imagine hanging out with none other than the Saviour of the world Jesus Christ. If we allow Jesus into our lives, we also get to share the splendour, but only a select few got to be up close and personal, to be specific, and they were chosen by Jesus himself. In this blog, we will be diving deep into the experience of the disciples, almost as if we were there.

We begin with Jesus choosing his disciples. These appointments happened very differently; some of the disciples were fishing, others were in the middle of a teaching, and others were summoned on the spot, like Philip. They were twelve in number and were devoted to Jesus.

Water turned into wine.

This was the first miracle the disciples had seen as disciples; in fact, it was the first of its kind that anyone had ever seen a miracle from Jesus. Jesus and the disciples were invited to a wedding in Cana, and the wine supply ran out during the festival. What a way to mark a wedding, but Jesus had other plans; he told the servants to collect six jars and to fill them with water. Then some of the water was dipped out; it immediately turned into wine. The master and the bridegroom tested the wine, and they were delighted, wondering why the best was saved for last. And while this was happening, I’m guessing the disciples were thinking, “Yeah, this just got real.”

Five loaves and two fish to feed the multitude

The water turning into wine was not the only miracle relating to food that Jesus performed. I’m guessing Jesus had a thing for sharing meals, but in this case the people in question were the multitude that Jesus had been teaching and performing miracles for. It had been a long day, and the multitude were hungry, and the disciples were ready to send them off, but Jesus, being Jesus, didn’t want them to leave on an empty tummy. And so he told the disciples to gather what they had; based on what they had, the situation didn’t look good. They had gathered five loaves of bread and two fish, I kid you not, and about 5000 mouths needed to be fed, but Jesus instructed the disciples to get everyone seated, and he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied; in fact, there were even leftovers – twelve basketfuls, to be specific.

At that point the disciples must have been in LaLa Land; they had experienced Jesus’s love and generosity firsthand. I doubt the taste of wine gets better than that, and the bread and fish must have been delicious. There were probably no words to describe those encounters, but just pure praise and glory towards Jesus, and what an honour the disciples had to witness it.

The blind, the mute and the deaf

Jesus was healing many – some blind, some deaf, some mute and others paralysed – through the use of mud paste and saliva onto someone’s eyes. The disciples were definitely not familiar with these methods; it probably looked like “magic”. Then again, with a touch and saliva, Jesus managed to heal a man who was both deaf and mute. The disciples also got to learn on the spot, even on the Sabbath, which they weren’t accustomed to, as Jesus healed many paralysed people on the Sabbath.

“Who needs painkillers when the cure is here? Who needs the hospital when the immunity is here? And who needs medication when the healer is here?” These must have been the thoughts of the disciples with Jesus in their midst; nothing was impossible.

Jesus raising the dead

Jesus approached the town of Nain, and on his journey, he ran into a funeral procession passing by, and when Jesus saw the coffin, his heart felt compassion for the widow of the son. Jesus then told the widow not to cry, and he proceeded to touch the coffin and told the dead young man to get up. The divine order was obeyed, and instantly the man sat up and began to talk, and quickly the mourning was turned to awe and praise. This must have been a pleasant shock, a shock yet pleasant, and pleasant yet shocking. “Jesus, the man who raises the dead,” they would say.

Jesus then raised another person from death; he called them “sleeping”, not dead. This was followed by Lazarus, Jesus’s friend who he had wept for. The disciple must have felt empowered walking around with the Son of God. Forget making the blind see and the mute hear; they were witnessing people being given another chance to live. This type of action is enough to shake a whole nation.

Last supper

The disciples also got the pleasure to feast with Jesus on his last supper. Jesus even shared breadcrumbs of who would sell him out; at the time, they were deeply distressed, confused and in fear. They were probably thinking, ‘Is it me?’ Is it him? , and maybe some finger pointing to one another. Luckily Jesus took matters into his own hands by identifying Judas by dipping bread and giving it to him, but all of this happened so fast, and they probably didn’t have enough time to digest the situation.

The journey of the disciples

It was probably not always such smooth sailing for the disciples, for we know that many were persecuted for proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. In fact, John was the only disciple of the 12 that wasn’t killed; the rest were slaughtered, but they didn’t leave us hanging. We have scriptures, and the message has been passed down from generation to generation by the disciples. Some saw a rebel, some saw a vigilante, but the disciples saw their Saviour.

They could have easily had conflicting and challenging thoughts, like, ‘Why are we sitting with tax collectors?’ and ‘Why are we not fasting?’ Why are we “working” on the Sabbath, and why are we seen with non-Jews? , and to deny Jesus, but they stood to their guns, and at times they wavered, but they never lost the plot that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.

(Luke 14:27) “And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” What a privilege it is that we can carry our own cross, follow him, and also get the chance to become his disciples.