[Journey with Jesus – Day 6]
That morning he was a changed man. My dear Simon had always been restless. He’d say that he was happy with his life on the sea of Galilee, that he enjoyed the thrill of the catch as well as the cut and chase of the bargaining that went on afterwards, but he could never really convince me. You see, once we were betrothed, it was the passion under the surface that really drew me to him. He was always more than a fisherman. His brother, Andrew, was quieter, more thoughtful and it was Andrew who had first gone off to the Jordan to find out what the fuss was about this John the Baptist character. It didn’t surprise us unduly when he told us that he wanted to become John’s disciple. Simon shrugged, said it was a fad, but I honestly feel that part of him wanted to do the same. He just felt that as the older one, he couldn’t just up and leave his responsibilities, especially as he had a wife and mother-in-law to provide for.
Anyway, Andrew persuaded Peter to go with him to the Jordan to see John the Baptist for himself. He returned a few days later even more restless than before – he was agitated. He said that while he was there there had been talk about a Messiah figure who had come to rescue the people – he would be full of the Holy Spirit and do incredible things. More than that, he said that he had met this person. They’d had a strange conversation where Jesus, for that was his name, had given him a new name – Peter, which means Rock. Simon said that it was strange, that though they had never met before the man Jesus had looked like he knew all about him. I asked him whether he felt Jesus was the Messiah, but Simon just shrugged. He didn’t talk about it much after that point, but I could tell he was constantly thinking about him, although, of course, he’d deny it. This only increased the more we heard about the things Jesus was saying and doing – there were stories about miracles, including the a wedding nearby when he turned water into wine, and other things. It was quite incredible.
Then the morning came. He’d been out all night on a fishing expedition and came back rather later than usual – I assumed that perhaps they had stopped off in the market to sell what they had caught that night. Anyway, he ran into our home breathless and caught me up in an embrace. “Dear Penny, it’s Jesus. He’s asked me to follow him – along with Andrew, James and John – and we’ve all said yes. We’ve laid down our nets for good and now we’re going to fish for people.” It all came out in a flood, it was quite overwhelming. I must have looked shocked (which I was), so he said, much more quietly, “I’m sorry if you think we’re being rash for dropping the fishing. We had an incredible catch last night – the biggest ever, so we’ll be ok for a while – I, I just hope you -“
I stopped hm straight away. “Look, Simon, it’s ok. In fact, it’s more than ok. I’ve always known that you were made to be more than a fisherman – part of the reason I fell in love with you was your passion. I’m so glad that I’m not the only one to see it. I know we’ll be ok.”
“Thank God,” Simon said, the relief palpable in his voice. “Jesus said he wants to meet you.”
“Really?” I replied, “Well, that would be wonderful.”
And it was. Jesus was kind, thoughtful, and funny when we met him. And then on the sabbath we went with him to the synagogue here at Capernaum. He began to teach and honestly, it was extraordinary, nothing like anything we had heard before. He taught with authority, not like the scribes we usually heard in the synagogues. heard. Then, when Jesus was mid-flow, there a disturbance from behind us – we heard a man shouting, “Stop! Leave us alone! What business do you have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? I know what you’re up to – you’re the holy one of God and you have come to destroy us!”
We were aghast, what would happen next? Well, Jesus didn’t seem at all perturbed. He just shut up the man – “Be quiet – get out of him!” The man was thrown down in front of us, and then became still. We wondered at first if he was dead, but he sat up, shook himself, blinked and asked what had happened. He was calm and completely in his right mind. He was unharmed by the whole thing.
Well, you can imagine the whispering that broke out at this point. They were wondering, “What is going on here? Someone whose words make things happen? Someone orders demonic spirits to get out and they do.” He was the talk of the town.
In the midst of all this, my poor mother had woken up with a fever and was lying in bed. I had begun to worry about her, but didn’t want to bother him, because he clearly had many other more important things to worry about. Jesus, however, could obviously sense something was up, so he asked me what the matter was. I told him, and he insisted on coming to our home straight away. He went to where she was lying and gently took her by the hand. He lifted her up and, incredibly she got up – clearly completely herself once more – and began to serve us. It was like she had never been unwell. Simon and I just looked at each other. We were overwhelmed at what this man was doing and why he chose ordinary people like us to be his companions and to see what we were seeing that day. I keep thinking about what that demon had said – is Jesus really the Holy One of God? Is he the chosen one? I don’t know. All I know is that we’ve begun a completely new adventure, and I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.
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