Does John's account of the first two disciples of Jesus differ from Matthew's account?

Answer 1

A:In Mark 1:16, Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee just after his temptation in the wilderness, when he saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew, fishing. He called to them and said he would make them fishers of men, and straightaway they discarded their nets and followed him. When he had walked a little farther, he saw John and James mending their nets and called to them to follow him.

John's Gospel omits the story of the temptation in the wilderness, allowing Jesus to return a day after his baptism to John the Baptist, who was standing with two of his disciples, one of whom was Andrew. On John's instructions, the two followed Jesus. Andrew then went and brought his brother, Simon Peter, to follow Jesus. The next disciple to be called was Philip.

As far as we know, Mark's is the earliest written account of the call to the apostles. John's Gospel retains some of the original, including the fact that Andrew and Peter were brothers and that they were the first to be called, but makes two significant changes.

First, John the Baptist instructed Andrew and the other disciple to follow Jesus, thus clearly demonstrating to the readers of John's Gospel that the Baptist saw himself in the role of a servant to Jesus. Second, Peter was relegated to second or third position chronologically as a disciple. This last change reflects a theme of John's Gospel to subtly reduce the status of Peter, who the author seems to have felt was being venerated too much by the beginning of the second century, when this Gospel was written. Peter was to no longer be the first apostle to be called by Jesus.

Answer 2

A:Yes, most definitely:

• Matthew's account, directly based on Mark's, is that after his baptism, Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness and, on his return, began to preach. He then saw two brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew, as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, and told them to follow him and he would make them fishers of men.
• John's account says that on the very day after Jesus' baptism, John pointed Jesus out to two of his disciples, Andrew and another, and the disciples followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his brother Peter and brought him to Jesus. The same day, Philip and Nathanael also followed Jesus. The next day Jesus attended a wedding with his mother, telling her that his hour was not yet come.