Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

I suppose a question that often comes to mind is, ‘What may happen to us after we have had a significant spiritual experience?’ Jesus had recently had a wonderful experience at his baptism when he was empowered by the Spirit for engaging in his public ministry. Moreover, he had received an amazing personal endorsement and expression of appreciation from the heavenly Father. We may want to ask, if we did not know the story, ‘What would happen next?’ It is worth noting that so far Jesus does not have any disciples. The forty-day period in the desert when he was tempted by the devil took place before John the Baptist announced to Andrew and his friend that Jesus was the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. As we know, Matthew, Mark and Luke don’t mention those initial meetings with Jesus that were given to Andrew, Simon and probably John the apostle. Their meetings with Jesus occurred after Luke 4:13 because we know from John’s account that they returned with Jesus to ...

Peter, with the other disciples, had participated in the astonishing miracle that Jesus performed when he fed thousands of people although he only used five loaves and two fish. The impression is given that each of the disciples had a basket each of food after the people had been fed (there were twelve baskets), and that the disciples still had the baskets when they were told by Jesus to go into the ship (after all, he told them to go immediately). So we can imagine them crossing the sea with the visible signs of Jesus’ power beside them in the boat. There is something new here, I think, and that is that Jesus sends them away in the boat without him. Of course, it might not have been a problem for some of the disciples to be in the boat without Jesus because they had been fishermen on the sea and were familiar with it. Others of them may not have been so confident, although we cannot say so for sure. So there may have been anxiety on the part of some at this requirement from Jesus....