The stories of the calling of Simon Peter and the Gospels as "Faithful Witnesses"

How did Simon Peter first become a disciple of Jesus?

• Mark and Matthew's account
  • After John's arrest, Jesus begins his ministry. Jesus sees Simon and Andrew casting a net into the sea, and Jesus tells them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." "And immediately they left their nets and followed them." James and John are similarly called. (Matt 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-1:20). They "they left [the people in the boats] and followed him."
  • In Mark, Jesus then cleanses a man with an unseen spirit and then goes to Simon's house, where he heals Simon's mother-in-law (Mk 1:29-31).
  • In Matthew, the story of Jesus healing Simon's mother-in-law takes place later (Matthew 8:14-17) in 'chapter time' (i.e., after the Sermon on the Mount). The cleaning of the man with the unseen spirit is not told at all, but there are two healing stories (Mat 8:1-13).
• Luke's account
  • Soon after Jesus's initial proclamation at Nazareth and his temptation in the wilderness, he heals a man with an unclean spirit (Lk 4:31-36), he comes to Simon's house and heals Simon's mother-in-law. An oblique reference to the temptation occurs ("went into a deserted place" (4:42), and he begins to preach in Judea.
  • At the lake of Gennesaret (another name for the Sea of Galilee) he sees two boats, and begins to preach from Simon's boat. When he was done, he tells Simon to 'put out into the deep water', and Simon reluctantly does so. When he does, there is a great catch, so big that the nets begin to break and the boats to sink. Simon Peter tells Jesus to leave him because Simon is too sinful; he was amazed. Jesus tells him, and his partners, James and John, "Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people." When they get to shore, "they left everything and followed him." Andrew is not mentioned.
• John's account
  • John 1. Peter and his brother Andrew were disciples of John's. John declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God. Andrew and another disciple, hearing this, begin to follow Jesus. After about a day, Andrew finds his brother Simon and tells him that he has found the Messiah. Jesus declares, "You are Simon the son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (or Peter). Peter follows Jesus (his next appearance is in John 6:68 ('to whom can we go? you have the words of eternal life). (John 1:35-42)

Similarities and differences between the witnesses

• Similarities among all (or most of) the accounts.
  • Peter is called to follow Jesus, and he does.
    • Jesus gives Peter a promise.
    • Peter becomes a fervent follower of Jesus.
  • Peter's call occurs early in Jesus's ministry.
  • Peter is first called in the company of other early disciples, including his brother Andrew, James and John.
  • Simon is called near water, likely the Sea of Galilee, also called the Lake of Genesaret. Although John doesn't really mention it, John's ministry took place near the Jordan River which runs into the Sea of Galilee.
  • In the Synoptics, it takes place around the time Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.

  Differences

  • Things that are not different at all
    • What's this person's name? Simon? Peter? Simon Peter? Cephas? [all names for the same person]
    • Where did it happen? The Sea of Galilee? The Lake of Gennesaret? The Sea of Tiberias? [all names for the name body of water]
  • Relatively minor differences of omission
    • Was Andrew there? This is missing from Luke's story
    • Was Peter a disciple of John's? This is missing from the synoptics, but Peter's having been a disciple of John's is clearly more than just a detail.
  • Relatively larger differences
    • Difference in the timeline of the events
      • Did Simon's call come after the healing of the man with an unclean spirit and the healing of Simon's mother-in-law, or before?
    • Difference in the promise
      • The synoptics declare that Peter will be "fishing for people." John's gospel doesn't, rather, it stresses that Simon will be called "Cephas," that is, the Aramaic version of "Peter," meaning the 'Rock' . This is somewhat parallel to Jesus's blessing on Peter in Matthew (and only there) "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church..."
    • Location and context differences
      • In John's gospel, Simon Peter is first called by Jesus to follow him after being introduced to Jesus by Andrew. This takes place on dry land, without a context of Simon Peter and Andrew working.
      • In Mark and Matthew's accounts, Simon Peter is first called by Jesus as Jesus "passes along the Sea of Galillee" and Simon and Andrew are fishing.
      • In Luke's account, Simon takes Jesus out in a boat, and Simon is called as he and his fishing partners are working. The account of the many fish, Simon's feeling shame and telling Jesus to leave, is unique to Luke. The account as a whole is parallel an event related to the gospel of John that occurs after the resurrection of Jesus (John 21:1-11).

Harmonizing the accounts

• A proposed harmony
  • [John 1] Peter is first introduced to Jesus by Peter's brother Andrew, as Jesus visits John as John was baptizing near the Sea of Galilee by the Jordan River. Peter and Andrew were John's disciples.
  • [Mark, Matthew] Some time later, not a long time, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew by the Sea of Galilee. For the first time, he tells them they will be fishing for people.
  • [Synoptics] Jesus heals the man with the unclean spirit, and Simon's mother-in-law.
  • [Luke] Some time later, not a long time, Jesus uses Peter's boat to preach from, and has Peter and his fishing partners (including the unnamed Andrew, perhaps) put out into deep water to fish, precipitating Peter's confession of sinfulness and Jesus's second statement that he would be fishing for people.
  • [John 21] After the resurrection, Peter returns to fishing the Sea of Galilee [called in John the 'Sea of Tiberias' because Tiberas is a main city on the lake]. Jesus appears to him and tells him where to cast his net, and Peter (perhaps remembering that this had happened before, as Luke relates), realizes it is Jesus.
• Advantages of the harmony
  • The timeline is preserved among the gospels
  • It's not at all unlikely that Jesus would repeat his call and promises to his disciples. Why wouldn't he remind his disciples that they were called to fish for people at least three times? (Mark/Matthew, Luke, John by reminder). Similarly, it's not unlikely that Jesus reminded Peter of his name more than once, and "Cephas" versus "Peter" is just a translation issue. (We don't call him "Petros," although that is his name in Greek). You'd expect different people to remember and stress different stories.
  • If Peter and Andrew were already John's disciples, it might explain their willingness to become a roving disciple of Jesus at such short notice. (Still, Jesus was a pretty persuasive teacher).
  • Most of the remaining discrepancies are minor, reflecting wording, point of view, etc.
• Disadvantages of the harmony
  • If we take the three 'call' accounts, it is odd that none of the gospels has more than one of them. Why didn't Luke include both stories? He probably had Mark or an early version of what would become Mark in front of him.
  • It imposes a time order that doesn't seem so important to the gospel writers, and more than a little unlike how human memory usually work. I can barely remember the order of things that happened yesterday, much less what happened a few decades ago (and the most conservative scholars think the Gospels were written at least 20 years after the fact).

The gospel writers as "faithful witness"

• Once we start down this road, we will have to harmonize these stories with other 'disharmonies,' and we might miss the forest for the trees. The point of the gospels is to point to the nature and teachings of Jesus, and not so much the biographical details. Which isn't to say that we might not want to do so, but it would be missing the point. We don't want to write "New Testament Introductions;" we want to be faithful followers of Jesus (and to introduce him to others).
• Rather, we should think of the gospel writers as "faithful witnesses," who tell the story of what they saw and heard, and what others saw and heard. In their telling us the story, we will get different styles and points of view, different emphases. The time lines differ (for example, John has the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus's ministry; the synoptics at the end), but not the essential points.
• As we have seen from looking at the calling of Peter, the accounts hang together. It seems likely that Peter and Andrew were followers of John who were called early to follow Jesus, and they did so with abandon. Their ministry was eventually to be "fishing for people," and we see this to be the case as they learn from Jesus throughout the Gospels, and then do so as apostles of God.
• Implications for Gospel readers
  • Don't get hung up on the small details of apparent inconsistencies of fact. Sometimes, they go away with just a little more knowledge. But always over-harmonizing the apparent inconsistencies is to miss the point of the story. And if this is "the most important story ever told," we don't want to miss the point!
  • Look for those major points while reading the Gospels. Usually you can find:
    • Something about the nature and work of Jesus Christ
    • Something about the kingdom of God and how we should live
    • Something about how God intervenes in the world
  • As we read the Word of God in the scriptures, we seek to follow more closely Jesus Christ, the full Word of God. What truth is God telling us that we need to hear? What truth is God telling us that we need to share with others?