As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

--Parallel verses:
‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬-‭31‬
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

As Jesus begins his ministry, he chooses some disciples. I find it interesting that he did not go to the nearby synagogue to find some highly educated theologians. He did not go to the area where rulers are to recruit them and in so doing gain power and prestige. Instead, he recruited four fishermen.

Fishermen are hard-working. And by definition, because of what they touch, they are smelly. They don’t always talk in the most refined or polished ways. They are not typically highly-educated. They are practical, pragmatic, persistent, strong, and they have a rugged disposition. They know how to take care of themselves.

It turns out that three of these initial four disciples would make up his inner circle: Peter (also called Simon), James, and John. The wisdom of fishermen, who would have known it would be helping lead the church of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

What they did do is follow immediately. They were called and they did not hesitate.

Many people these days think their degrees, their occupations, their fast thinking, and/or their well-reasoned theories make them wise. But Paul sets them straight in I Corinthians 1. He says that God specifically chose the foolish things of this world to “shame” the wise. The weak things to “shame” the strong. The lowly and disposed things to nullify the things that are.

So there is an encouragement here, and a warning: The encouragement is that God can use anyone and frequently chooses those who are not “high and mighty” by worldly standards. And the warning is if you are impressed with your own wisdom; if you think you have the corner on understanding the things of God and want to teach others from your high position — be warned. God will shame you with people that are wiser than you are (because they have gained Godly wisdom) but have no earthly “wisdom training”.

Lord, thank you that you chose simple, practical fishermen to make up 33% of your disciples. This means I might qualify to be used by you too. Thank you that your Spirit will make me wise as I follow you. I can rely on your wisdom.