Jesus Calls His First Disciples – inconsistencies between the Gospels

Bert feared his wife Peg wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family Doctor to discuss the problem.

 The Doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the Doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

 'Here's what you do,' said the Doctor, 'stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response.'

 That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was In the den. He says to himself, 'I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens.' Then in a normal tone he asks, ' Peg, what's for dinner?'

 No response.

 So the husband moves closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, 'Peg, what's for dinner?'

 Still no response.

 Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his Wife and asks, ' Peg, what's for dinner?'

 Again he gets no response.

 So, he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. ' Peg, what's for dinner?'

 Again there is no response.

 So he walks right up behind her. 'Peg, what's for dinner?'

 'For goodness sake, Bert, for the FIFTH time, it's chicken!'

 I wonder how often I ask the questions of my wife or of God and never hear the answer? It could be because I have hearing problems -always real but sometimes they are selective!

 Immediately after the statement that John the Baptist had been arrested the Gospel of Mark records that Jesus went about telling people that God's kingdom would soon be present. It was an invitation to turn back to God and to believe what Jesus was saying [Mark 1:14-15]. But did any one listen? And further, did any one respond?

 Mark 1:16 - 20 states that Jesus was simply walking along the shoreline of Lake Galilee when he saw the fishermen Simon [Peter], Andrew, James and John. Probably all four were from the fishing village of Bethsaida. Jesus offered a simple invitation and they accepted it and responded positively to it. Immediately they went together from Bethsaida to Capernaum. This was a journey of no more than 5 miles. Capernaum was an important strategic town built on the strip of land between the Capernaum Mountain and the Sea of Galilee.

 But was the response from those four fishermen spontaneous or had they heard Jesus before? I am sure that with John the Baptist imprisoned and no longer on the scene, the fame of Jesus was beginning to spread throughout the region - so much so that Simon and his brother Andrew probably would have been aware of this travelling itinerant preacher. 

 They must have been impressed by what they had seen and heard so that, when Jesus reached them beside their fishing boat and said, "Leave your fishing nets - come with me and I will make you fishers of men," they gave up everything, without question, to follow Jesus.

 A short while later they were passing James and John who were in a fishing boat with their father, and to the same invitation, the two brothers gave up everything to go with Jesus.

 But what of this calling incident in the other Gospels? In Matthew 4:18 - 22 there is the same story, virtually word for word as in Mark's account, merely adding a little note that James and John did not leave their father completely in the lurch because their father still had hired hands to help him.

 However, in Luke there is much more detail, but again often inconsistent with the earlier accounts in both Mark and Matthew. The Luke story of the calling of the earliest disciples starts with two prior incidents: first the 40 days being tempted in the wilderness and then that disastrous visit to his home synagogue in Nazareth. From there Jesus went to Capernaum and into that synagogue on the next Sabbath where he healed a man with an evil spirit.

 According to Luke 4:31-44, Jesus went from the synagogue to the home of Simon who, as far as we can tell from Luke's account, had not previously met Jesus. When Jesus arrived at Simon's house he was told that Simon's mother-in-law was sick with a fever. But as soon as Jesus heard of the fever, he went to her and ordered the fever to leave. At once, according to Luke, she was able to get up and resumed her normal duties of cooking a meal for Jesus and the family.

 The news went around fast so that, after the sun had set on that Sabbath day, people with all kinds of illnesses were brought to Jesus. As I read this Luke's account, I feel sorry for Simon. I think that it is implicit that, with the crowd still there, Simon had to leave the gathering to go to work on his fishing boat.

 However, when we look for this story of the calling of the first disciples in the Gospel of John we will look in vain because it simply is not there. Instead, it is a story subsequently used by the author of John's Gospel as the post-resurrection BBQ on the seashore. [John 21:1-12]

 There are further inconsistencies within the Gospel stories concerning the calling of the first disciples. John's account already has Andrew, Simon's brother, a disciple of John the Baptist. Then, when Andrew and an unnamed friend met Jesus for the first time, Andrew and his companion left the Baptist and immediately went with Jesus.

 So impressed was Andrew that he went to Simon and said, "We have found the Messiah". Simon went with Andrew to meet Jesus, and Jesus adds 'Peter' [the rock] to Simon's name.

 We do not know from this account whether or not Andrew's companion continued with Jesus or returned to John the Baptist. But this passage continues [John 1:43-51] on the next day with Andrew, Simon Peter and Jesus going back into Galilee, through Andrew and Simon Peter's hometown of either Bethsaida or close-by Capernaum.

 It is there that they met with Philip, who also gave up everything to follow Jesus. Philip then told Nathanael and he also joined this small but growing band of disciples. Then 3 days later, and some 25 miles west of Bethsaida, Jesus and his four named disciples were with his mother, brothers and sisters at a wedding feast in Cana [John 2:1-12].

 So what! These major inconsistencies between the Gospels concerning the calling of the first disciples matters only in as much as offering confirmation that the Gospel stories are not to be read as literal, historically true accounts - they can't all be correct!

 The importance of the calling stories is that we are still being called to follow the Ways of Jesus. If we could really do that just think of the different world we would be living in! It would be a world where justice is paramount and transforming love is unconditional.

 I finish with two of my favourite quotes from Mahatma Gandhi. These are a challenge to me and to the way in which I choose to live my life. The first is, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." And the second is really what Jesus was calling his followers to become, and is still calling us to the same today, if only we would listen and respond: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

 Copyright ©: 2012, Rev John Churcher. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.