that away from the Lord Jesus Christ – it was their spiritual enlightenment. Perhaps they still had some doubts. Or if not that, it still hadn't occurred to them that this was a call for their whole lives, because they went back. In Luke 5 we read, ‘And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, ² And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets’ (Luke 5:1-2). This is not the same occasion as the call of the first disciples here in Mark 1. It is markedly different occasion. Just about everything is different. In the record of Mark and of Matthew, Jesus was walking by the side of the lake; in Luke’s record he is standing. In the record in Mark, Jesus addressed them all; but in Luke he addresses only Peter; the interaction is just with one. Here in the Gospel of Mark they were casting their nets and mending them; in Luke they are washing them. Here in Mark they left the nets when Christ called them, but in Luke – most significantly of all – they don't just leave their nets, they leave all. That is different. It is a different occasion. Maybe they couldn’t wind up their businesses that quickly, or maybe it took a little time to grasp what they were being called to, because we do understand in the third encounter – when Peter was called at the miraculous draught of fishes and he fell on his knees, ‘Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man – that was probably the time, where, as we say, the penny really dropped. Peter realised he must repent of his sin and yield entirely to Christ. The first call is in the opening chapter of John; the second call is here in Mark 1; the third call is in Luke chapter 5. James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, are working in the same partnership with Andrew and Peter; it is quite a business with hired servants also (Luke 5:10). ‘And they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him.’

Application

That happens to us. One moment we are scornful of him, indifferent to him, preoccupied with ourselves, and our ambitions, and our possessions and our lives, subject to peer pressure and the world’s opinion around us. Then suddenly – as we hear God's word, or the witness of a friend, or we read the Bible – there is illumination by the Spirit of God, and we know he is the Lord. We know he came and suffered and died, and we are condemned because we are sinners. We are convicted and we need him, and his forgiving love, and we are drawn to him. That's why you read the word ‘straightway’; they couldn't help themselves. They were illuminated and touched, and that is what we pray will happen in the lives of countless people. As the gospel is preached, we pray that the Spirit will touch hearers. It is not the preacher – he has got to do his best; he has got to be clear; he has got to pray for help – but it is the Spirit who enlightens.

Sometimes fuller obedience lags behind. Will you get up early for the world, but you wouldn't get up early for the Lord? Would you make sacrifices for the world, for your job, for your family – well, that may be right – but not for the Lord? That's the call of Christ. He doesn't call all to give up their occupations and professions, but he wants all our hearts, and all our commitment. We will say, ‘Take my heart and let it be, ever only all for thee.’ That's the call of Christ of the disciples.

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Mark 1:18 Commentary and Bible Study