Before The Passion Of The Christ

Peter was hauling in his catch of the day when he saw this short, plain looking man watching him. The man didn’t say anything, he just watched Peter. Finally, Peter asked him what he wanted. The man quietly said, “Today you are a fisherman. Come with me and you will be a fisher of men.”

What was that supposed to mean? It sounded a bit goofy. Peter wasn’t going anywhere, especially with this guy. This guy seemed a little off. Peter had a wife to support. He and his son had a good business selling fish. This guy thought he was going to go of from that?

“You think so? Why in the world would I do that. You ain’t God.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised at who I am”

Peter felt a sudden rush twitching go through his body. He told his wife what he was going to do. She seemed unconcerned. She said their son could make enough to support her. As the sun set, Peter was getting tired. The other men seemed to be getting tired as well. The “One” didn’t seem to even being tired.

They stopped for the night and ate fish, figs, olives and bread. Peter couldn’t help but notice no fire to cook the fish but it was cooked. He also noticed the “One” ate nothing. During the evening, the “One” separated himself from the group to go and pray. The others introduced themselves as John, James and Jude. They said they didn’t know what was going on but as the younger brothers, it wasn’t their place to question him

Jesus knew he was faced with a hard day’s work of suffering and crucifying, so he took some time to relax with the boys first. He had a Passover dinner for them in the Upper Room. The Upper Room wasn't a five-star, swanky restaurant. It was more of a honky-tonk. It claimed to be like mom's cooking but no Mom would feed this crap to her kids. It was the kind of place Jesus liked to hang out. Saved on expenses and kept the Apostles from getting corrupted. Plus, the collection plate only went so far with this many Apostles and the entourage. He told them to, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” As usual, they didn’t know what that meant.

Peter heard the men call him Rabbi. He didn't see that at all. What he did see what a speaker without rival. The “One” mesmerized the gathering, small or large. He made a lot of statements about the anointed one come to save God's creationm. When the Apostles asked if he was God, he merely said"You have called me that." That really didn't answer the question but no one said that in case he was God. He talked in what he called parables but the Apostles called “huh?”

“Verily, I say unto you that before the night is over, one of you will betray me,” he said in his opening remarks. Well, that was a real downer. That ought to get them thinking. So far, everything had been easy and simple. That statement put a damper on things right away. The Apostles all started looking at each other and wondering who it was. It was like when someone breaks wind. No one admits to it, and everyone looks around to see who gets blamed.

"Is it I, Lord?,"asked young John, also called Johnny the Kid by the other Apostles. John was always the nervous one. Jesus used too many big words to suit John. John also asked dumb questions. This is one of them. If it was him, he’d know it and Jesus would know it and John would know Jesus knew it and Jesus would...

“Verily, I say unto you, don’t play games with me. I know who it is and so does the one who would betray me for thirty pieces of silver,” Jesus said mildly. Actually, he was miffed at the price. Thirty pieces of silver could be anything. It could be a shekel or a hundred shekels. It didn’t matter in the end but he ought to be worth more than that. Plus, he was only going to do this once. It wasn’t as if he was going to do it here and then take the show on the road.

At this, Judas got all clammy. How did Jesus know the price? Was he the Messiah after all? If so, Judas was in big trouble with God. He knew that he was in some trouble with God for certain accounting practices he had; things like taking a ten percent kickback on purchases and outright embezzling. If Jesus was the Messiah and not the fraud that the Pharisees claimed, Judas was going to Hell for sure. He did wonder why Jesus hadn’t noticed it. Judas was starting to worry when Jesus restored the sight of a blind man. The man was ecstatic. He kissed the hem of Jesus’ cloak, which had been dragged through God knows what. Then he looked at his wife and went shrieking down the street, begging to be blind again. Jesus had one rule- one miracle per person.

Jesus told the apostles, and the wife, ”Verily, I say unto you that in Heaven, all would be beautiful.” The blind man either didn't hear that or didn’t see how it applied to his present situation. Heaven was for the righteous after death. While his wife looked like she was dead, the former blind man knew better. He didn’t want to go home to that.

The thing about raising Lazarus from the dead was that he had started to decay and looked very bad. He smelled very ripe too. Most of the Apostles puked when Lazarus came out. A couple of them ran off. Peter, being Peter, stood his ground. He was shaky and queasy, but resolute. He was resolute right up until Lazarus shook his hand. At that, Peter puked and ran away.

After a while, Judas was the one who didn’t buy the Messiah bit. For one thing, the man very seldom talked in a way that was readily understood. The Apostles spent as much time deciphering what Jesus meant as what he said. Then they would ask Jesus to confirm it and he would sometimes tell them something even more confusing. “All in good time,” he told them.

"Verily, this torn cloak is like the end of the battle for Heaven when the angels of Satan were driven out by Michael, and the Heavens were torn and came into the world and torn even worse. Restore the Heavens and the earth to whole cloth again in its proper time."

It took the apostles most of the day to figure out that Jesus wanted a new cloak to replace the seedy thing he was wearing. They still didn't know if there was also a lesson lurking around in there. Something about tearing down Hell. They were all thinking about how cool that would be.

They bought him a new cloak and presented it to him. He took it, knowing he was only going to need it once.

Jesus told Peter he would betray him three times before dawn. Peter, as was his bold, big-mouthed, tough guy style, said he wasn't afraid. He’d stand up like a man. He wasn't afraid of the Pharisees or the Romans. Peter wasn’t the shining light among the Apostles, but he was a stalwart.

What was that supposed to mean? It sounded a bit goofy. Peter wasn’t going anywhere, especially with this guy. This guy seemed a little off. Peter had a wife to support. He and his son had a good business selling fish. This guy thought he was going to go of from that?

“You think so? Why in the world would I do that. You ain’t God.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised at who I am”

Peter felt a sudden rush twitching go through his body. He told his wife what he was going to do. She seemed unconcerned. She said their son could make enough to support her. As the sun set, Peter was getting tired. The other men seemed to be getting tired as well. The “One” didn’t seem to even being tired.

They stopped for the night and ate fish, figs, olives and bread. Peter couldn’t help but notice no fire to cook the fish but it was cooked. He also noticed the “One” ate nothing. During the evening, the “One” separated himself from the group to go and pray. The others introduced themselves as John, James and Jude. They said they didn’t know what was going on but as the younger brothers, it wasn’t their place to question him

“Verily, I say unto you, Simon Peter, that you will deny me three times before the cock crows.” Peter denied this passionately. He stammered and shouted. He went on and on about it until Jesus stopped him with an upraised hand.

“Verily, I say unto you, Peter, that I am the One sent to die for your sins. I know my stuff.”

John nudged James and whispered, “What does verily mean?”

“Shh, he might hear you. Hell, he will hear you. He hears everything.”

Peter went over to Thaddeus and looked at the painting he'd done of the table and the Apostles sitting there. He was a fantastic painter. He could have been famous some day for his art. It woulnt be now, so he wouldn't make any money today. It was just a hobby. They all had one, except for Jesus. Peter came over to look at what Thaddeus had painted. He asked him why he had only 11 Apostles in the painting.Thaddeus looked at his painting and saw that it was not only true, but there was no room in the painting to work himself in. He threw the painting away. Jesus was amused, although he didn't laugh out load. He didn't want to set a precedent.

There was a loud banging on the door. Jesus told James to see what it was. James returned to say that a group of the highest Temple Priests wanted to talk to him. He also told him they were being quite insistent on it.

Jesus looked at his Apostles and told them,”It's time for the final act.”

The party was turning into a wake, which it was.