| SEVEN APOSTLES |
| Jesus had been telling his apostles to return to the northern part of their country where they all lived and where they were farther away from their enemies. Finally, after two weeks, they left Jerusalem. Three of them went somewhere else first ~ brothers Matthew and James Junior, also Thaddeus. But seven of them went straight to the Sea of Galilee to fish while waiting for Jesus' next surprise visit. Philip and Nathaniel weren't fishmen, but lived by the lake. Thomas wasn't a fisherman either, but he'd been in the Roman navy and looked forward to being back on the water. So they joined Peter, Andrew, James and John too. The sun was down and the fishing was supposed to be good. So, as Philip, Nathaniel and Thomas sat quietly and imagined what plans Jesus had next, the others fished. They fished and fished. All night they fished. But guess what? They didn't catch a thing. It was just like the time three years earlier when they fished all night and didn't catch a thing. Jesus, standing on shore, had shouted to them to cast their nets out one last time. They did, and their nets were so full they had trouble pulling them into the boat. That was three years ago. A lot had happened since then, including Jesus being crucified and coming back to life. Finally, it was getting daylight and the fishermen decided to give up. At least it helped pass the time while they waited for Jesus. They wondered why he was waiting so long to return. Nearing shore, they heard a man call out, "Cast your net out one more time!" They did, and guess what? Their net was so full of fish they had trouble pulling it into the boat. Just like three years before. John was the first to remember. "It's Jesus!" Immediately Peter jumped into the water and swam ashore. "I'm coming, Jesus! I'm coming! I'll never desert you again!" Soon the others had their boat ashore and rushed to Jesus too. They bowed at his feet. "You came back. We knew you would. We needed you so. We could hardly stand it with you gone." After breakfast, Jesus asked Peter to take a walk with him. Peter's self-confidence was not built up enough yet. What if he betrayed Jesus again? Jesus will help him. Jesus told Peter that, even if he just liked him and didn't really love him, he could still feed people with the simple milk of his word. Then he said he could take care of his older sheep. Finally he said Peter could even feed the older sheep with the harder meat of his word. Have you ever denied knowing Jesus? Maybe you were just scared. Even if you tell people about Jesus when you are scared, Jesus can help those people want to believe your words. |