"And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.' And immediately they left their nets and ·followed him."

This is the sort of text which preachers love, this snippet of a story about the calling of Simon, Andrew, James and John, from the first chapter of Mark.

"And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew…casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.' And immediately they left their nets and followed him."

You may wonder why preachers should love a text like that. It's lean, sparse, virtually no detail. We're beside the sea…a couple of fishermen and Jesus. He says "Follow me." They follow. How typical of Mark's Gospel. There is almost no detail, no dramat…