Can you imagine what a day with Jesus was like?

I was thinking about how emotional the apostles must have been after a day with Jesus.

I have been reading Mark and Luke trying to imagine what a day in the life of Jesus' apostles must have been like.  These books talk about the large crowds or "audiences" that followed Jesus demanding His attention.  Mark 1:45 says that He couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere and people from everywhere kept coming to him.  When Jesus was at a house in Capernaum, it was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door(Mark 2:2).  I work as an elementary school secretary and we have a lot of visitors sometimes.  I know that when I am around a large "swarm" of people, I often become agitated and nervous.  I am more prone to make snappy decisions and get what we all have come to know as "stressed out".  The Jesus we know and love would be the absolute definition of calm and patience.  Can you picture Him?  I think that His face would just exude serenity because He knew his purpose and appreciated the needs of His people.  But the apostles must have had a time adjusting to the crowds, don't you think?  We know that four of the apostles were fishermen--Simon Peter, James, John and Andrew.  My husband goes fishing not so much for the sport, but for the quiet.  You see the poor guy lives with three women who like to talk--a lot!  I really can't blame him.  Sometimes, I join him just to get out of the house, too.  I imagine that these four apostles were used to the isolation and quiet of their profession, too.  The apostles knew that it was wonderful to be called out by Jesus--to walk with Him.  They didn't have to fight huge crowds of people just to glance as Jesus walked by or yell over the crowds to try to get His attention.  They walked, ate, prayed by His side every minute of every day.  Do you think Jesus' serenity was catching?  or do you think that the apostles might have been "stressed out" by the crowds, by their new life?  Mark 8:4 says that the disciples asked Jesus how they were supposed to find enough food to feed them (thousands of people!) out here in the wilderness.  I stress when I have to feed 8 people.  Can you imagine how it must have felt to know Jesus expected you to feed thousands of hungry people and you knew that you only had seven loaves of bread?  This is where I would start praying the Serenity prayer, big time!  Of course, the apostles didn't have to because they had Jesus with them by their side and the multitudes were fed--physically and spiritually.  Now I have not finished reading the new testament but I know the apostles were human and prone to human feelings.  I imagine that they prayed a lot and asked a lot of questions from their Leader.  Here's where all this is going...can't you imagine what it was like to finally lay down your head at the end of a day following Jesus?  The joy, the awe, the wonder.  Could they even sleep because they were so amazed by the day?   If we seek Him, we could lay down at night with the same joy, awe, and wonder.  Christ is still walking with us.  Remember that next time you are stressed out. 

Author's Note

This is a work in progress...

Reviews

[Jana Greene]

This is an amazing article from an interesting vantage point. It made me think about stress...and gave me pause. What if there were a 13th disciple who never made the cut because he was too stressed out? Of course, there wasn't because all Jesus asked of his followers was to, well...follow Him. Good thing, too! I think thats where a lot of our problems come from...fear that we just won't make the cut with God. Loved this - that it makes the reader think.

[Sunny Lea]

You are great at making connections with everyday life. That is a strength and you are doing great things with it.