Fishers of Men

Our blog today was written by talented story-teller, high school Junior, Maia Miller.

The twelve disciples. Twelve men who were Jesus's companions as he walked this earth. These twelve men were not what would have been expected to be close companions of the mighty king and messiah. They were not religious leaders, nor were they from the Roman court. No, these twelve men were from the lowest and some of the most hated people in society. They were the fishermen and tax collectors: they were the people expected to only vaguely hear about Jesus, not ones he chose to have walk with him and to be his closest companions. However, as they walked with him, Jesus empathized and taught them in different ways through his patience and kindness.

When we think of the disciples and read stories of them, we can sometimes ridicule them because of their unsureness and confusion. Like, how could you not fully understand and believe that Jesus was going to die on a cross and come back to life in three days or how could you be afraid of a storm when Jesus could easily calm it? We can forget that they did not know the ending of the story as we do; instead they were walking through it moment by moment.

The disciples walked with Jesus for around three years, and throughout those three years their relationship with Jesus was very different from one another. Jesus met each disciple where they were at, as they could not all converse with Jesus in the same way.  For example, in John 14: 5-7 Thomas asks “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”.

And Jesus responds with “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." The way he talks to Thomas is very straightforward but also understanding which could have been how Thomas needed to be taught to understand what Jesus was talking about the best.

This is in comparison to how Jesus talks to Peter in Matthew 14: 30-31. Peter becomes afraid of walking to Jesus on the water and cries out saying “but when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, ‘lord save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’”. Peter is known to be more hotheaded, and if Jesus had responded to Peter as he did to Thomas, Peter might not have understood. Instead Jesus responds in a more reprimanding way which he knew would be better for Peter to understand.

Jesus connects with each disciple differently.  Throughout their walk with him, he continues to meet them where they are in each moment. Teaching, building relationships, and helping them with their very different personalities.   

The disciples' walk with Jesus also involved lots of patience and trust. We may know the end of their story, but they did not and, even as Jesus is performing miracles and feeding the masses, the disciples had to have faith in Jesus's plans. As Jesus talks about his death the faith that the disciples had was really hard to keep. They did not want to believe that their close friend would be brutally murdered. Peter really shows this challenge in Matthew 16:15 22: “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’”  Even as they had lots of faith in God, their relationship with Jesus was very close and to hear about horrible things to come would have caused them fear. Jesus to the disciples was one of their closest friends and their mentor, so having faith in him dying and then coming back to life is something they had to try to do.

On the other side of things, Jesus was very patient with them and he taught them to have faith in his plans. This other side of their relationship with Jesus, of having trust and faith in him, and also Jesus's constant patience with them, allowed for them to be a very close and tight knit group.

When I look at the aspects of the disciples walking with Jesus I wondered to myself how this plays into my life. I can be a very revengeful person, especially when it comes to my brothers. When I was a little girl, I was very exasperated at having no sisters and only two brothers, both of whom were very annoying to me though I love them very much. I remember one day, I think they had been teasing me about something, so in that frustration I prayed for a sister, someone who could help me exact revenge on my brothers for teasing me.

 Fast forward a decade and we are hosting a French exchange student Flore. Towards the end of her stay with us, I realized that God had answered my prayer from when I was little; he had given me a sister. God answered my prayer, but he had not given me a sister to help me with my revenge plans. Instead, he had given me a sister to support me and to be a very close friend.

When I look at this story now, I can see that God met me where I was at. Having faith in him throughout those years, maybe not necessarily in that specifically, but in him, he continued to build a relationship with me and met me with a sister when I truly most needed one. During Sophomore year, many things happened and having someone who was with me at school and in my life as a constant companion and friend was exactly what I needed at the time. In a sense he met my personality and who I am, and he did the best thing for me with the prayer of wanting a sister.

Just as Jesus took care of the disciples in the way that they needed him to through kindness or a rebuttal or simply a community of people if they were all alone or hated like Matthew, Jesus meets us where we need him the most and in the ways we need him like he did for the disciples.

I wonder if God has been meeting you where you are at and who you are. So, consider how you are being met and how God is fulfilling the things you have prayed for or how he walks with patience and kindness as you work on your faith as he did with the disciples . Sometimes just thinking about it can allow you to see where you have actually been met and loved, showing you that God is walking with you just as he did for the disciples.