Pictorial Description:

Jesus is calling His disciples from their vocation as fishermen to a full-time vocational commitment to Him.  There are two boats.  Peter and Andrew are in or standing next to one of them; Jesus is talking to them.

What’s Taking Place:

Jesus is calling these men to assume what will become the apostolic office.  He is not simply asking them to be His pupils but to make a 100% commitment to Him.  They along with the others including Paul will form the foundation upon which Christ will build His Church in the times of the New Testament.

Symbol:

The fish was used by the early Christians as a symbol of recognition, a sign of their discipleship. The Greek letters of the word for fish in Greek form an acronym.  “IXTHUS” is composed of the Greek letters iota, chi, theta, upsilon and sigma.  Iota is the first letter of “Jesus” in Greek.  Chi is the first letter of “Christ” in Greek.  Theta and Upsilon are the first to letters of “Son of God”.  Sigma is the first letter of “Savior” in Greek.  The acronym thus stands for the phrase: Jesus (is) Christ, God (and) Savior, a simple confession of faith in Jesus as the Savior-Messiah-True God.

Scriptural Reference:

Matthew 4:18-22

Mark 1:16-20

Luke 5:1-11

 

 

The Calling of the Disciples