The Calling of the Disciples

Mark For Everyone

MARK 1.14–20 The Calling of the Disciples...

...The poet John Betjeman describes in his verse autobiography how his father put pressure on him to follow him into the family business. The young John had no desire to do so; he wanted to be a poet. That’s just a stupid dream, said his father; you’ve got to enter the family business, not only to make money, but for the family honour. You’re the fourth generation. You’ve got to carry it on. The young man refused, and followed his own vocation, ending up as Poet Laureate, with a memorial in Westminster Abbey.

We have no idea how many generations the Zebedee family had been fishing on the sea of Galilee, but it was quite likely a lot more than four. In that country and culture, as in many countries and cultures to this day, a small family business can be handed on not only through generations but through centuries. It’s safe and secure; people know what they’re doing. If times are hard, the usual answer is simply to work a bit harder...

Taken from Mark for Everyone by Tom Wright