Reading the Gospels Together The Call of the Disciples – Part 1 All four gospel writers tell stories of the call of disciples by Jesus. Mark, Matthew, and Luke are quite similar in their stories. John is significantly different in his. In this section we will need to consider Mark 1:16-20, Mark 2:13-17, and Mark 3:13-19; Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 9:9-13, and Matthew 10:1-4; Luke 5:1-11, Luke 5:27-32, Luke 6:12-16, and Acts 1:12-26; and John 1:35-51, John 6:66-71, John 19:38, and John 21:1-19. According to Mark immediately after Jesus arrives in Galilee and announces that the Kingdom of God has dawned Jesus calls four disciples. Calling these four disciples is the first thing Jesus does. Once Jesus has called these disciples he is ready to begin his ministry so Mark tells the story of Jesus moving on to Capernaum and recites a glorious first day in the ministry of Jesus. The names are of these first four disciples are Peter, Andrew, James, and John and they will become the core members of the Twelve. They are all fishermen and Jesus finds them on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The exact location is not specified by Mark. Their call is abrupt and, typical of Mark, told with an economy of words – Jesus calls, they follow. A bit later in his gospel Mark tells the story of Jesus calling a fifth disciple named Levi. Levi is a tax collector and his call is somewhat startling – at least to modern ears but also most likely to Mark’s first readers. Levi is an outcast and a despised person who would not have “belonged” anywhere else. The story of the call of Levi is almost identical to the call of the first four – it is abrupt and short as Jesus calls and Levi follows immediately. It is obvious from reading Mark’s gospel, or any of the others for that matter, that Jesus called others who are not mentioned in the gospels to be his disciples. In Mark’s gospel we hear only of these five by name. But, just a short time later, Mark tells his readers that Jesus selects twelve out of the many Jesus has called to follow as disciples and names them Apostles. These twelve will be the inner circle of Jesus’ followers with Peter, James and John, and occasionally Andrew as an inner core of the inner circle. Mark names these twelve – Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alpheaus, Thaddeaus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot. Mark will refer to these followers as “The Twelve.” Mark has mentioned nothing about the call of at least seven of these men – and perhaps eight of them. It is questionable that Mark thinks of Matthew as Levi whose call he has recorded. There is much that Mark does not tell his readers about these people. And, as mentioned earlier, it is apparent that Jesus called many others.