Before the Mission

Did Peter ever miss fishing?

The smell of the sea

and the waves,

searching for treasure day after day.

I wonder if Peter ever missed his first name, the “Simon!” his mother would call after a day of play by the shores where is father worked, steady hands teaching young Simon and Andrew how to cast their nets deep and wide, always hopeful for what was inside...

Sometimes I ponder if Jesus missed carpentry too, if his hands ached for the steady work of hammers and nails, of turning a pile of unsuspecting wood into something beautiful and purposeful for the world...

Perhaps he thought of his father every time he walked by an artisan’s shop, the smell of sawdust turning him into a child again, watching Joseph’s strong hands at work.

Maybe that is why Peter crossed the waves - the sea is where he belonged and God met him there. And maybe that’s why Jesus dared to be nailed to a tree, the wood a comfort in his final hours while he suffered to meet Joseph again.

Fisher of men and Great Messiah - their holy missions took them far from fishing and carpentry, extraordinary lives from seemingly ordinary men - they remind us that our little lives aren’t the end.

But while they traveled from town to town, I wonder if Jesus missed the quiet rhythm of Nazareth, or if Peter missed returning home to his wife after a night on the sea, casting net after net with his brothers and friends. Perhaps, in moments of quiet, Peter and Jesus missed being ordinary and unknown, the life “before they were famous,” before reaching greatness...

Either way, they remind us that the quiet ordinary is good,

preparing us for a life with God.