Jesus Teaches by the Lake/Jesus Wins Fisherman Followers

15. Jesus Teaches by the Lake
16. Jesus Wins Fisherman Followers

The first of these two passages again attests to the growing interest in Jesus’ teachings; the multitude was so great he had to put out in a boat to avoid being trampled.

The second passage is the first time we see Jesus taking on disciples. While the passage is written as if the disciples joined Jesus after only one memorable encounter, a more realistic scenario may be that Jesus had many interactions with the fishermen, where he built up a relationship with them over time, perhaps occasionally helping them to find better places to fish, and then eventually winning them over to be his disciples.

As we will see later, the disciples also held to a belief in an impending political or apocalyptic messiah, and they were convinced Jesus was the one they were waiting for, which was no doubt their motivation for joining him. Despite Jesus’ teachings to the contrary, it was a belief from which they were never disabused.