After the death of Jesus, the disciples went fishing. They had put their hope in Jesus as a political liberator, and it seemed He did not in fact liberate them. The Jewish people strained under Roman rule, and they wanted freedom and change NOW. Their dreams had been dashed, destroyed on the death tree… and unjustly, I might add. Jesus was radical in that culture and time, but He was not criminal.
Yes, Jesus was a radical, free thinker to some. He stood for new ideas and challenged the status quo. He gave people hope for a new tomorrow by suggesting crazy things like it is better to give than to receive, love your enemies, and do good to those who spitefully use you. But the disciples wanted a political avenger. They could only see the now.
Even Jesus’ closest companions didn’t see beyond the immediate. Then suddenly Jesus was falsely accused, betrayed by a brother, tried, and crucified. It all happened so quickly. This was a hard blow for them. What happened to their champion?
The disciples didn’t get it, so they went fishing.
But Jesus’ plan was bigger than overturning the Roman government. It involved the redemption of mankind–the liberation of souls for eternity. It wasn’t until after the resurrection when some of them walked with Him on the Emmaus road that their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him and began to understand the depth, breadth, width, and height of God’s great plan for mankind.
Today the world is no different. All the nations–not just Americans–want a king/leader that will change their circumstances with economic stability, peace, and hope. Here is an excerpt from an interesting article titled, “World Hails Obama’s Brilliant Victory:”
Hundreds of villagers in Kogelo, Obama’s Kenyan family home, erupted into song and dance. President Mwai Kibaki declared a national holiday on Thursday to mark Obama’s victory.
Swinging branches and chairs in the air, men cheered and clapped while women shouted “Obama! Obama!” in the village where his grandmother lives and where his late Kenyan father was born.
Wild celebrations woke the sleepy village, people hugged each other as others ran aimlessly in the muddy streets after spending a chilly night glued to a giant screen watching results on US networks.
“Senator Obama is our new president. God has answered our prayer,” said pastor Washington Obonyo.
“Because Obama has won, we will have a change in the whole world. And for that I will slaughter a cockrel to celebrate with my family,” said Joseph Otieno, a jubilant Kogelo resident.
“We will have change in the whole world…” The whole world is looking to Obama from the villages of Kenya, to the high-minded cities of Europe, and the industrial cities of America’s heartland to save them now. But he cannot give them what they really need.
There is work to do. We may be mocked and ridiculed for embracing the complete Word of God and loving righteousness and not darkness. We may be laughed at for believing the strong foundation of morality and family will keep our country together. But we must not give up our values and morals. We must champion those causes that are foundational to the wellbeing of our nation: Life, family, morality, children, and most of all faith in God through Jesus.
Focus on Jesus, who is the reason we live and have our lives in the first place.
This is no time to fish–to go back to life as usual and wait for a tsunami.
With Christmas around the corner, it is a great time to remember the baby who came to bring peace to all nations had to die to set men really free. But the grave could not hold him.
He has risen to give us life and liberty– of spirit–no matter where we live and no matter who governs us. That is something that no one can change or steal.
The only fishing we should do is for the souls of men who are focused on the present-day messiah.
Bonnie Saul Wilks 
WOW! Thank you.
That is a good word. Yeshua himself said his kingdom was not here on earth, but now from another place. We keep forgetting that; trying to build heaven on earth…
Were we praying for the wrong thing? Obama became president, yet G*d’s will will never be overridden, and wasn’t yesterday, either. Obama will discover, One day, that G*d has never ceded His throne to anyone.
I have mixed em0tions this day as America enters truly a new chapter of its History. Senator Obama will become the new face of America to the World – a refreshing change from Paris Hilton and Hollywood I think. When the world sees our new first family they will know something about America that they (and we perhaps) did not know about previously I think.
This election was not an easy one for me this year. In the past I had focused on a few choice issues and tried to make a righteous vote. This time I tried very hard to learn and study issues of the candidates that effect the whole world at large. My choices becames blurred and rough, frought with weaknesses and strengths. I saw mankind for the first time perhaps- complex and needy. For example:
With a pro-life vote I get a man who believes hands off, free market theory should reign. From first hand knowledge I see what that can bring for trans-national corporations who are capable to move in, extract and leave the developing world without impunity and adaquate compensation. With a pro-choice vote I get a man who is unlike any other presidental candidate – a man of multi-cultures, who has lived and breathed a broader spectrum of life on the earth than most of us – who sees the world from a viewpoint that may be refreshing during a time of great national and world need for leadership.
I could go showing the frustration of getting a positive with the negative or the reverse. If one chooses to focus on the broader picture of the world, the picture becomes messy very quickly and my little neat box of 1or 2 important issues seems derailed by a greater potential calamity hiding in the shadows of ignorance.
I want a president who will think before he acts, sees the middle class as America’s greatest asset, and the poor as its greatest potential asset. I want a president that will seek to understand cultural and social implications in international issues, try to seek consensus from like minded countries, and thoroughly think through potential unintended consequences before he acts. I want a president that will act on the need to mandate a significant, long term energy policy shift, with a green attitude towards greenhouse emissions and water degradation. He must be willing to tackle issues with military as the very last resort. I want a man of faith and I want him to care for all human life. I want a president that will work with the developing world in a less political way and more in a humanitarian way.
I did not get all that I was looking for and no American did in truth. Just like me, Senator Obama will fail. He can not and will not be the great hope for the world, but God does know such a person. He has seen the end of the story from the beginning. He has seen many kings and Kingdoms rise and fall. Not one nation has stood forever except HIS.
Messiah is that King – but his Kingdom is inside the hearts of mankind. His plan will be executed and no election or war will stop it’s going forth. I have great comfort in knowing this in spite of my idealistic search for the best candidate for today’s world.
I am not going fishing. I am here, ready to be hands and feet and all the while continue to look up, from there comes my help.
You and Bruce have pretty well covered it all….
thanks again for sharing your thoughts with me
Bonnie,
Thanks again for putting into words my emotions. I have been in a state of anguish but this morning I read your posting and that of Dutch Sheets and my hope is being restored. I 100% agree, this is no time to go fishing. Now, like our brothers in persecuted lands, we need to seek God for survival of the Church. Maybe this was His plan all along.
I can certainly understand the issues in this presidential campaign that bother us as followers of the Messiah: abortion being the primiary issue and there is indeed no justification or down playing this issue. However, who are we fooling ourselves if we think that the Rebulican party, who so many of our fellow members of the faith have promoted as the answer to all of America’s woes and the means for national repentance, are not as pro-life or moral as we would like to think. They may offer lip service to these moral issues but you don’t have to scratch too deep to find that thier positions are not that much different then thier more liberal opponents.
President elect Obama won not because he was pro-choice or soft on other moral issues that are important to us, but because he is offering a new direction and voice that the American public is crying out for. Whether he can deliver or not is a different question. Unfortunatly, since the Church has become “Mega” and distant from meeting the needs of single mothers, providing health care, and a whole list of other social services we once thought were important, the world is looking elsewhere. How sad . . . this is what we should be looking at; not digging up slanderous and false internet rumors with little and most often no factual basis about the President elect. Now maybe we should start doing what the Scriptures exhort us to do; Pray for those in leadership. Rather then continuing to wring our hands and lament, and tsk tsk tsk, let’s start showing our deeds which might then bring some legitiacy to our faith.