Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

“Rabbi Yeshua? May I be straight?” 

Sitting at the bow of the boat, Yeshua was impressed as he watched Shimon alone row this 23 feet long boat out into deeper water. 

“By all means, Shimon.”

“You are a rabbi and by what I just heard, you are good at it. Though I must admit I am too uneducated to comprehend what you were teaching. Clearly you know what you are doing and as I understand it, you know carpentry as well. But fishing for a living is something you have little or no experience at all.” Shimon stopped rowing and turned to face him. “For instance, we do not fish when the sun is shining like this. You see, the fish can see us coming and they retreat down deeper.”

As Yeshua was listening, he was hearing something else. Then his eyes focused back to Shimon.

“Master? Did you understand what I was explaining?”

“Oh, I heard every word, Shimon,” he said, gleefully smiling. He stood and pointed to the port side. “Let us drop the nets here!”

“Here?” Shimon was looking around in disbelief. “We are only about a hundred feet from the shore. There will be no fish here. At that matter, there will be no fish to catch even if we go deeper. Please master, let us return to shore. There is still much I need to do. I can’t afford the time to wash or worse yet, repair these nets. I need to find other ways to pay my debts. This does not make sense!”

“Shimon, did it make sense when Joshua commanded the army of Israel to silently march around the city of Jericho seven times? And yet did not the city fall with no Israelites losing their lives? Then, there was David. Where is the sense that a shepherd boy armed with only a sling and stone had brought down a giant of a man fully armored?” 

Yeshua bent, picked up one end of the heavy net and reached out for Shimon to take it. At the stern, Andraus was manhandling the other end urging his brother to trust him. Shimon looked up in surrender. He grabbed the net from Yeshua and methodically started to drop it off the side while at the same time using the one oar to row the boat. This made the boat go in a wide circle. When the circle was completed, it must have been about sixty feet in diameter. Andraus quickly hooked both ends of the deployed net on the boat’s mid-gunwale.. Then Shimon grasped the two ropes that extended from the bottom ends of the nets. Yeshua was fascinated by the entire process. He needed to use this in future lessons. 

Shimon then effortlessly started pulling in the ropes. As Yeshua understood it, the ropes that were being pulled in were actually loosely strung along the weighted sides of the deployed net. When those ropes are pulled in, the bottom side of the circle begins to contract until it roughly forms a bowl shape, effectively trapping the fish. By the slack ropes in his hands, Shimon almost said ‘I told you so’, then the ropes went taut, almost pulling him overboard. Then the water surface violently churned and frothed within and even outside the circle. Andraus was excitedly pointing. Yeshua and Shimon looked and they all started to laugh as fishes were literally jumping into the net. 

All three started to scoop the fish into the boat. When it was already half filled, they knew that the boat could not take it all in. Shimon started to shout at the shore for help. Iacob and Yohanen were the first to reach them. They positioned their boat on one side of the circle and started pulling in fish. Another boat with Zebedee on it took station by the circle. All three boats were filled almost to the brim but still the net had more. Not wanting the boats to be swamped, they rowed back to land dragging the net still laden with fish. There was excited chatter and lots of whooping among the boats which soon attracted more by-standers wondering what the commotion was. Zebedee was shouting to the shore calling for the fishmongers. When all three boats hit the pebbly beach, the men from the boats and a few more pulled the nets onto the land. When they opened the nets there were even so many fish, three more boats could have been filled. Everybody broke out in song and celebration.

Yeshua stood aside watching the merriments, but his eyes sought out Shimon. He was by the water’s edge, staring down at all the fish in the nets, then he went to his boat and looked up and down at the impossible. Then he came to him and anguish was written on his bearded face. 

He fell on his knees and begged, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am sinful and too much resentment fills my heart since my wife was taken from me. I am not worthy!”

“Get up, Shimon.”

A few people approached, among them Andraus, Yohanen with his brother, Iacob, Mariam and Philippos. 

“There is much to be done, but not much time to do it.”

“Master, what ah…?” 

“I know what you are about to ask, Shimon,” Yeshua said, putting his hand on the big man’s shoulders. “Fear not. As you made your living in catching fish, from here on, I will show you how to be fishers of men. But first let us help Zebedee with this catch and take care of your debts.” 

TO BE CONTINUED

Footnotes: Miracle of the fish – Luke 5:1-11 

Character names: Adonai [God]; Yeshua [Jesus]; Yohanen [John]; Iacob [James]; Shimon ben Yonah [Simon son of Jonah]; Andraus [Andrew]; Mariam [Mary]; Matityah [Matthew]; Natanel [Nathanael aka Bartholomew]; Toma [Thomas]; Philippos of Bethsaida

Characters: Zebedee (father to Iacob & Yohanen)

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