This meditation is on Jesus’ calling of his 12 closest disciples. There are different, conflicting stories in the Gospels about this. Ignatius, like so many other theologians, attempted to shoehorn the stories together into one cogent version. This never works well. Mostly, because the four Gospels were written by different people, at different times, and for different purposes. We cannot simply assume that there is one correct way to describe the calling of the Twelve. The text wasn’t written to be a mashup. So I’m not going to treat it as such.
So, how can one meditate on a single story when the accounts vary so much? Again, I have to trust God the Holy Spirit to direct my imagination. These texts, like the others we’ve visited, have a lot of wiggle room for our imaginations to fill in the holes..
The texts I used are from John 1:35-50 & Matt. 9:9-10.
Because of the length of these stories, I’m going to divide them into a couple posts. I hope you hang in there with me!
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means ‘Teacher’), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you sill see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “we have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus answered, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” (John 1:35-50)
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,: he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (Matt. 9:9-10)
After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he returned to Galilee. However, instead of going to his family’s home in Nazareth, he went to Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee. One day as he was walking and praying, he found himself near the place where the upper Jordan River flows into the Sea. John, his cousin, was baptizing there. As Jesus passed, John said to some of his disciples, “Look! That’s the one I told you about! The one who I saw the dove come to! He is the Lamb of God!”
Two of John’s disciples left John and ran to catch up to Jesus.
“Rabbi!” one of them called. “Rabbi, where are you staying?”
Jesus turned and said, “Come on! I’ll show you.”
They walked together until they came to where Jesus was staying. The three men sat on cushions around a low table. Food and drink were brought to them. As they ate the bread and cheese and drank the wine they talked and laughed. Jesus asked them to tell him about themselves.
The first, a man named Andrew, said, “We are fishermen. But, when we can we help John. A lot of people come to him. Too many for him to care for by himself. So, we help keep people organized and moving. Plus, his words. They are different than the words of our synagogue leaders’. They seem to carry power, or even a life of their own. There is strength and truth behind what he says. So, when he pointed you out as being even greater than he, we came to see for ourselves what he meant.”
Jesus just nodded and smiled while Andrew spoke.
After a while, Andrew said that he knew someone who he had to introduce to Jesus. He left and went to find his brother, Simon. He found him near the boats they used for fishing. Simon was a few years older than Andrew. Of the two brothers, Simon was the serious one. He focused on his work and performed it well. So, when he saw Andrew, he shook his head. As far as Simon was concerned this ‘business’ with the Baptizer was a distraction. Andrew should be here working, mending nets, getting ready to go out to earn their living.
“Simon!” Andrew called. “Simon! Come see! We have found the Messiah!”
Simon just rolled his eyes and shook his head again. “Right, another distraction,” he thought.
Andrew took Simon’s arm and began to pull him along.
“Come on, Simon! I’m not kidding! Even the Baptizer said so. We have found the Anointed One!”
“Ok! I’ll come! But, you will need to come back after we meet your ‘Messiah’ and help with the nets. These holes won’t mend themselves!”
The brothers made their way back to Jesus. Simon was still not happy and his face showed it.
When they arrived Jesus looked up and laughed for Simon had a face of stone.
“Don’t look so serious!” he said. “I know! You, Simon son of John, will be called Cephas, the rock!”
All of the men laughed with Jesus.
Jesus was excited. His eyes were bright and he had a broad smile on his face.
“Brothers! Listen to what I have to say. God is doing a new thing in Israel. He is preparing to build God’s own kingdom. Right here! Right now! You’ve heard about the Day of Jubilee in the synagogue. Well, this is it! And, we get to be a part of it!”
“We’ll gather the children of Israel together under God’s banner,” he continued. “The Lord will again raise His mighty hand in acts of power! Just like when God led our people out of Egypt and into the land of Promise. We, too, will lead people out of the slavery and bondage of sin and death into a new land of Promise. Truly, truly I tell you, it will be a land where God reigns over all!”
The men who were with Jesus soaked up every word of Jesus. There was a new fire in their eyes. Like young men everywhere, they longed for adventure. And, Jesus was offering that. Peter, however, sat quietly with that serious look on his face. Being older than the rest, his reaction was tempered by age, experience, and a sense of responsibility that the others didn’t have.
However, even Peter was convinced by the words of Jesus and chose to follow him. Fishing for people…cool!
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