A Day in the Life

As someone who now identifies himself as a disciple of Jesus, I often wonder what it was like for the Apostolic Disciples (the classic 12 disciples). Understanding of what their lives may have been like, for the initial three years and the years that followed, is critical to interpreting Scripture. It is difficult to remind myself that the disciples were normal men, in whatever way “normal” applies here.

Behold Matthew 14. Jesus has just finished telling a whole bunch of parables, and has been rejected by his hometown. At the beginning of chapter 14, Jesus receives the news that John the Baptist has been beheaded. Not only that, but John was beheaded as an amusing request at a banquet. Upon hearing that a good friend of his has died, Jesus retreats by boat to find solitude and the crowds follow him by foot. He lands, “has compassion on them” and heals their sick. The disciples remind Jesus that it would be difficult to feed the crowd of thousands of people this late in the day. Jesus miraculously provides for all of them with minimal resources. Jesus then instructs his disciples to get into his boat and go to the other side of the lake, and Jesus goes by Himself to pray. A storm comes, Jesus walks on water, calms the storm, and they land. As soon as the people on the shore recognize who Jesus is, they start sending hordes of people to go see Him.

What could the disciples possibly be thinking or feeling? If the point of a disciple is to become more like their Rabbi/ teacher, how could the disciples ever hope to live up to what Jesus has done in a single day? If my best friend was murdered, I know it would be incredibly difficult to continue “working” as if everything was normal. I feel constrained by traditional limits (like the time to go get food) and explain to Jesus that He should drop what He’s doing and move on. I have reasonable fears, like drowning, that hinder me from having faith in Jesus. I have doubts, just like Peter did when he stepped out onto the water to walk with his Teacher. I even sink sometimes. Forgive me, but the creation of nearly limitless food and walking on water aren’t what I would consider normal.

Should we expect “normal” actions from Jesus? Maybe. He was fully human, and so were His disciples, and so are you and me. Even Jesus took time to find solitude to pray, and so should we. At the end of the day though, I willingly join the disciples in saying, “Truly you are the Son of God!” How wonderful is it that we get the privilege of calling this Man our Lord and Savior. What’s even more astounding is that Jesus loves us more than we can even comprehend, and instructs us to love Him and love others. Let’s keep our minds open to learning and be quick to listen to Jesus, just like the disciples who came before us.