In the Life of Christ
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Mark 1:17
There is something almost startling about the simplicity of Jesus’ call in Mark 1:16–20. Simon and Andrew are working. James and John are working. Nobody is sitting in a synagogue waiting for a spiritual assignment. Nobody is filling out an application to become a disciple. They are simply living their ordinary lives when Jesus walks into the middle of them and says, in effect, “Come with Me.”
That matters because we sometimes imagine that discipleship begins when we finally become spiritually impressive enough for God to use us. Mark shows us something very different. Jesus did not begin by asking these fishermen to improve themselves. He did not give them a spiritual entrance exam. He called them as they were and promised to shape what they would become.
That is the heart of His words: “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
The command is “Follow Me.” The promise is “I will make you.”
That order matters.
Jesus does not say, “Make yourself into the kind of person I can use, and then follow Me.” He says, “Follow Me, and I will make you into the person My mission requires.”
Mark Strauss notes that Jesus’ approach was unusual in the rabbinic world. Ordinarily, a prospective student sought out a respected teacher. Here, Jesus takes the initiative. He approaches the fishermen and calls them Himself. Their allegiance will not primarily be to a school of thought, a religious institution, or even a body of teaching. Their allegiance will be to Jesus personally.
That difference sits at the center of Christian discipleship.
Christianity is not first about accepting a collection of ideas. It is about following a Person.
The Greek invitation behind “follow Me,” deute opisō mou (δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου), carries the very concrete sense of “Come after Me.” Jesus is not merely asking them to agree with Him. He is asking them to rearrange their lives around Him.
And they do.
Mark writes that Simon and Andrew “immediately” left their nets. A few verses later, James and John leave their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and follow Jesus. Mark wants us to feel the suddenness of it. Jesus calls. They respond.
Now, that does not mean they understood everything.
In fact, if we continue reading Mark, we quickly discover that they understood very little.
Peter would misunderstand Jesus repeatedly. James and John would argue about status. The disciples would struggle to comprehend the cross. They would become frightened in storms, confused by parables, and eventually scattered when Jesus was arrested.
Yet Jesus called them anyway.
That should encourage every one of us.
Jesus did not recruit finished disciples. He called people whom He intended to form.
The NET Bible’s notes describe following Jesus as making Him “the guiding priority of one’s life.” That is a helpful way to understand discipleship because following Christ is not merely adding Jesus to an already crowded life. It is allowing Him to become the One who determines the direction of everything else.
The fishermen still had personalities.
They still had families.
They still had histories.
They still had weaknesses.
But now all of those things would be reorganized around Jesus.
And then comes the unusual promise: “I will make you fishers of people.”
Jesus speaks their language.
These men understood nets. They understood waiting. They understood long hours, physical exhaustion, unpredictable results, and the disappointment of empty nets. Jesus takes the occupation they already know and transforms it into a picture of kingdom work.
The NET Bible offers an insightful observation here. First-century net fishing required effort, persistence, long hours, and sometimes very little visible success. That makes the metaphor particularly appropriate for evangelism and discipleship.
Anyone who has tried to reach another person for Christ understands that.
We would prefer immediate results.
We pray once and want the answer tomorrow.
We speak to someone about Jesus and hope the conversation immediately produces faith.
We teach our children and expect every lesson to take root instantly.
But fishermen know better.
Sometimes you cast the net and pull up nothing.
Then you cast again.
There is another layer beneath Jesus’ words that Mark’s original readers would likely have recognized. In Jeremiah 16:16, Ezekiel 29, and Amos 4:2, fishing imagery often appears in connection with divine judgment. God “fishes” for people who are being brought to account.
Jesus takes that unsettling Old Testament picture and gives His followers a remarkable assignment. The approaching kingdom means judgment is real, but these disciples are being sent to gather people toward salvation rather than destruction. Strauss describes Jesus as reversing the imagery: people are being rescued from sin and death and called into God’s kingdom.
That gives evangelism an urgency we can easily lose.
We are not trying to win religious arguments.
We are not collecting church members.
We are not trying to make people resemble us.
We are inviting people to Christ.
And that changes the way we speak to them.
A fisherman who understands the value of the catch does not become careless with the net. Likewise, Christians who understand the eternal value of people should never treat them as projects. We love them because Christ loves them. We speak truth because truth leads toward life. We remain patient because Jesus remained patient with us.
There is also something deeply personal about the men Jesus chooses.
Simon would become Peter.
Andrew would become known for bringing people to Jesus.
James would eventually die as one of the earliest apostolic martyrs.
John would live long enough to become one of the church’s great witnesses to the person and love of Christ.
But none of that was visible beside the Sea of Galilee.
All anyone could see were fishermen standing near their nets.
Jesus saw more.
That may be one of the most encouraging truths in this passage.
Jesus sees not only who we are. He sees what His grace can make of us.
He saw Peter before Peter knew what Peter would become.
He saw John before John understood what it meant to love as Christ loved.
He saw these ordinary working men and envisioned apostles who would carry the gospel into the world.
The same Lord still calls ordinary people.
He calls teachers, mechanics, parents, retirees, nurses, farmers, business owners, teenagers, laborers, ministers, widows, and people who do not yet have any idea how God might use them.
And His call still begins the same way:
“Follow Me.”
Not “Understand everything.”
Not “Fix everything.”
Not “Become extraordinary.”
Just follow.
Then let Jesus do the making.
That is perhaps where this passage becomes uncomfortable for us. Jesus’ call was gracious, but it was not casual. Simon and Andrew left their nets. James and John left the boat, the business, and their father standing beside the hired servants. The Gospel Coalition’s overview of New Testament discipleship correctly observes that these passages emphasize the real cost attached to following Christ, even while those particular vocational sacrifices are not identical for every Christian.
The principle remains.
There will always be something we must place behind Jesus if we are going to follow Him.
Sometimes it is ambition.
Sometimes comfort.
Sometimes control.
Sometimes resentment.
Sometimes an identity we have built for ourselves.
Sometimes simply the assumption that our lives belong to us.
Jesus does not promise to fit comfortably into the life we have already designed. He calls us into His life and His mission.
Yet notice that the fishermen do not first receive a map.
Jesus does not explain where they will sleep, how they will eat, which towns they will visit, or what the next three years will involve.
He simply gives them Himself.
That turns out to be enough.
I sometimes think we want Jesus to explain the entire journey before we take the first step. We ask Him, “Where will this lead? What will it cost? How will it work? What happens if I fail?”
Jesus often answers with the same invitation He gave beside Galilee:
Follow Me.
The disciples would learn the rest while walking.
So do we.
Perhaps today the most important question is not whether you feel prepared for what God may ask of you.
Peter was not prepared.
Andrew was not prepared.
James and John were not prepared.
The better question is whether you are willing to follow the One who is preparing you.
Because Jesus does not merely call the right people.
Jesus makes the people He calls ready for His purpose.
That means your weakness does not automatically disqualify you. Your limited knowledge does not automatically disqualify you. Your ordinary background does not disqualify you.
The One who says “Follow Me” also says, “I will make you.”
And somewhere between those two statements lies the entire life of a disciple.
For Further Study:
The Gospel Coalition offers a helpful commentary on Mark that explores Jesus’ unusual calling of the fishermen, the Old Testament background of “fishing for people,” and the authority behind Christ’s call to discipleship.
Read The Gospel Coalition commentary on Mark
FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE OR POST SO OTHERS MAY KNOW