James and John ~ Zebedee's two sons ~ worked with him. So did their friends, brothers Peter and Andrew. The two sets of brothers sometimes went with Jesus when he preached somewhere and neglected their fishing.
The head of their fishing business, Zebedee, was getting old. He was also getting worried. If his sons kept going off with Jesus, how could Zebedee keep his fishing business going?
They fished at night when fish come closer to the top of the water.. One night they fished and fished, but the fishing was very bad. So they went to shore with empty boats and began cleaning up their nets.
Pretty soon they saw a big crowd on the beach. Jesus was preaching to the crowd.
Jesus asked Peter if his boat could be pushed off from shore so he could sit in it to preach. Peter agreed. Brother Andrew helped.
After his sermon, Jesus told them to go out to the deep part of the lake, lower their nets, and get a big haul of fish.
Peter argued, "Jesus, we fished all night and didn't catch anything." But they really liked Jesus, so did it for him.
As soon as their nets were in the water, hundreds of fish swam into it. Hundreds! The nets were so heavy, Peter and Andrew could hardly haul them on board. They called to James and John on shore to come help them.
Finally the two boats were so full, they almost sank. As they headed toward shore, they looked at Jesus in amazement.
No one can control nature but God. They knew he had to be the Son of God. They bowed down to Jesus. They wanted to follow him now more than ever.
Back on shore, Jesus went up to Zebedee and smiled. Zebedee understood. Jesus had been reassuring him that his fishing business would be fine with his sons gone. So Zebedee shared his sons with Jesus.
Do you ever share something important to you with others who need the same thing? Maybe part of your lunch with someone at school who forgot theirs? Or paper and pencil if a friend ran out in school? Or even your time when a friend needed your help?