Today is the Feast of St. Patrick which has optional readings you can find here.
The scene in the gospel is familiar – “oh sure, I’ve heard this before, Jesus is calling his disciples to be fishers of men” – perhaps too familiar. As with most scriptures, there is more than meets the eye.
The account begins with a wide-angle view with Jesus in a natural amphitheater with a large crowd. Having Simon Peter take him in the boat just a little offshore, Jesus can take in the breadth of the crowd as he teaches. There among in the crowd are people who have heard of the great things he has done in Nazareth and Capernaum, as well as Pharisees, scribes and officials from Jerusalem. There too are the ones who will become his disciples and follow him.
In most bibles that give heading titles to sections (which are helpful, but not part of the original text), today’s gospel is labelled, e.g., The Call of Simon the Fisherman. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, get second billing in this account. However Jesus never “calls” them. He never utters a “follow me” to them, like in the accounts of calling the same fishermen in Mark 1:16-20 and Matthew 4:18-22. In our text, Jesus only talks to Simon. Later Jesus will give the command, “Follow me,” to Levi (Luke 5:27), who like these fishermen, “leaves everything and follows him” (5:11, 28). Jesus announces to Simon (and only to Simon!) what Simon will now be doing. This call/announcement comes not in a “holy” place such as the temple or synagogue, but at work. The call comes not to extraordinary, designated holy people such as priests or Pharisees, but to a fisherman; one who knows his sinfulness.
Next Sunday is the 
“from now on you will be catching men” Literally, the next line reads: “from the now, you shall be catching alive (zogreo) people.” The similar phrase in Matthew and Mark reads: “I will make you (to become) fishermen [halieus] of people.” (This word for “fishermen” is used in v. 2 of our text.) 
Unlike Mark (Mark 3:13–14) and Luke (Luke 6:12–16), Matthew has no story of Jesus’ appointing the Twelve, he assumes that the formation of the group is already known to the reader. “Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.” (Mt 10:1-4)
friarmusings 