Jesus Ministers to Crowds of People

"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all of Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan."

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Now we are talking! This short summary covers a lot of ground. Jesus gets right to work, presumably filling out the other eight disciple positions somewhere along the way. Teachings and miracles, those are the hallmarks of Jesus.

As the Study Bible points out, the good news of the advent of the kingdom (recall Matthew 4.17 "From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'") is made concrete through Jesus' merciful and compassionate healings.

The Study Bible says that "their synagogues" refers to the Pharisees, those strict rule-followers whom Jesus will annoy mightily as the story continues.

The Study Bible also notes that 'crowds' appear often in Matthew. They are mainly neutral or sympathetic to Jesus, until swayed by Jerusalem's religious leaders.

As for the geography mentioned in the text, Syria is a major Roman province to the north, Galilee is the region north of the Roman Judea/Iudaea province that borders the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Wikipedia mentions that, when the Iudaea Province was formed in 6 AD, Galilee and the Decapolis were not originally part of it. Furthermore, the Iudaea Province was considered a "satellite" of the Syria Province. The Decapolis was a group of ten towns to the east of Iudaea; Jerusalem is a major city in the Iudaea Province, and '...from beyond the Jordan' would refer to even more people outside of that region.

By Wikipedia User:Andrew c, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=743768

Here is a very interesting blog post entitled "7 Differences Between Galilee and Judea in the Time of Jesus" 

Essentially, people from Galilee, even observant Jews, would be thought of as complete outsiders to those in the Judean region of the Iudaea Province (including Jewish people from the city of Jerusalem). As a side note, the region of Samaria is not predominantly Jewish, so it serves as a buffer of sorts between the temple in Jerusalem and the Jews from Galilee. It is this non-Jewish status of Samaritans that gives the story of The Good Samaritan such weight. An outsider, a non-Jew, behaved the best of all the people who came upon the victim lying in the road. More on that later, of course.

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

"As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting their nets into the sea--for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called to them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him."

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The Study Bible points out that the first four disciples, according to Mark, are two sets of two brothers. It also notes that "the author likes the number two (6.24; 8.28; 9.27; 10.10, 29; 14.17, 19; 18.8-9, 15-20; 20.21, 24,3; 21.1, 28; 22.40; 24.40-41; 25.15, 17, 22; 26.60; 27.38) and will give two accounts of essentially the same story (coming up in 9.27-31 = 20.29-34 and 9.32-34 = 12.22-24). Simon, who is called Peter, is the most prominent disciple; while James, son of Zebedee, is called out in this way so as not to be confused with Jesus' brother James. It is also pointed out that fishermen were from the lower social strata.

So here Jesus displays his first other-worldly powers. He merely walks up to four people working at their jobs, says "Come with me" and they do. Seemingly no questions asked by them, no reasons given by him. He says the word, they drop what they are doing and follow.

I would think the second set of men would be the strangest: their dad is right there with them, and they decide to leave. It is, of course, possible that one or more of these first four disciples also had families at home. I'd guess they didn't stop to say goodbye. It is very remarkable, to say the least, and points to a supernatural gift on the part of Jesus, in my opinion. It challenges the notion that he was fully a man. He has a divine plan, and special power to enact it.