Busyness presses on me today, both at the office and in personal life. After today, I will unlikely to have any time to post until Sunday, and have little enough time to post today. So I’ll get right at it.

Why do I think Luke 5:1-11, where Jesus directs the fishermen to a seemingly miraculous catch of fish then calls them to follow him full time, is different than the calling of the fishermen in Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark 1:16-20? Because of 1) the specifics of the encounter(s) between Jesus and the fishermen, and 2) because of the apparent timeline the gospels together seem to create.

Let’s deal with “The Timeline” first. Here are the key events as told by the three synoptic gospels (John doesn’t deal with this period).

Per Matthew
4:12 John the Baptist put in prison
4:12 Jesus goes to Galilee
4:13 Jesus goes from Nazareth to Capernaum
4:14-17 Jesus begins his preaching ministry
4:18-22 Jesus calls the four fishermen, and they follow him
4:23-25 Jesus’ preaching and healing ministry in Galilee
5:1-7:29 The Sermon on the Mount
8:1-4 Jesus heals a man with leprosy
8:5-13 The faith of the centurion
8:14-17 Jesus heals many, including Peter’s mother-in-law

Per Mark
1: 14 John the Baptist put in prison
1:14 Jesus goes to Galilee
1:14-15 Jesus begins his preaching ministry
1:16-20 Jesus calls the four fishermen, and they follow him
1:21-28 Jesus drives out an evil spirit
1:29-33 Jesus heals many, including Peter’s mother-in-law
1:33-37 Jesus prays in a solitary place
1:38-39 Preaching ministry in other villages
1:40-45 Jesus heals a man with leprosy

Per Luke
4:14-30 Jesus rejected at Nazareth
4:31 Jesus goes to Capernaum
4:31-37 Jesus drives out an evil spirit
4:38-41 Jesus heals many, including Simon’s mother-in-law
4:42 Jesus prays in a solitary place
4:43-44 Preaching ministry in other villages
5:1-11 Catch of fish and calling of the fishermen
5:12-16 Jesus heals a man with leprosy

As you can see, none of these are identical, but they are similar. Mark and Luke are closest to each other. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew is a big event the other two don’t mention. Actually, Luke does have much of this material, but it is later in his gospel, in chapters 6, 11, and 12 (maybe others as well). If Luke has his gospel somewhat chronological, it appears that Matthew has grouped this material and put it where he did, not to establish a chronology, but to early on explain the main thrust of Jesus’ teaching. Matthew has done this in other places, grouping miracles of healing together and parables together. Matthew is, perhaps somewhat, being more of a biographer or theologian than a historian.

Blending the timelines of Mark and Luke, with the same events together, gives the following.

John the Baptist put in prison Mk 1:14
Jesus goes to Galilee Mk 1:14
Jesus rejected at Nazareth Lk 4:14-30
Jesus goes to Capernaum Lk 4:31
Jesus begins his preaching ministry Mk 1:14-15
Jesus calls the four fishermen, and they follow him Mk 1:16-20
Jesus drives out an evil spirit Mk 1:21-28, Lk 4:31-37
Jesus heals many, including Peter’s mother-in-law Mk 1:29-33, Lk 4:38-41
Jesus prays in a solitary place Mk 1:33-37, Lk 4:42
Preaching ministry in other villages Mk 1:38-39, Lk 4:43-44
Catch of fish and calling of the fishermen Lk 5:1-11
Jesus heals a man with leprosy Mk 1:40-45, Lk 5:12-16

Adding what Matthew has, leaving out the Sermon on the Mount, results in the following.

John the Baptist put in prison Mk 1:14, Mt 4:12
Jesus goes to Galilee Mk 1:14, Mt 4:12
Jesus rejected at Nazareth Lk 4:14-30
Jesus goes to Capernaum Lk 4:31, Mt 4:13
Jesus begins his preaching ministry Mk 1:14-15, Mt 4:14-17
Jesus calls the four fishermen, and they follow him Mk 1:16-20, Mt 4:18-22
Jesus’ preaching and healing ministry in Galilee Mt 4:23-25
Jesus drives out an evil spirit Mk 1:21-28, Lk 4:31-37
Jesus heals many, including Peter’s mother-in-law Mk 1:29-33, Lk 4:38-41
Jesus prays in a solitary place Mk 1:33-37, Lk 4:42
Preaching ministry in other villages Mk 1:38-39, Lk 4:43-44
Catch of fish and calling of the fishermen Lk 5:1-11
Jesus heals a man with leprosy Mk 1:40-45, Lk 5:12-16, Mt 8:1-4
The faith of the centurion Mt 8:5-13
Jesus heals many, including Peter’s mother-in-law Mt 8:14-17

Thus, only two things are out of place when Matthew is added in: the faith of the centurion, and the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. Looking ahead in Luke, we find the story of the centurion in Luke 6, immediately after the same material as in the Sermon on the Mount! Thus it looks like Matthew grouped this with S-o-t-M, and it falls within that chronology. As far as the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, is it easier to think there were two such healings, or that one of the authors has it out of sequence, for whatever reason? I think the latter. Therefore, I cross out the last two items of Matthew, only because I believe they are out of sequence in this chronology: Peter’s mother-in-law was healed earlier, and the centurion’s servant was healed later, after some other things happened.

One other item concerning timeline: Luke does mention John the Baptist being put in prison. He does so right after his discussion of John’s ministry and before the discussion of Jesus’ baptism. Clearly, John couldn’t have baptized Jesus if he had been put in prison. A careful reading of Luke’s mention of John’s imprisonment shows he is not giving that as a chronological event, but merely puts it in at a convenient place.

So, I conclude that the blended chronology of these three gospels implies that the calling of the four fishermen in Matthew/Mark is a different event, in the chronology of things, than the miraculous catch of fish and what must be a second calling of the fishermen. But relying strictly on this chronology could be dangerous, and potentially misleading. Perhaps none of these writers gave us a true chronology. What about the specifics of the encounter(s) in the gospels?

Unfortunately, I’m way out of time and space. I’ll leave that for another day, perhaps Sunday.