Matthew 4:12-22
RTNT 2021. Anyone who is reading the Bible or the New Testament or only the gospels for the first time will naturally begin the gospels with Matthew. And beyond His early life all they have of Jesus is His baptism and His temptation in the wilderness. Then He heads to Galilee and calls His first four disciples – Peter, Andrew, James, and John. What they miss is Jesus’ earlier interaction with these three or four disciples that we read about in John’s gospel. So in beginning with Matthew it seems like Jesus is calling these four fishermen “out of the blue”, causing them to leave their boats, their nets, and even one father and follow Him. It had always seemed strange to me when I regularly began the gospels with Matthew that these men would just walk away from what they were doing. However, if they had had earlier encounters with Jesus down in Judea as John reports, then their “abrupt” departure makes more sense. (John’s comment from two years ago emphasizes this interaction more fully.)
And leaving Nazareth He went and lived in Capernaum… (v. 13a) In a couple of days we will see in Luke’s gospel that Jesus had spent some time in Nazareth between his time in Judea and His moving on to Capernaum. So a more complete blending of Luke’s item and John’s gospel gives us the following chronology (after Jesus’ childhood): Jesus is baptized, meets His early disciples, is tempted, and goes to the Cana wedding; returns to Judea for the Passover, cleanses the temple, and meets Nicodemus; heads back to Galilee through Samaria and meets the woman at the well; goes to His home in Nazareth (Luke in two days), then finally heads to Capernaum and calls His first four disciples (today’s reading). I’m thankful for having discovered a chronological Bible!
See also: February 5 (2019) / Matthew 4:12-22