Jesus Walked

Here I am again, the “Anonymous Apostle.” You thought you were through with me, didn’t you? But I am back to tell you another story about Jesus. See what you think.

When Jesus invited us twelve to become his closest followers, he didn’t tell us everything. For one thing, he didn’t tell us that he was the Son of God. In fact, he waited until we came to that conclusion ourselves. Just read Mark 8 and you’ll see.

He didn’t immediately tell us about his fate, his death and resurrection, either. That also came later (see Matthew 16). Many of what are called Jesus’ “hard sayings” also came later, much later. Read John 6 and you will see what I mean.

Then, with so little information, why did we say yes to Jesus? Why indeed? He invited us and we said yes. I’m not sure that I can explain exactly why. There was no background check, no interview, no job application, no checking of references. He simply invited us, and we accepted.

And please don’t forget that there is no account of anyone turning him down. He invited twelve and twelve said yes. That’s pretty remarkable, isn’t it? Especially with so little information.

Calling of the Apostles by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1481) depicts Jesus commissioning the Twelve Apostles

Of course, Jesus was, in fact, remarkable, and without explaining just how, all I can say is that with very little background, we all agreed to follow him. As he said, we didn’t choose him, he chose us. 

As we went along, he, of course, revealed more. But never before we were ready to hear it. Well, almost never. The idea that Jesus, our Lord and friend, would be killed and raised from the dead was so far outside our preconceptions about the Messiah that Jesus finally gave up trying to explain. In fact, even after his amazing prophecy came true, we still had a hard time believing that he was alive.

Most of all, though, Jesus failed to tell us that we’d be walking all over the country (and sometimes outside the country, for example Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia). He was an energetic walker and we sometimes struggled to keep up with him.

We walked all over Galilee, visiting town after town, many of them more than once. Several times, we walked all the way to Jerusalem and all the way back. We even walked through Samaria, spending a few days in Sychar (Ugh!). We walked all around the Sea of Galilee and even walked as far as Caesarea Philippi on the north side. In addition, he sent us apostles out in pairs, to walk even more, town by town.

As an aside, we went to Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, only once. He was not well received there, and I have to say that it was perhaps the only place where we were not welcomed. Imagine that!

Usually, Jesus walked with us and taught as he walked. I treasured those times. Can you imagine, walking with Jesus? For hours, even for days at a time? Sometimes, however, he walked alone, deep in prayer. Once, after walking by himself for a while, he came back to the group and asked what we had been discussing. We were embarrassed to say that we had been arguing over who among us was the greatest.

Oftentimes, crowds of people would walk with us. Several women joined our ranks, causing quite a stir. That was something that women of our culture simply didn’t do. But these did, and they were a great source of support for Jesus. In fact, several of them were firsthand witnesses at both his crucifixion and resurrection. I wish I could say the same for the men in our group but unfortunately, I cannot. Most of us were in hiding.

The day we walked into Jerusalem was a real high point. Jesus was welcomed as a king. People crowded around our path to shout hosanna and they laid garments in the path of his donkey.

Speaking of donkeys, I guess the only form of mass transportation available to a group like ours would have been a herd of donkeys. If that had been possible, it would have been quite a sight! Thirteen grown men, plus many of our hangers-on, all attempting to steer a herd of stubborn donkeys in the same direction! Impossible? Maybe, but of course, it would have been possible with Jesus. I suppose it was his choice to walk and as I said, I really treasured those times with him on the road.

At one point in our journeys, Jesus gave us some of those “hard sayings.” In one, he told us that he was like the manna that Yahweh sent from heaven. Except that the Israelites, who ate the manna, eventually died. They were sustained only for one day at a time.

But Jesus went on to say that he is the bread of life, the new manna. And those of us who eat his flesh and drink his blood will not die but will live eternally with him. 

 This was, indeed, a hard saying. And Jesus made a big point of it. It seemed central to his message. Many of those who heard it, however, did not react well. Eat his flesh and drink his blood? That did not sound appealing to many. And they fell away, thinning out our crowd of followers.

After quite a bit of thought and discussion with my brothers, we concluded that Jesus was speaking in spiritual terms. In so many words, we must get him inside of us, literally ingesting his word, his truth and his spirit. Then we can, as he said, abide in him, with Jesus literally living inside of us.

Why didn’t Jesus explain all of this at the time? I can’t say. I wish he had. But so often, he left it to us to understand. Sometimes Jesus spoke ever so clearly, as when he predicted his passion, or when he patiently explained the parable of the sower. At other times, however, his words were puzzling and abstract. All I know is that Jesus was and is deep. He is deeper than any one of us can imagine. There are layers to his depth, and they go deeper than the human mind is capable of searching.

That’s maybe why it was so beneficial to walk with him. On the road with Jesus, we were better able to take his words deep into our hearts. The slow pace, the lack of distractions, and the hours and hours spent together were an incredible blessing. While we were walking, we had Jesus all to ourselves. So, as a result, some of those hard sayings found their way past our resistant minds and embedded themselves deeply into our hearts.

And that’s what I wish for you, brothers and sisters. That you are able to walk with Jesus. Maybe not quite as we did, cross country, but in your own way, with his word, his spirit and his truth as you are able to witness in your everyday lives. Take it slow, at a walking pace. Find a way to walk without distractions, just focused on him. I promise, if you walk with Jesus, he will walk with you.

And never mind about the donkeys!