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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Mark 1:20 - 1:20
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20. καὶ εὐθὺς ἐκάλεσεν. As soon as He saw them, being certain of success, He called them. Mt. again preserves the εὐθύς, but employs it, as before, to mark the immediate response to Christ’s invitation. James and John apparently had more to leave than Peter and Andrew had, but in each case all was left (Mar 10:28). Mk does not repeat the words of invitation and he varies the description of the response. To follow Christ is a call superior even to parental claims (Mat 8:22; Mat 10:37; Luk 14:26). “With the hired servants” is one of the unessential details in Mk which Mt. omits; cf. Mar 1:29, Mar 4:38, Mar 5:13, Mar 6:37, Mar 14:5, etc.
The Messiah has chosen four simple fishermen with whom to begin the work of converting the world. Piscatores et illitterati mittuntur ad praedicandum, ne fides credentium, non in virtute Dei, sed eloquentia atque doctrina putaretur (Bede). But Christ did not prefer ignorance to education. There was much in the patient endurance necessary for a fisherman’s calling that was good training for the work of converting the world.