(Study Outline sourced from “The System Bible Study” – “The Book of Life” {Zondervan])
(5) Jesus Calls His First Four Disciples
Luke, in his account, gives additional details to the activities of Jesus as he walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee (Lake of Gennesaret, or Sea of Tiberias) compared to Mark’s and Matthew’s account; the difference in events could be attributed to a different time of the day.
“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
“When he had finished speaking” – Luke states that Jesus was teaching the crowd of people from a boat that was a little way from the shore, and upon completing His teaching He told Peter, the owner of the boat, to move to deeper water to catch some fish; “..because you say so” – Peter indicates that he had worked hard all night (possibly the usual time for fishing) and had caught nothing, so it seemed pointless to him to try again at this time; Jesus knew this, however, but was attempting to teach them that He had power over nature as well as men, and Peter was ready to try something new – the result was “they caught…a large number of fish” ; Peter’s response to this was “….I am a sinful man” – the response of anyone to whom is revealed the glory and power of God
“So they….left everything and followed him” – having seen the glory of God revealed to them, the four men leave all their earthly possessions and follow Jesus, determined in themselves to serve Him in whatever way or ways that he would ask them to:
· This is a requirement for all disciples of Jesus
· They had their reasons for their actions; the question is – “What is yourreason for following, or not following, Jesus”?
· The first four disciples were:
1. Simon Peter
2. Andrew (Peter’s brother)
3. James (son of Zebedee)
4. John (James’ brother, also son of Zebedee)
· They were, however, already disciples of Jesus from He performed His first miracle at Cana , but now they had a deeper relationship with Him.
(6) The Synagogue In Capernaum On The Sabbath
“The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.”
“he taught them as one who had authority…” – in comparison to their teachers of the Law, Jesus taught with authority and this authority was given Him from His Father in Heaven, and also due to the fact that Jesus was also God ; God had originally written the Law, therefore, could teach it with authority. During His teaching a man possessed of a devil began shouting “…..I know who you are – the Holy One of God” and Jesus recognizing that it was the devil speaking through the man, commanded the devil to leave the man, which command the devil had to obey. Most people, and the devil, believe in the holiness of God, and in this case Jesus was seen as the Holy One – His divine origin – . Although the man may have been a frequent visitor to the synagogue the teachers of the synagogue did not have this power or authority to deal with his situation, and when Jesus with divine authority healed the man they were amazed; this caused the people to exclaim in amazement “What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” . Jesus displayed that He had the power and authority over Satan and all his demonic hosts and evil itself.
(7) At Simon’s Home In Capernaum On The Sabbath
Leaving the synagogue, Jesus returns to Simon’s home where He healed Simon’s mother-in-law, and later in the evening healed many of the citizens of the town who were sick and demon possessed, and again both Mark and Luke record that the demons knew that Jesus was God, Luke adding that “he [Jesus] rebuked them [demons] and would not allow them to speak…”
(8) The First Tour Of Galilee
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”
There were three aspects to Jesus’ ministry – teaching, preaching, and healing, as he went throughout the Galilean region – taking place mainly in the synagogues; Jesus taught the scriptures, preached the good news of salvation, and healed “every disease and sickness among the people”, and Matthew’s account indicates that “Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and the region across Jordan followed him” . Luke’s account states “And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea” which is interpreted to mean in the land of the Jews [NIV Study Bible], the other writers Mark and Matthew and other manuscripts indicate the region of Galilee.
Mark recorded “Very early in the morning….Jesus…went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” – Jesus prepared Himself for His ministry by spending time in prayer to His heavenly Father as He faced the task of ministry to the people – in His humanity, Jesus needed the strength to face such a task.
(Continued….)