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NOTE: Did you ever feel like God was at work in everyone’s life … except yours? Did it ever seem to you that everyone around you was being called to new and exciting opportunities … but somehow you were being left behind? Or, if you are a parent, have you ever had to release your family to the Lord, entrusting them to His care, as they embarked on a journey that would lead them away from you?

If so, you can relate to Zebedee. This week’s post is another one of my fictional eyewitness accounts. i pray Zebedee’s story speaks to those same feelings in your own life. 

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My name is Zebedee, and I grew up here in Bethsaida along the Sea of Galilee. I believe that even a bad day on my fishing boat is better than any day on dry land – but don’t tell my wife! Though, truth be told, she knows me better than I know myself. Salome (not to be confused with Mary’s childhood friend who has the same name) and I have now been married for thirty-three years. Though she grew up as a merchant’s daughter, she quickly learned what it was like to be a fisherman’s wife, and she never complained. I am a truly blessed man because of her.

We have two sons – the eldest is James and he is ten years older than his brother, John. James takes after me – he is a fisherman through and through. Though John is a hard worker here on our boat, I know that he longs to be elsewhere. The rabbi from Capernaum has twice arranged for him to attend the school of Hillel in Jerusalem. All his life he has sought out opportunities to study the Torah.

Slightly more than two years ago, I released him to travel down to Perea along the Jordan River with my business partner’s younger brother, Andrew. The two young men had their hearts set on being taught by the prophet in the wilderness known as John the baptizer. My partner, Simon, and I knew we needed to release them to pursue their calling from Jehovah God.

We were amazed when they returned two months ago to tell us they had met the promised Messiah. The One who God promised to our people almost two thousand years ago has finally arrived! Generations have come and gone with the hope they would see Him – and now we have that privilege! Simon, James, and I listened with excitement as John and Andrew shared their good news.

But then the good news got even better! The next day Jesus arrived in our village. We met Him face to face! And when He spoke to us, it was as if He had known us all of our lives. From the moment we met Him, we knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised One. John and Andrew had known that day in Perea that they must follow Him. Now, two of my paid workers – Philip and Bartholomew – knew they, too, must leave and follow Him.

Simon, James, and I looked at one another and resigned ourselves to the fact that we needed to stay here in Bethsaida and continue to earn a living so these young men could follow Jesus. Even though that is what we knew we needed to do, each of us thought seriously about following Him, as well!

John, Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew returned home a week later. But we knew they were only back temporarily. They told us an extraordinary tale of how Jesus had turned water into wine at a wedding celebration. He was now spending time with His family in Capernaum, so our young men had returned home for a short stay.

Over the next few weeks they continued to amaze us as they recounted Jesus’s teaching. The promised Messiah had come! Soon we would be delivered from the bondage of Roman rule and God would establish His kingdom here in our midst. We knew the time had arrived!

After several weeks, Jesus arrived back on our shore. It was early one morning, and we had been fishing all night. We had nothing to show for it except our tired bodies. We were finishing our night’s work by mending and cleaning our nets and preparing to go home. But Jesus’s arrival reinvigorated us.

There were several others who were now traveling with Him. Two of the men were his cousins – James and Thaddeus. Jesus had invited them to leave Capernaum and follow Him as His disciples. Also joining Him was their mother, His aunt Mary. She explained to us that she is married to Jesus’s uncle, Clopas. She confided that she had felt led by God to come along and provide a woman’s helping hand to her nephew and her sons. 

Along the way, they had encountered a man named Simon. He explained that he was seeking Jesus. At one time, he was part of the zealot movement endeavoring to overthrow Roman rule. But he had abandoned their revolutionary ways and had become a disciple of the baptizer. Andrew and my son John were delighted to see their friend and were overjoyed that he, too, had chosen to follow Jesus as one of His disciples. We immediately started to call him Simon the zealot to prevent any confusion between him and my partner Simon – whom Jesus had renamed Simon Peter. We had a good time catching up with old friends and making new ones.

Jesus was already becoming well-known in Galilee, so it didn’t take long for word to spread through our village that Jesus was on the shore. As people gathered, Jesus began to teach. But soon the crowd was pressing in on Him. Jesus turned to Simon Peter and asked him to push one of the boats away from shore so He could sit in it and teach the crowd from there.

We lost track of time as we listened to Jesus. No one wanted Him to stop, but eventually He needed to rest. When He finished speaking, He turned to Simon Peter who was there in the boat with Him and said, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”(1)

The sun was high in the sky, and we all knew this was the worst time to try and catch fish. “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”(2)

Jesus nodded with a glimmer in His eye, so Peter released the nets. At first nothing happened, and Peter looked at Jesus as if to say, “See, Master, I have done what You said with little to show for it.” But suddenly his attention turned back to the nets. They were filling with fish! He and his brother-in-law, Thomas, earnestly called out to the rest of us to bring out the other boat and come help them.

I am fifty-four years old. I have fished on these waters all of my life, but I had never seen a catch of fish like that one! The nets were so full they began to tear. As we hauled in the harvest of fish, our boats were on the verge of sinking. Fortunately, we weren’t that far from shore or we wouldn’t have made it. 

When we got to shore, Peter fell to his knees as he turned and looked at Jesus. Then he said what all of us were thinking: “Oh, Lord, please leave me – I’m such a sinful man.”(3) To which Jesus replied, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!(4) Come, follow Me!”

Peter looked at me and then at his wife, Gabriella, standing onshore. She and Salome were standing with Jesus’s aunt watching all that had happened. Gabriella smiled and nodded at her husband. My son James also turned to look at me with an expression that told me what was in his heart. Both of the men knew they needed to go.

Then our last remaining worker, Thomas, also looked at me. All of the fishermen who worked with me were about to leave and follow Jesus. And I knew they needed to go. They didn’t need, nor were they seeking, my approval. They were acting in obedience to the Messiah and that doesn’t require anyone else’s approval. Their looks were simply to bid me farewell.

But then Salome approached me and said, “Zebedee, I believe that I, too, am supposed to follow the Master. I am to offer my help alongside of Mary.” What could I say? My wife was also responding to the invitation of the Master. Of course, she needed to go! I wasn’t only saying farewell to all of my partners and workers, I was releasing all of my family! I could hire other workers to help with the business, but I couldn’t replace the members of my family who wouldn’t be sitting around our dinner table each night.

Then I realized that Jesus’s calling on my family was also a calling on my life. There was a part of me that wanted to push my boats up onto the shore and follow Jesus with my family. But I knew that wasn’t what Jesus was calling me to do. He was calling me to stay – and that would be the harder of the two choices.

Jesus was calling me to carry on with my business to help provide the financial support He, my family, and the rest of His followers would need in order to carry out the work. I wasn’t being left behind; I was being asked to be faithful to a different calling.

Suddenly I realized Jesus had turned His attention toward me. As our eyes met, I could almost hear Him say, “I know it’s hard. But truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children – or has let them go – for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”(5)

Soon I was standing there watching Jesus walk away. Right behind Him were my wife, my sons, my partners, and my friends. I would be less than honest if I didn’t confess that at that moment I felt very alone. I knew it was the right thing to do, but that didn’t keep me from feeling that deep ache of loneliness.

But then I heard a still small voice say to me, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread, for it is the Lord your God who goes – and stays – with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”(6)

At that moment, I entrusted my wife and my sons to the One who had stood before me. And I entrusted my life to Him, as well. I knew He would order all of our steps and give us the grace and strength to accomplish all that He set before us. I knew we were just beginning to understand who He is and what He is calling us to do. Every journey begins with a single step, and the One who had stood before me had just led all of us to take that first step … including me!

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This story is excerpted from The One Who Stood Before Us, which is a collection of forty short stories about those before whom Jesus stood – some as followers, some as friends, and some as foes. The book  is available through Amazon in standard print, large print, and for your e-reader. Click HERE for more information on how you can obtain your copy.

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In multiple instances the dialogue in this story comes directly from Scripture. Whenever i am quoting Scripture, it has been italicized. The Scripture references are as follows:

(1)  Luke 5:4 (NLT)

(2)  Luke 5:5 (NLT)

(3)  Luke 5:8 (NLT)

(4)  Luke 5:10 (NLT)

(5)  Luke 18:29-30 (ESV)

(6)  Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV)

Copyright © 2021 Kenneth A. Winter All rights reserved.

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