“And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.”
Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. The second pair's departure adds father to the list of what is left: the boat (livelihood), Zebedee (family), and the nets (occupation) are all left immediately. Luke 14:26 records Jesus' demand that disciples love him more than father and mother, son and daughter; James and John enact this before the demand is spoken. The father who is left behind is not abandoned to destitution — he is still in the boat with hired servants (Mark 1:20) — but the priority has been established. Following Jesus means allowing the relationship with the teacher to reorder all other relationships without destroying them.
Church Fathers on Matthew 4:22
Before He spoke or did any thing, Christ called Apostles, that neither word nor deed of His should be hid from their knowledge, so that they may afterwards say with confidence, 'What we have seen and heard, that we cannot but speak.' [Acts 4:20]
The sea of Galilee, the lake of Gennesaret, the sea of Tiberias, and the salt lake, are one and the same.
He rightly goes on fishing places, when about to fish for fishermen.
Read all 30 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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