Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ

by David Francis Bacon

2. Mark, in his first chapter, makes it appear as if, immediately after the temptation of Christ, and before his entrance into Capernaum, he met and summoned the two pairs of brothers, of which call the immediate circumstances are given there, in words which are a very literal transcript of those of Matthew, with hardly the slightest addition. But the events which followed the summons are given in such a manner, as to convey an impression quite different from that made by Matthew’s brief and simple narrative. After the call, they, both Jesus and his four disciples, entered into Capernaum, of which place Mark has before made no mention; and going at once into the synagogue, Jesus preached, and confirmed the wonderful authority with which he spoke, before the face of the people, by the striking cure of a demoniac. From the synagogue he went to the house of Simon and Andrew, by which it appears that they already resided in Capernaum. Here a new occasion was given for the display of the power and benevolence of the Messiah, in the case of Simon’s mother-in-law, who, laboring under an attack of fever, was instantly entirely relieved, upon the word of Jesus. This event is given by Matthew in a totally different connection. Very early in the next morning, Jesus retired to a neighboring solitude, to enjoy himself in meditation apart from the busy scenes of the sabbath, in which the fame of his power had involved him the evening before. To this place, Simon and those with him, no doubt his brother and the sons of Zebedee merely, (already it would seem so well acquainted with their great master as to know his haunts,) followed him, to make known to him the earnest wish of the admiring people for his presence among them. Jesus then went out with them through the villages of Galilee, in the earnest performance of the work for which he came. It is not till this place, in the story of the leper healed, that the statements of Matthew and Mark again meet and coincide. Mark evidently makes significant additions to the narrative, and gives us a much more definite and decided notion of the situation and conduct of those concerned in this interesting transaction.

3. Luke has given us a view of the circumstances, very different, both in order and number, as well as character, from those of the former writers. His account of the first call of the disciples, seems to amount to this; giving the events in the order in which he places them in his fourth and fifth chapters. The first mention which is here made of Simon, is in the end of the fourth chapter, where his name is barely mentioned in connection with the account of the cure of his mother-in-law, which is brought in without any previous allusion to any disciple, but is placed in other respects, in the same connection as in Mark’s narrative. After a full account of this case, which is given with the more minuteness, probably from the circumstance that this writer was himself a physician, he goes on to relate the particulars of Simon’s call, in the beginning of the fourth chapter, as if it was a subsequent event. The general impression from the two preceding narratives, would naturally be, that Jesus went out on his walk by the shore of the lake, by himself, without any extraordinary attendance. But it now appears, that as he stood on the shore, he was beset by an eager multitude, begging to hear from him the word of God. On this, casting his eyes about for some convenient place to address them, he noticed two fishing vessels drawn up near him by the shore, and the owners disembarked from them, engaged in washing their nets. He then first spoke to Simon, after going on board of his boat, to beg him to push off again a little from the land, and his request being granted, he sat down, and from his seat in the boat, taught the multitude gathered on the shore. After the conclusion of his discourse, perhaps partly, or in some small measure, with the design of properly impressing his hearers by a miracle, with the idea of his authority to assume the high bearing which so characterized his instructions, and which excited so much astonishment among them, he urged Simon to push out still further into deep water, and to open his nets for a draught. Simon, evidently already so favorably impressed respecting his visitor, as to feel disposed to obey and gratify him, did according to the request, remarking, however, that as he had toiled all night without catching any thing, he opened his net again only out of respect to his Divine Master, and not because, after so many fruitless endeavors, so long continued, it was reasonable to hope for the least success. Upon drawing in the net, it was found to be filled with so vast a number of fishes, that having been used before its previous rents had been entirely mended, it broke with the unusual weight. They then made known the difficulty to their friends, the sons of Zebedee, who were in the other boat, and were obliged to share their burden between the two vessels, which were both so overloaded with the fishes as to be in danger of sinking. At this event, so unexpected and overwhelming, Simon was seized with mingled admiration and awe; and reverently besought Jesus to depart from a sinful man, so unworthy as he was to be a subject of benevolent attention from one so mighty and good. As might be expected, not only Peter, but also his companions,——the sons of Zebedee,——were struck with a miracle so peculiarly impressive to them, because it was an event connected with their daily business, and yet utterly out of the common course of things. But Jesus soothed their awe and terror into interest and attachment, by telling Simon that henceforth he should find far nobler employment in taking men.

4. John takes no notice whatever of this scene by the lake of Galilee, but gives us, what is not found in the first three gospels, an interesting account, already quoted, of the first introduction of Peter to Christ, not choosing to incumber his pages with a new repetition or variation of the story of his direct call.

The office of an apostolic historian becomes at once most arduous and most important, and the usefulness of his labors is most fully shown in such passages as this, where the task of weaving the various threads and scraps of sacred history in one even and uniform text, is one to which few readers, taking the parts detailed in the ordinary way, are competent, and which requires for its satisfactory achievement, more aids from the long accumulated labors of the learned of past ages, than are within the reach of any but a favored few. To pass back and forth from gospel to gospel, in the search after order and consistency,——to bring the lights of other history to clear up the obscurities, and show that which fills up the deficiencies of the gospel story,——to add the helps of ancient and modern travelers in tracing the topography of the Bible,——to find in lexicons, commentaries, criticisms and interpretations, the true and full force of every word of those passages in which an important fact is expressed,——these are a few of the writer’s duties in giving to common readers the results of the mental efforts of the theologians of this and past ages, whose humble copyist and translator he is. Often aiming, however, at an effort somewhat higher than that of giving the opinions and thoughts of others, he offers his own account and arrangement of the subject, in preference to those of the learned, as being free from such considerations as are involved in technicalities above the appreciation of ordinary readers, and as standing in a connected narrative form, while the information on these points, found in the works of eminent biblical scholars, is mostly in detached fragments, which, however complete to the student, require much explanation and illustration, to make them useful or interesting to the majority of readers. Thus in this case, having given the three different accounts above, he next proceeds to arrange them into such a narrative as will be consistent with each, and contain all the facts. In the discussion of particular points, reference can be properly made to the authority of others, where necessary to explain or support.

Taking up the apostolic history, then, where it is left by John, as referred to above, and taking the facts from each gospel in what seems to be its proper place and time; the three narratives are thus combined into one whole, with the addition of such circumstances as may be inferred by way of explanation, though not directly stated.

Leaving Nazareth, Jesus had come to Capernaum, at the northwestern end of the lake, and there made his home. About this time, perhaps on occasion of his marriage, Simon had left Bethsaida, the city of his birth, and now dwelt in Capernaum, probably on account of his wife being of that place, and he may have gone into the possession of a house, inherited by his marriage, which supposition would agree with the circumstance of the residence of his wife’s mother in her married daughter’s family, which would not be so easily explainable on the supposition that she had also sons to inherit their father’s property, and furnish a home to their mother. It has also been suggested, that he probably removed to Capernaum after his introduction to Christ, in order to enjoy his instructions more conveniently, being near him. This motive would no doubt have had some weight. Here the two brothers dwelt together in one house, which makes it almost certain that Andrew was unmarried, for the peculiarity of eastern manners would hardly have permitted the existence of two families, two husbands, two wives in the same domestic circle. Making this place the center of their business, they industriously devoted themselves to honest labor, extending their fishing operations over the lake, on which they toiled night and day. It seems that the house of Simon and Andrew was Jesus’s regular place of abode while in Capernaum, of which supposition the manifest proofs occur in the course of the narrative. Thus when Jesus came out of the synagogue, he went to Simon’s house,——remained there as at a home, during the day, and there received the visits of the immense throng of people who brought their sick friends to him; all which he would certainly have been disposed to do at his proper residence, rather than where he was a mere occasional [♦]visitor. He is also elsewhere mentioned, as going into Peter’s house in such a familiar and habitual kind of way, as to make the inference very obvious, that it was his home. On these terms of close domestic intimacy, did Jesus remain with these favored disciples for more than a year, during which time he continued to reside at Capernaum. He must have resided in some other house, however, on his first arrival in Capernaum, because, in the incident which is next given here, his conduct was evidently that of a person much less intimately acquainted with Simon than a fellow-lodger would be. The circumstances of the call evidently show, that Peter, although acquainted with Christ previously, in the way mentioned by John, had by no means become his intimate, daily companion. We learn from Luke, that Jesus, walking forth from Capernaum, along the lake, saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishers having gone out of them, were engaged in putting their nets and other fishing tackle in order. As on his walk the populace had thronged about him, from curiosity and interest, and were annoying him with requests, he sought a partial refuge from their friendly attacks, on board of Simon’s boat, which was at hand, and begging him to push out a little from the land, he immediately made the boat his pulpit, in preaching to the throng on shore, sitting down and teaching the people out of the boat. When he had left off speaking, he said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” And Simon answered, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.” As soon as they did so, they took into the net a great multitude of fishes, and the net broke. They then beckoned to their partners, who were in the other vessel, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both vessels, so that they began to sink. When Simon saw what was the result, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For both he, and they that were with him, Andrew, James and John, were astonished at the draught of fishes they had taken. But Jesus said to Simon, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men;” and then gave both to him and his brother a distinct call, “Follow me——come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And as soon as they had brought their ships to land, they forsook their nets, ships and all, and followed him, not back into Capernaum, but over all Galilee, while he preached to wondering thousands the gospel of peace, and set forth to them his high claims to their attention and obedience, by healing all the diseased which his great fame induced them to bring in such multitudes. This was, after all, the true object of his calling his disciples to follow him in that manner. Can we suppose that he would come out of Capernaum, in the morning, and finding there his acquaintances about their honest business, would call on them, in that unaccountable manner, to follow him back into their home, to which they would of course, naturally enough, have gone of their own accord, without any divine call, for a simple act of necessity? It was evidently with a view to initiate them, at once, into the knowledge of the labors to which he had called them, and to give them an insight into the nature of the trials and difficulties which they must encounter in his service. In short, it was to enter them on their apprenticeship to the mysteries of their new and holy vocation. On this pilgrimage through Galilee, then, he must have been accompanied by his four newly chosen helpers, who thus were daily and hourly witnesses of his words and actions, as recorded by all the first three evangelists. (Matthew chapters iv.–viii. Mark, chapters i.–iii. &c. Luke, chapters v.–vi.)

[♦] “visiter” replaced with “visitor”

The accounts which Matthew and Mark give of this call, have seemed so strikingly different from that of Luke, that Calmet, Thoynard, Macknight, Hug, Michaelis, Eichhorn, Marsh, Paulus, (and perhaps some others,) have considered Luke’s story in v. 1–11, as referring to a totally distinct event. See Calmet’s, Thoynard’s, Macknight’s, Michaelis’s, and Vater’s harmonies, in loc. Also Eichhorn’s introduction, 1. § 58, V. II.,——Marsh’s dissertation on the origin of the three gospels, in table of coincident passages,——Paulus’s “Commentar weber das Neue Testament.” 1 Theil xxiii. Abschnitt; compare xix. Abschnitt,——Hug’s “Einleitung in das Neue Testament,” Vol. II. § 40. “Erste auswanderung, Lucas, iii.,” compare Mark.

These great authorities would do much to support any arrangement of gospel events, but the still larger number of equally high authorities on the other side, justifies my boldness in attempting to find a harmony, where these great men could see none. Lightfoot, Le Clerc, Arnauld, Newcome, with all his subsequent editors, and Thirlwall, in their harmonies, agree in making all three evangelists refer to the same event. Grotius, Hammond, Wetstein, Scott, Clarke, Kuinoel, and Rosenmueller, in their several commentaries in loco,——also Stackhouse in his history of the Bible, and Horne in his introduction, with many others, all take the view which I have presented in the text, and may be consulted by those who wish for reasons at greater length than my limits will allow.

“Peter and Andrew dwell together in one house.”——This appears from Mark i. 29, where it is said that, after the call of the brothers by Jesus, “they entered the house of Simon and Andrew.”