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How do you reconcile the two accounts of Jesus calling Peter? (Matt 4:18-19 and John 1:35-42)

In the Matthew passage, Peter and Andrew are together fishing. In the John passage, Andrew was with John the Baptist and Peter was else where?

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I don't see an inherent conflict between these passages. Specifically, the John passage describes how both Andrew and Simon initially met Jesus; the Matthew passage describes how He called them as disciples. Matthew never claims that the event by the seashore was Jesus' first encounter with the brothers.

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+1 While I agree there need not be a contradiction, Matthew sure makes it sound like the disciples had never met Jesus before they were called. Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship characterized the call as answered by faith and not reputation or former friendship or any prior contact. – Jon Ericson♦ Jan 5 '12 at 1:38
@GalacticCowboy: So you are saying that the John passage takes place first so that by the time the Matthew passage takes place, Peter and Andrew would have already known Jesus, as Jon said in his comment? – epotter Jan 5 '12 at 12:01
Given that the fundamental circumstances are clearly different, and the John passage explicitly claims to be a first meeting between Jesus and the two men, that seems to be the clearest way to read this. – GalacticCowboy Jan 5 '12 at 13:52

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