Jesus says to the fishermen, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.
It is difficult to explain this call as a call to become disciples. It was customary for a disciple to seek out the rabbi of whom he wanted to become a disciple: a teacher does not call any disciples.1 Besides, Simon and Andrew were already disciples of John the Baptist and now also of Jesus. Thus, it is not a calling of the first disciples. At most it is a call to a few disciples to follow Jesus now (John 1:35–43). We find the call, follow me,
literally also in 2 Kings 6:19, where Elisha leads the Syrian army from Dothan to Samaria after he had said to them, This is not the way, and this not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.
Gnilka2 rightly notes that Mark 1:17 is not a quotation of this passage from 2 Kings. But that passage can teach us in what kind of circumstances the clause, Follow me,
belongs. They identify the speaker as a guide and leader, who will bring people to a specific goal. When a person calls others to come and follow him, he wants to go somewhere. Where does Jesus want to bring these men? The words immediately following do not make this clear. But the words do speak about an accompanying circumstance, namely, that as they follow Jesus, they will become fishers of men. However, this promise does not explain why they must now set out for an undisclosed goal. Since Simon and Andrew already know Jesus and since we have just read Mark 1:14–15, we must understand the call to follow Jesus in the context of his gospel of the kingdom of God that is at hand. Christ preaches the kingdom as good and accessible news and at that moment he commands a few friends to join him and travel together with him. He leads the way to the kingdom of God: he will bring them there. But that means that they must indeed follow him. In Mark 1:2 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is pointed out as the promised Angel of Yahweh, who will lead the people back to God. In Mark 1:17 Jesus does indeed appear as this Angel of the Lord: Simon and Andrew must now follow him, just as the people of Israel followed the pillar of cloud.3
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”