Mark 1:14-20
“Notice what you notice.” When we read the Synoptics’ accounts of the same event, we tend to go back and forth and see what is similar and what is different in their accounts. I couldn’t help but notice one major difference in Mark’s calling of the four disciples compared to Matthew’s – Zebedee, with his sons James and John had hired servants.
What to make of that? None of the other writers makes any such mention, not even Luke who has more to say about wealth and poverty than any of the other writers. We can draw a contrast between James and John, wealthy enough to have hired servants, with Peter and Andrew out in their boat casting their own nets. Luke tells us later that Peter and Andrew were partners with James and John and Zebedee (Luke 5:10). So when Peter and Andrew left to follow Jesus, all they left behind was their boat and equipment, which presumably they would have left to Zebedee’s care. Meanwhile James and John leave their father’s business behind, knowing that Zebedee had hired servants to continue in the business, plus the additional boat and equipment from Peter and Andrew. Put all that together and it makes it easier to see Peter, Andrew, James and John simply walking away from their professions.
A second item of note is Matthew and Mark both mentioning John’s arrest and tying that event to Jesus’ return to Galilee. This is consistent with John’s account: Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only His disciples), He left Judea and departed again for Galilee (John 4:1-3).
So now to put together a reasonable chronology… We begin with Jesus living in Nazareth with His mother and John baptizing in the Jordan River, but further north (Aenon/Salim), just south of Galilee and about a day’s walk from Nazareth. Jesus goes to John and gets baptized; while there He meets a few of his future disciples (John 1). He then goes back to Cana for the wedding (John 2:1-11), goes to Capernaum after the wedding for a few days (John 2:12), then heads south for the Passover (John 2:13, ff.). While there He cleanses the Temple and begins preaching alongside His disciples who are baptizing in the Jordan River just east of Jerusalem. After a month or two there Jesus heads off to the wilderness and His disciples go back to Galilee. While He is in the wilderness John gets arrested and Jesus heads back to Galilee by way of Samaria. There He meets the woman at the well, stays on a few days, then heads back to Galilee (John 4:1-45) where we pick up yesterday’s and today’s readings, the calling of the four disciples. Whew!
I doubt I do much more chronology, but getting it right (or at least reasonable) in this first year of Jesus’ ministry was important to me.
Be blessed y’all!!
Fred, I really appreciated today’s comments and chronology, not that I haven’t appreciated them all. But seeing this all together makes it even more real. Thanks!
I would suggest one change to your chronology, Fred. I would move the temptation in the wilderness to right after Jesus’ baptism, and before He meets a few of His future disciples. I say that for two reasons. First, Mark 1:12 says that after the baptism the Spirit immediately drove Jesus into the wilderness. (Of course, with Mark, everything seems to happen “immediately,” so perhaps we need to temper our understanding of the word.) Second, as I mentioned in my comment to the January 21 post on John 1:29-34, John’s Gospel does not give us a “current narrative” of Jesus baptism. We have no idea how much time might have intervened between the baptism and the Baptist’s testimony about that baptism and the identity of Jesus. You have assumed that the Baptist said “Behold the Lamb of God!” right at Jesus’ baptism, but the text does not say that.
It’s a minor point, but I think moving the temptation back to just after the baptism (with no intervening time hanging around John the Baptist) helps to keep all the Gospel narratives consistent. So, we have Jesus baptism, then after the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus returns to the Jordan. John the Baptist then declares, “Behold the Lamb of God!” at which point Andrew and another of John’s disciples follow Jesus, and so on.
It’s still a mix, John. I can see in Mark that Jesus’ baptism and 40 days in the wilderness are tied by the word “immediately”. So now a modified chronology:
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We begin with Jesus living in Nazareth with His mother and John baptizing in the Jordan River, but further north (Aenon/Salim), just south of Galilee and about a day’s walk from Nazareth. Jesus goes to John and gets baptized, then goes off to His 40 days in the wilderness. Upon His return He passes back by where John is baptizing and while there He meets a few of his future disciples (John 1). He then goes back with them to Cana for the wedding (John 2:11-11), goes to Capernaum after the wedding for a few days (John 2:12), then heads south for the Passover ((John 2:13, ff.). While there He cleanses the Temple and begins preaching alongside His disciples who are baptizing in the Jordan River just east of Jerusalem. After a month or two there John gets arrested and Jesus heads back to Galilee by way of Samaria. There He meets the woman at the well, stays on a few days, then heads back to Galilee (John 4:1-45) where we pick up yesterday’s and today’s readings, the calling of the four disciples. Whew!
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So a problem remains. Who are the disciples (italics above) who are baptizing while Jesus preaches? Presumably Andrew and his companion(s) are in Galilee, since we see them fishing when Jesus calls. They could have gone with Jesus to the wedding, then back to Capernaum – their home base. Do they go down for the Passover and stay only a short time while Jesus tarries longer, so they can get back to their boats? If so, who are the other disciples who are with Him in Samaria?
More questions…!