We left a very happy mother and father behind us with a smiling little girl in their arms and headed for Nazareth expecting a warm welcome from those former friends and acquaintances of Jesus. However much to our dismay this was not the case as Jesus began to preach in the synagogue the people were astonished and amazed at the things He said and the wisdom with which He said it to them. They were astounded when they heard of the miracles He had wrought and yet instead of rejoicing with Him they began to deride Him and find fault. I heard them mumbling to one another, "Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and are not His sisters here with us." It seemed as if they were offended that one of their own from their small villages could be noticed by anyone. Jesus stated to us that "a prophet is only without honor in His own country." Even Jesus was astounded at their unbelief so we moved on to other villages.
Jesus sends out the Twelve Apostles (7 - 13)
Jesus called us all together and then took the twelve that He had chosen aside and told them it is time for you to go out and preach the gospel. He told them that you will be able to cast out demons. Anoint people as I have with oil and see the sick healed. I thought to myself how careful they will have to be for it will be easy for them to get caught up in the things that are happening and to forget the reason they are going. For the first thing that Jesus told them was to go out and proclaim that people should repent and believe the good news that He had come. I guess the healing and the casting out were to prove the need for repentance to God. I found it unusual that He told them to take no provisions for their journey no bread, no bag, no money but only their walking staff. I have now come to realize that what He was saying is that God would provide. To top all of this off He then told them that if they went somewhere and the people would not listen to them they were to shake the dust off their feet as a testimony against those people. I thought to myself that God is even able to see the dust that is left behind when people reject Him. I rejoiced in the fact that because of Jesus's wonderful love for me, I had come put my trust in Him as Savior. I wondered how others when they saw this great love and compassion for us who are such sinners could help but do the same. It did not take long for us to receive news that not everyone wanted to hear the good news. So I watched this ragged troop of men walk off from us two by two. Yes their clothes were ragged, their hair a little unkempt and their hands hard and calloused from work but they had a giant love and concern for the welfare of their brothers. A love that I had just began to know in my heart.
The Death of John the Baptist (14 - 29)
What I had feared when I had first heard and saw the man John preaching in the river Jordan had come true and all because of a young girls dance. Yes I know that it is hard to believe that someone would have another person be-headed because a young girl danced in front of him but that is how it was with Herod the King. A man who was supposed to be full of integrity, a man who had been brought to power and was supposed to rule his kingdom justly put John to death. Why? Because John had told him the truth, you see Herod had taken his brother's wife Herodias and John had said that it was not lawful for him to do so. As I understand Herodias was getting nervous about John because Herod liked to listen to him. I supposed that if truth be told she was afraid that Herod might begin to agree with John and put her away. She would then lose her place as the queen. I do not even want to think about how she gained it in the first place. I heard that her daughter danced for Herod and the foolish man told her he was so pleased with her dance that she could have anything she wanted up to half of his kingdom. It is amazing what lust and drink can do to a king or any man for that matter. One of the servants who was there said as Herod laughed with his guests the young girl came back and said she had a request for him. Herod with a mighty kingly gesture raised his glass while the guests clapped and yelled. The little servant girl said they were making so much noise that Herod could not hear what Herodias daughter was saying so he raised his scepter and everyone grew quiet and with a big smile ask the girl what she wanted to which she replied, " the head of John the Baptist". She said Herod turned as white as a sheet and just sat there with his eyes going from her to the crowd. He then turned to the executioner and told him to grant her request and the executioner did. I know that it sounds unbelievable but he brought John's head out on a platter and presented it to her. How could one man who loved others so much arouse so much hatred in others? Peter told me later that some of the disciples went and got John's body and gave it a proper burial.
Jesus feeds the Five Thousand (30 - 44)
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Have you ever been hungry? I have been. Have you ever been feed by God Himself? I have been. Let me tell you more about this man who has become not only my Messiah and Leader but also my greatest friend. The men who Jesus had sent out to tell about Him had returned and had so many wonderful stories to tell us. Jesus told all of us to come with Him and we would find a place to rest and then they could tell us even more. We got in a boat and began to steal away from a crowd that had gathered when they found out that Jesus was near. As fate would have it that did not work for many saw us leaving and began to follow along on foot and as we got to shore a large crowd was already waiting. Jesus as usual had compassion on them and began to minister to them as only He could do. The next thing we knew it had grown very late so Andrew, Thomas and the others in their concern for the people there came to Jesus and said, send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages so they can buy themselves something to eat. As usual my friend the one who always astounded us did so again. With what appeared to me like a look of amusement on His face He turned to the disciples and said, "you give them something to eat." If stammering, stuttering, and shuffling could make you rich we would have become the richest men in the world. Finally Phillip spoke up and said Lord we have two hundred denarii and with what I thought was his most impressive way of trying to sound spiritual while looking foolish said we could not feed them if we wanted to. I do not want to sound as if I am putting Phillip down in anyway as most of the rest of us were staring off into space pretending we did not even hear Jesus say, "You give them something to eat." After all had they just not came back from healing the sick, curing the lame and doing other miracles in Jesus name. Finally Jesus got everyone's attention again and drew us back from our outer space stares when He asked," How many loaves do you have?" Now we had something we knew how to do again so we went and found out that we had five loaves and two fish. If I remember I actually laughed to myself when the tally was counted and I looked out at the enormous crowd. My laughter quickly changed to astonishment when Jesus began to separate the crowd into groups of fifties and hundreds. Then He took the loaves and fishes and said a blessing over them and broke them into pieces. Then He gave them to the disciples in baskets. They began to pass them out very timidly to the crowd that was there and again to our wondrous amazement all were filled and satisfied. Then Jesus told them to take up what was left and put it in the twelve baskets. The one who could create bread and fish from nothing would still not let anything go to waste. How shameful I felt when I thought not only of the material things I wasted but also of the time I wasted being so concerned with the small concerns of life. Oh, by the way I was told that the number that was feed was five thousand people.
Jesus Walks on the Water (45 - 52)
As soon as the baskets were gathered Jesus told all of us to go ahead and get in the boat and go over to Bethsaida. He told us that He would dismiss the crowd. It was always amazing to me that He knew when we had just about reached the brink of exhaustion and would tell us to go away quietly and rest. As we rowed out in the boat and the crowd dispersed I saw Him walking up the side of the mountain and I knew He was going to where He always seemed to draw His strength from and that was when He talked to God. It was then I realized that it was from Him that I was drawing my strength to continue following Him. It
had grown dark and this trip to Bethsaida had grown increasing hard as a very strong wind had come up against us. We were finding fault with each other in the small boat and arguing that some were not rowing as hard as the others. All of a sudden Levi let out a gasp, follow by a cry of terror. All of us turned to see what he was looking at and all of us fell back in terror. I must confess that I screamed, "Where are you Jesus there is a ghost walking by us" and then the ghost spoke and said, "Take heart it is I. Do not be afraid." and there right off of the waves Jesus stepped into the boat and the wind ceased. I think that Jesus was a little disappointed in us that night for we had just seen Him feed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish yet now we were astonished when He came walking to us. Did we not realize that the boat belonged to us but the sea belonged to Him? I think what touched me the most was that He did not need the boat but could have passed us by and went on to shore but got in waited for our poor dull minds and spirits to catch up with Him.
Jesus heals the Sick in Gennesaret (53 - 56)
What I am about to tell you now shames me and I will tell you why. We had no more moored the boat and as soon as we did the people recognized the one who we did not recognize on the water. That was shameful to me but more than that they began to bring the sick people on their beds. Wherever He was whether it was in the villages, cities, countryside, even in the marketplaces they brought the sick and implored Jesus to just let them touch the hem of His garment and they knew they would be healed. I tell you there were a lot of us who had followed Him and had been with Him from the beginning of this journey who had seen the sick healed, the hungry fed and the sea tamed who did not have the faith that those people did. Jesus said not a word about this to us which I think for me was even more shameful. I think I might have felt better if He would have berated us up one side and down the other for our small faith but He only would say let us go tell others the good news that they too might believe.