Sons of Thunder
James and John stood besides Jesus’ family, just a few feet from the cross. It was a heart-breaking scene as they watched their love one in so much agony, struggling to catch his breath. They took turns breaking down with who ever was in control of their tears for the moment, trying to comfort the ones who weren’t. Loud wails and sobs could be heard close by and in the distance. The water flowed from the eyes of Jesus followers like the Jordan River after the winter rains.
The two brothers held on to each other for support. Their mom was doing the same with Jesus’ mom. In between emotional outbursts, they repeated the question that was being mouthed all over the hillside, how could this be?
Just a few hours ago they had been all together in the upper room celebrating the Passover together. John was in his usual position, right next to his Lord. As he thought back, it had been an unusual gathering, starting with Jesus washing everyone’s feet. That in itself had been a very humbling experience. As Peter had said, “it was we disciples who should have been washing his feet.”
You could tell that Jesus was distracted; he announced that he was going to be betrayed by someone who was present in the room. Of course, no one believed that was possible and there was a loud outcry after his pronouncement. He then spent a lot of time telling us that he was going to leave but for us not to worry about it, for he was coming back. It was very confusing, we whispered among ourselves, trying to make sense of it all.
As we reclined to eat the Seder meal, instead of recounting the traditional story of the Exodus, Jesus explained that the unleavened bread represented his body, which was going to be broken. Then he took the wine and said that it represented his blood, which was shed for mankind. He told us that were to eat and drink in remembrance of him. It was all very baffling.
Afterwards we went to the Garden of Gethsemane, just outside the city gates to pray. Not to long afterward, he was arrested by the temple guards, tried before Pilate, and now this hideous crucifixion.
Who would have believed that it had been just three short years since that Jesus had come into our lives? That day is forever etched in both of their minds.
We were out fishing in the Sea of Galilee with our partners Simon and Andrew and our dad Zebedee. We were cleaning up our equipment after working all night, without much success, when Jesus came along and asked if he could use one of our boats to teach from because the crowd was too close. We said, “sure be our guest,”
After he finished, he told Peter to go back into the lake and try fishing again. Peter wasn’t very thrilled with that idea since we were all tired from the night before. For some reason he did it anyway and had to shout for us to bring our boat on out because he had caught so many fish. In all our years in the business we had never seen anything like that catch. We knew then that we were in the presence of someone special.
At his invitation, we left everything we had and began to follow him around the countryside. At first our families weren’t happy to see us become disciples of Jesus, but eventually most of them came around. Mom especially, along with a group of other dedicated ladies, has been a big help in taking care of our physical needs. Dad is another case; it’s been hard on him since we left the business, and now with mom with us most of the time. Even with all the things he’s seen and heard, he can’t get over the fact that we are out of the fishing business, and that we are now “fishers of men,” a least that’s what our Lord told us we should be. After what’s happening now, it’s going to be hard to face him.
Even if it’s all over, what an experience it’s been! We have seen so many miraculous events. Thousands of people healed, some of them are here, standing on this horrible hill. Over there we can see Eber and Jadon. Who could forget when Eber was brought to be healed from being paralyzed and all because his friends believe Jesus could do it, and they wouldn’t give up. The broad shoulders of Marcus the soldier who had been healed of leprosy could be seen in the crowd, up close to the cross.
Besides all the healings, we have seen many other astonishing things. One of the most wonderful was when he took the “Sons of Thunder,” as he like to call us, and Peter to the top of one of the Galilean mountains. There we saw him meet with Moses and Elijah. We were astonished! We were standing right next to a couple of the greatest Hebrew heroes of all time. They talked together like any group of friends would do. We stood back in awe.
Then Jesus was transformed into mass of light, so bright we couldn’t begin to describe it. We had to close our eyes, they hurt from the brilliance. A radiant cloud came over us and then a thunderous voice spoke from it. “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” All three of us mortals hit the ground shaking like leaves in a violent windstorm.
When it was all over, we felt so weak we could hardly move. After we recovered and were heading down the mountain, the Lord told us not to tell anyone until after he came back from the dead. The three of us have never told anyone what happened up there, mainly because we didn’t think anyone would understand. Besides we couldn’t conceive of him being dead.
There were several times when we were with him we were in physical danger. Some times Jesus’ teachings where so upsetting to the religious instructors and the mobs they controlled we thought they might tear all of us apart on the spot. Once we out on the sea, a great storm came up creating huge waves. We were terrified that our boat was about to capsize and since we’re fisherman by trade we don’t get afraid of storms easily. Jesus, who had been sleeping through all this, woke up and told the wind to quit, and it did, the lake got instantly smooth as glass. During times like these we were terrified; Jesus on the other hand never seemed calmer.
But just being in his presence had such a good feel to it. The best way to describe it, was that it was like after fishing all night in the cool air, when the sun comes up over the hill and just warmed you from head to toe.
The best times for us was when after teaching to the crowds, he would take all the disciples out by ourselves and there we would discuss the meaning of some of his stories. We could ask questions without all the distractions of the crowds and he would answer them very directly. We would all just sit there captivated, and sometimes mystified at his teachings.
As time went on, we disciples and many other people became convinced that he was the long awaited Messiah. When we pressed him on it he was always a little bit evasive. Mom had no doubt at who he was and got us into trouble doing her mother thing. She actually approached Jesus, asking for high political positions for each of her sons in his reign as Messiah. We were embarrassed and you can imagine how well it went over with the other disciples. Of course she was just expressing what was on our minds.
As the two them looked at Jesus suffering on the cross, Jesus looked down at John and between gasps and said that he was to take care of Mary, his mother. John with tears in his eyes couldn’t say word, nodded back to Jesus in acknowledgement and agreement to his wish.
This interaction brought more emotion to John, as he sobbed uncontrollably, for some reason his mind went back once again to that mountain when they coming down. Jesus’ command was for them not to tell anyone what had happened until he resurrected from the dead. Could it be that day was close at hand, he wondered?
Matt: 17,26 Mark 9, 14 Luke 22 John 13
- What do you think it would be like to be Jesus’ physical presence?
- How can we feel his presence here on earth?
- How have you been in your job as a “fisher of men?”
