Written in 2012

“And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. Simon whom he surnamed Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, whom he surnames Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”

Those whom Jesus called to be Apostles – I wonder how they felt about it. A sense of purpose perhaps, pride in being one of the few, expectation as to what would be revealed?. And what did they think of this Jesus? A brilliant preacher, kind and gentle, strange, awe inspiring for what He could do in healing the sick, eyes that seemed to see the soul, deep understanding of human nature, Scripture scholar? Did they question just who this man was – after all, he was just a carpenter from a small, out of the way place?. Did some think that God was working through him to heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind? Was he a prophet? Was he the Messiah? What did this Jesus see in them? They were common people – fishermen, tax collector, day laborers, farmers, merchants.  As time went on did they opinions of him change? Did their opinions of themselves change?

Days followed one upon the other. They ate and slept and traveled together. What did they see? What did they hear?