References (11)
As he went on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. [They were also fishermen.] They were sitting in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them [in the same way he had called Simon Peter and Andrew].
These are the names of the twelve apostles:
first Simon, who is called Peter,
and Andrew, his brother,
[then] James, the son of Zebedee,
and John, his brother,
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee [Salome, see ; ] came to Jesus with her sons [James and John, two of Jesus' twelve disciples, see ]. She knelt down and asked him for something.
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John] with him. Jesus began to feel sorrow (grief) and a tremendous weight came over him (the strongest Greek word for mental pressure).
Among them were Mary of
Magdala and Mary, the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of
Zebedee [the disciples James and John's mother Salome].
[In Mark's account, all three women are named, so Salome is the name of the mother of the sons of Zebedee, see . Salome is also probably the sister of Jesus' mother Mary, see .]A little further on, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, who were mending their nets in their boat.
He called them, and they left their father Zebedee and his hired fishermen in the boat and followed him.
[Peter, James, and John had already been following Jesus, see . Now they took another step and left their jobs to enter into full-time service for Jesus. The two pairs of brothers were companions. Luke also describes how Simon lent his boat to Jesus, who used it as a pulpit. At Jesus' urging, Simon then cast his nets into deep water, see . The large catch shows Jesus' care for the disciples' families, who now have time to hire new fishermen to replace their sons.]
James, the son of Zebedee,
John, the brother of James – Jesus gave them [James and John, the Hebrew] the name Boanerges, which means sons of thunder (tumult) [perhaps because of their hot temper, see ] –
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee [together with their mother Salome, see ], came to him and said, "Teacher, we want you to give us whatever we ask of you."
so also [equally speechless were] James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were companions of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon: "Do not be afraid, from now on you will catch (spare, free) people." [The word "catch" literally means to catch alive, save and spare lives. Whoever is 'caught' by Jesus receives new life. The word is only used here and in , where it is used of people held captive in the devil's snare. Both Peter and the devil capture people, but Jesus' servants "capture" to free and the devil to bind to do his will.]
The following
[seven] people were gathered:
Simon Peter,
Thomas, called the Twin
(Gk. Didymus),
Nathanael, from
Cana in
Galilee,
the sons of
Zebedee [James and John] and two other disciples of Jesus.
[The two other disciples who are not named may have been Andrew and Philip. They are mentioned together in and .]
