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How often God chooses the most improbable people to move forward his purposes! A cowardly Jonah fled from God's commission to preach to the Ninevites (Jonah 1:1-3). Israel's great King David committed adultery (2 Samuel 11:2-5).
Again and again God has manifested his power by transforming weakness into strength and sinners into saints. And so God chose a brash fisherman to become his instrument to “catch” men and women for his kingdom (Luke 5:10). For Simon Peter, what began with the invitation to become “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19) would result in the spreading of Jesus’ message far beyond the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
Simon BarJona, that is, son of Jona or John (Matthew 16:17; John 1:42; 21:15), and his brother Andrew were originally from the village of Bethsaida on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee (John 1:44). At some point they moved to Capernaum on the lake’s northwestern shore, where Simon lived with his wife and in-laws (Mark 1:29-30). It’s likely that he ran one of the commercial fishing cooperatives that…
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