The disciples of Jesus spontaneously left their nets, their livelihoods, and followed him. Why? Because they immediately sensed the possibility of aiding their neighbors in a new way—a way promised and revealed to them by the Christ-spirit Jesus lived. This spiritual way of life would enable them to become “fishers of men,” Jesus said, and, as he showed them, this meant men, women, and children.
In following their teacher’s example, the disciples—his students—could envision an expanded sense of life’s purpose, which became their own. Buoyed by the Master, they progressed through discouraging failures as well as successes in healing that awakened them to see more of what living in the Spirit could bring to them and to humanity. Ultimately, they were able to share and effectively express divine Love’s healing presence in ways they couldn’t have imagined when tending their nets. At Love’s impetus, what was emerging for these early disciples was Church—the real sense of Church that is lived as a healing love expressed wherever we are.
Perhaps unknowingly but with endless significance, Ananias, a later student of the Way, the path Christ Jesus pioneered for all, contributed to this budding church. His earnest prayers revealed God’s direction, and brought him the needed humility to follow it. He was enabled to bring the idea of the Christ, revealing our true spiritual identity known of God, to the blinded Saul of Tarsus, who Ananias had heard was a persecutor of Christians (see Acts 9).
