Tiny Little Things

After the hurly burly of the Passion Week, the solemnity of Good Friday and the celebration of the Resurrection Sunday are all done. We could finally take a deep breath, have a long nap, and get back to our daily lives, preparing for the ordinary weeks. We feel at ease, yeah. But the excitement sometimes fades as we return to an “a tempo” pace. The beat hasn’t stopped, but what’s next? Do we still keep the triumphant excitement of that Resurrection Day?

It might be a little late to talk back about the Resurrection Sunday, but we are still here in the part of the forty days until the Ascension Day. This question has been in my head since that Sunday, about what the disciples might do after their tears and fears turned into joy at seeing their Teacher and Lord in the flesh. Did they keep being excited? Were they confused about what to do as their routines changed and daily ministry might no longer be the same? The days of them listening to Jesus’ teaching, the days of helping people who come to Him for healings and miracles, the days of walking to the cities and provinces to preach the Kingdom of God, even the days of them listening to Jesus answering the Scribes and Pharisees, were no longer there. Did they spend their time healing their PTSD? Did they know it would be to be 40 days before their Teacher ascended to heaven? Oh wait, we must also remember that the disciples were not always with Jesus physically, like how it used to be, for in John 21:14 we could read that, “This was now the third time that Jesus revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.” How did the disciples keep their faith?

1. They lived in fellowship with each other

The Bible is all about fellowship with God and with each other. It was what God created mankind in His image, to be in fellowship with Him and other believers. Since the night after the crucifixion, the disciples went back to the Upper Room. In the morning after the Sabbath, the ladies went together to the tomb, thinking about anointing Jesus’ body. They might forget the Lord’s promise that He will rise on the third day after His death, but God saw their heart and their effort to glorify Him. These ladies were the first disciples to encounter the resurrection of Jesus. Not only that, they were the first among all disciples to preach the testimony of the resurrection!

The four Gospels mention different names about these ladies, but that’s because they were written by different authors with different POVs. One thing we know, these women obeyed the Lord and went to tell the other disciples that Jesus had risen. Still staying at the same house, it was not so difficult to find the other disciples. Simon Peter and John got up and ran to the tomb on hearing the testimony of the ladies. They did not see Jesus, but the Holy Spirit had opened their mind through the words of His angels, and they remembered what Jesus had said. The family house of John Mark became a base camp for the disciples, and they lived in fellowship with one another. Not only did they stay there, but the disciples prayed together, learning from the Law and the Books of the Prophets and from what Jesus had taught and fulfilled.

2. They lived in the Word of God

It might not be random for Simon Peter to go back to Galilee and go to fish. If we look at Matthew 28:10, Jesus told Mary Magdalene and the other Marys to tell His brothers–that we assume were the male disciples– to wait for Him in Galilee, as He had told them. We could not find anywhere in the Gospels to locate when Jesus said this, but John 20:30 says that Jesus did many other signs that are not written in the book. But we know Jesus has said it before that He will be in Galilee, and there the disciples will see Him.

There is a site in Kfar Nakhum, a small, old village ruin on the banks of the Sea of Tiberias in Israel, that is believed to be the foundation of the house of Simon Peter. A Franciscan Chapel is built atop it. It is not far from the site believed to be where Jesus appeared to the disciples after they caught no fish all night. These seven brothers were probably already in Galilee and waited for Jesus as He had said. Most of them were fishermen, or even commercial fishing owners (since some had their own boats and workers). They remember the Lord’s words and were doing it, but they probably had no idea what to do as they waited. Probably not wanting to let Peter go alone, the other six went with him, going to the sea, but could not catch anything until morning.

Jesus appeared to them on the shore, telling them to cast the net, and it caught a vast number of fish. Peter hauled the net with 153 large fish, and they ate next to it. We then know what came next. Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him more than these. “These???” What these?!! Wasn’t it the fish that were next to them? How did Jesus ask the cowardly Peter, who denied Him three times and –as many preachers say (though I have my reasons to disagree with that)– left God’s calling to serve and went back fishing?!

I believe Jesus would not ask the cowardly Peter and someone who ran away from God’s calling to be in charge of His lambs. If Peter were all that, I believe Jesus would call him to repentance first. But Jesus did not. He asked whether Peter loved Jesus more than what he would have if he hadn’t been following Him. Jesus has seen Peter’s repentance, how Peter has grown and was living in the way his Lord had told him to do. Jesus confirmed Peter’s calling.

3. They trained their faith

I wanted to limit this post to highlighting what the disciples did and experienced between the resurrection of Christ and His ascension, but we must also understand that what they had after the Ascension, up to Pentecost and beyond, was not an immediate change in habits nor a sudden, abrupt divine intervention. One could never grow into an old, wise man or woman if one never learns anything in youth. Similarly, having the wisdom to interpret scripture, select a replacement for Judas Iscariot, and then preach before thousands of people during Pentecost was not a sudden buildup for Peter and the other disciples. The death and resurrection of Jesus have surely had a magnum impact on the disciples’ faith. We remember how at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, we see all of them were of Jewish background who sought the truth, waited for the promised Messiah. They knew their Torah and the Books of the Prophets, and with their weaknesses in understanding Jesus’ teachings and miracles, just like us all normal humans, they trained their faith hard. They worked their faith together to live in Christ, both spiritually and physically. In the end, by their words and testimony, we all could come to know the salvation of Christ.

What about our “40 short days” now? It may not be a literal forty days for us, but are we still keeping the fire of the resurrection of Jesus? As the celebration of the Ascension of Jesus is coming this week, let us train our faith, not alone but with other believers in fellowship with the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

1 John 1:1-4