Mark 1:19 Commentary - Whedon's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

§ 23. RETIREMENT INTO GALILEE, Mar 1:14 .

§ 24. MINISTRY IN GALILEE, Mar 1:14-15 .

§ 26. CALL OF FOUR DISCIPLES, Mar 1:16-20 .

19. Mending their nets Why does Mark mention that they were mending their nets, while he mentions that Peter and Andrew were casting theirs into the sea? This casual expression would be wholly unexplained if we had not an account from another evangelist, namely, Luke, who tells us that the miracle of the immense draught of fishes had been performed, by which the nets of both boats had been broken. This slight clause, thus inserted for no apparent purpose, is one of those undesigned coincidences which show that truth is at the bottom of both narratives. It suggests that the evangelist Mark is aware of more facts than it is consistent with his brevity of purpose to narrate. See note on Mar 1:1. It also suggests that, had we a fifth evangelist, many of the difficulties which now embarrass us in the Gospels would entirely disappear. Meanwhile these slight variations show that there is no combination between the narrators, but that all are reporting the same facts.