Luke gives the account of a miracle between the morning sermon of Jesus to the crowd upon the beach, and this call of the four fishermen: "When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, Push off into deep water, and then all throw out your nets for a haul." "We have been hard at work all night, sir," Simon answered, "and have not caught anything, but as you say so, I will throw the nets out." They did so, and they enclosed such a great shoal of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled to their mates in the other boat to come and help them; which they did, filling both the boats so full of fish that they were almost sinking.
Raphael, Plate 49, illustrates the moment, a little later, when Peter threw himself down at Jesus' knees, exclaiming: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke 5:8.) Raphael made this as a design for a tapestry for the Sistine Chapel, Rome.
EARLY GALILEAN MINISTRY.
Schönherr, Plate 69, Hofmann, Plate 70, Max, Plate 71, give different interpretations of Matt. 8:16-17. An evening at Capernaum, when the words of Isaiah (53:4) began to be fulfilled, "Himself took our infirmities and bare our diseases."
The Call of Matthew has been represented variously. (Matt. 9:9-10.)