When Jesus left His home country of Nazareth, He stayed in Capernaum. Now Israel had seen better days than what they were having at that time. Most recently, being under the rule of the Romans was awful for them and you can well imagine that the memories of when Herod had all the male babies that were two years old and under murdered, was something nobody could ever forget. People were overtaxed by Caesar the emperor of Rome, and they just didn't have much of anything to feel happy about. They all hoped the Messiah would come soon and bring consolation to Israel.

As Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew, throwing a net into the sea, as they were fishers. And He said to them, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Jesus said to Simon Peter, You are Simon, the son of Jona: you shall be called Cephas, which means, A rock.

When Jesus had walked a little farther He saw James and John his brother in a ship with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them and they too, immediately left the ship and their father and followed Jesus.

The next day, Jesus went into Galilee and finding Philip, He said to him, Follow me. Philip found Nathaniel and said, We have found Him! The one that Moses spoke of in the law and that the prophets wrote about. It's Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathaniel said to Philip, Has anything good ever come out of Nazareth? Philip said, Come and see.

Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him and said, Here comes an Israelite with no dishonesty! Nathaniel asked Jesus, How do you know me? Jesus answered, Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree. Nathaniel then said, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel. Jesus said, Just because I said I saw you under the fig tree, you believe that? You'll see greater things than these. Truly, truly I tell you, in time you will see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.