Can he make all the throws? 

When NFL analysts are evaluating quarterbacks coming out of college, that’s one of the things they’re looking for, one of the questions they ask. An NFL team’s passing offense includes a wide variety of plays and routes, but it doesn’t do any good to call a particular passing play if your quarterback can’t make that particular throw. They want to know: Can he make all the throws?

Can he throw the long ball? Can he throw on the run? Can he get it to the flat with velocity? Does he have arm strength? Accuracy? Touch? It’s high praise when an analyst, scout, or coach declares, “He can make all the throws.”

A few chapters into Matthew’s gospel, we read the account of Jesus calling his first disciples. They were the familiar quartet of fishermen-brothers: Peter and And…