There was heavy dew on the ground and a mist had settled and we were just up chatting when the messengers came to the door and knocked. Andrew got up and opened the door and two of John s followers came in with a sad and grave look.
We all sat down and they told us that John had just been beheaded and was dead and then they began to weep and ask the Rabbi what were they to do. The whole group of us was sad and the Rabbi was trying to re assure them that all would be fine when his emotions spilled over and he began to weep too.
The ladies of the house silently withdrew to another room and all that could be heard were cries and sobbing. In all of my life, and all my time with the Rabbi, I had never seen him weep like he did; loud sobs and all of us simply could not but cry when we saw him so upset.
I was weeping and listening at the same time to the Rabbi. John got up and stood behind the Rabbi and put his arms around him from his back and started to hold him and comfort him, but this only made the Rabbi weep more. He was broken that day. We were used to seeing him get sad and upset from time to time, but the sound of our precious teacher sobbing so uncontrollably was just too much for any of the strong men in the room not to be caught up in the crying.
How could a leader kill His cousin like that. What was John the Baptist doing so bad that deserved death? Surely this was a warning that we should not preach repentance and be as forthright as that prophet.
After fifteen minutes Jesus slowed in His crying and was soon using the hem of His garment to wipe His eyes.
I need to go and spend time with my Father. Let us withdraw and spend time before Him.
Within twenty minutes we were in a boat and rowing across the lake. Half way across, Jesus started to weep again, once again loud sobs. It tugged at my heart so much. We depended on Jesus and it seemed that this was something a lot bigger then He could handle and it made us row harder and on that journey there was not one dry eye.
We landed the boat and suddenly a crowd gathered and the sick were coming to Jesus and begging him to heal. His eyes were red and he was a broken man and we began to try and explain to the people that Jesus needed some time off today and as we began Jesus told us it was okay and He began to lay hands on the sick and began to heal them. The first in line that day was a blind man and as Jesus spoke to the blindness and rebuked it and opened his eyes He told the man that he was going to be a preacher and a healer and that he should follow Him from this day on.
The second person was a young girl on a bed and she seemed about twelve. Jesus raised her to her feet and told her that she was to be a dancer and asked her to dance for Him. She beamed with joy and began to dance before Him with glee and I saw a broad smile light my Teacher s face. He began to dance with the girl and prophesied that her dancing would one day be used to bring His power to meetings and others would find faith in her testimony to be healed themselves.
After He healed her He called John, Andrew and me to join Him and He made signs to the people to form four lines, one line for each of us. I was filled with uneasiness when the first person stepped up to me and as I laid hands on the old man with a withered hand Jesus winked at me and the withered hand was healed and my first person was dancing with joy with the young girl.
Half an hour into the healing of the people that day, Jesus eyes filled with tears again and he cried as he laid hands on people and set them free of their infirmities. There is something really touching seeing your Rabbi weep and still heal as He is crying. Inside of me I wanted to know why He was weeping, was it John s death or was it something bigger then that.
It took over an hour that day. There were five thousand men, their wives and children as well as single women. I saw some really fine healings done that day. The power that was coming through my hands was amazing. Jesus broke down at one point and the people just stood and watched Him with compassion in their eyes. It was a solemn day. The people were moved to tears as were us disciples and Jesus took a full ten minutes to gather himself together again before we began again.
After everyone was healed and the poor had been given some money from our resources, Jesus sat down and delivered one of His finest teachings I ever heard Him share. He spoke of love and how love can set a nation alight and how love can heal and how important it is for us to use love to bring people to inner healing. He then told us all that John was much loved by Him and that if you do a good enough job loving people and God, evil men may kill you.
He called twenty people by name that day and had them approach Him and he prophesied over them in front of all the people. He gave them to power to heal and told them that one day they would serve Him one day with us twelve. He told them that they would know the day to join His disciples but in the meantime they should heal all the sick they know and spread the love He had shared that day. As He spoke more and more people joined the crowd and after He had commissioned the twenty men, He asked the sick that had joined the crowd in the last two hours to come forward.
We watched with glee as the twenty men laid hands on the sick and they were healed. The twenty men were so excited with their new power and Jesus then told the crowd that this was the power of love. It was the perfect illustration and there were deaf and dumb and cripples among the healings and the faith in the crowd had really grown on that day.
The time came when Jesus blessed the five loaves and the two fish and we distributed it to the crowd. This was a mighty sign and as I walked around with my basket it was continuing to multiply as I gave the food away. Trying to come to grips with this miracle was just too much for me. The people were glad for the food and eager to hear Jesus speak more when they were all fed but Jesus had them go.
Then He sent us away and we left in the boat and watched Him walk up the hill.
It was the fourth watch of the night when Andrew saw something on the water. We froze with fear thinking we were seeing a ghost when Jesus told it was Him from about twenty feet away. I asked Him if I could also walk on water as faith sparked in me. It had been an awesome day.
Jesus agreed and said, Come.
I was thrilled to bits as I stepped onto the water and it held me up. I was walking toward Him and I was filled with such joy as I watched my Rabbi smile at me. Within six feet I took my eyes of the Master to look at how my feet were doing what I was doing. As I watched the impossible, fear gripped me and I lost my faith in what my eyes were seeing and I sank.
Immediately, I looked to Jesus and cried out to Him. He shot across the water about fifteen feet in a second and pulled me back to the surface. He stood there for a second and held me looking at me and smiled and then gave me a hug. We stood on top of the water and He whispered in my ears.
I am not always going to be with you Peter, you need to trust in Me and heal all the sick in this land and the lands beyond. You have to share my love and my Gospel. I am proud of all you did today especially this great sign you did today. People will be speaking of this sign years and few men will ever do this in the history of the world. Now be silent of this and let us walk back to the boat. I am going to hold your hand and we are going to go back now.
He pulled away from me and we walked back to the boat to the applause of the other disciples.
Jesus was no ordinary man. He is no ordinary man. He is the Son of God and He is mighty and powerful and yet He is the servant of all men. There is no man in the Universe with more power or authority as Jesus. He is exalted in heaven with the name above all names, and yet He is the lowest and the most humble and He still weeps over every person that dies without knowing Him.
On this, His saddest day, when His prophet and cousin died He told me that He was crying for a number of reasons. He was crying that He couldn t personally hug and heal everyone in Israel and He couldn t set the country free and He was crying because there were so many people hungry for the Word of God and so few people with the message for them.
Won t you send this article to your Christian friends? Won t you send this to your friends that don t know Jesus? Everyone knows that Jesus was supposed to have healed all those people and fed the five thousand. Yet few people know that it was on His weakest and saddest day. The Holy Spirit really does use us in our weaknesses and when we are weak we are strong as the Apostle Paul wrote.
May you be blessed. I have some other stories to tell you in the future. Check back or email this author your email address and he will send you the future editions when they are written.
God bless you.
Author Resource:
Matthew is a man that is in love with Jesus Christ. He shares the Word of God in a fresh way you might say and has a lot of new truths to share. He loves to open up his heart and life to illustrate his messages. Come and request your free prophecy at http://www.personal-prophecy-free.net
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