The Threesome

 Part One: The Call

“And Jesus took Peter, James and John…” (Matthew 17:1)

Peter, James and John, stood out among the Twelve, because Christ called them to accompany Him at various times but left the other nine behind.   Because of that special blessing, I imagine Peter, James and John fell into the habit of getting together as a threesome and talking about Christ with one another. This meditation, the first of a series, is an attempt to enter into their conversations and see Christ as they were seeing Him, or better yet, as they were learning how to see Him, through talking about Him with one another.  It is not possible to associate all their conversations with specific events, places, and circumstances, in their common life with Christ. Nor, to express their insights and feelings as   experienced and expressed by them.  But since Truth emerges fresh and new in dialogue among friends, these conversations may help us to come in contact with the mysterious person of Christ who so captivated them. I invite you to listen to them, and enter into the dialogue with three witnesses who knew Him better than we do.

Peter: Do you two ever think about the day He called you? (James and John nod affirmatively.) So what do think about? What do you remember?

John: Well, I try to understand why I said yes. I mean, I don’t think I said “yes” in words, just said it by doing it. I still don’t know how to put it all into words. I’m sure I would not have left everything and followed anybody else who told me to follow him.

 James:  I began to follow Him because you did. I thought He would be a good teacher. He seemed wise, friendly, and honest to me, but I had no idea what He was like. I didn’t really understand what I was getting into. I don’t know when it dawned on me that this was going to on and on for the rest of my life. I’m sure I could walk away tomorrow if I decided to, and He wouldn’t stop me, but I know He wouldn’t want me to,  and I guess my point is, I don’t want to either.

John: So Peter, why did you decide to follow Him?

Peter: I don’t know all my reasons. I do remember that one of them was to protect Andrew.  Remember, Andrew brought me to Him. Andrew isn’t the best judge of people, and I wasn’t sure he wasn’t getting into trouble. Another reason was that I was curious. I wanted to see who this Jesus was that had impressed him.

 John: So why did you stay, instead of leaving and taking Andrew with you?

Peter: I’m not sure I can explain it.  I liked fishing, I enjoyed the work, not just catching the fish, but the selling too, talking to people from here and there, haggling with them over the price,  giving in a little, but getting them to agree with my price in the end. It was a good life. Sometimes I miss it. But not enough to leave this.

James: But that still doesn’t tell us why you said yes to His call in the first place. 

Peter: The best I can do is put it this way: I had a sense that He knew me better than I realized, that He saw through me. It was scary. I don’t know why I felt that way but I did.  Anyway, that was the feeling I had when He said He wanted to make me a “fisher of men”. It was as if He had my whole life worked and it was up to me if I wanted to say yes to it.  

James:  Gee, that would have been enough to shake me up and scare me off.  If I felt he saw through me the first time I was with him, and He had plans for my whole life, I would have said no to Him then and there.

John: Yes, but now you wouldn’t, because now you know you can trust Him, even though you don’t always understand Him.  As for me, I think I had lots of reasons why I said yes to his call, more reasons than I understand, but I think the basic reason back then was I felt a connection between us, a contact, that was deep inside my guts. I knew I liked Him, but his pull on me was deeper than any feeling that attracted me to Him.  I don’t know, I felt like He was already connected to me even though we had never spoken before. I guess I am saying I felt He already knew me better than I knew myself, and that connection made me say yes to Him.

Peter:  Keep talking. I think you are on to something.

John: No. I’ve thought about this a lot, and that’s the best I can do for now. But another thing I think about is why did He choose all of us? There are plenty of men out there He could have called. He seems to love everybody.  So why call us twelve instead of twelve others, and why stop at twelve?

(James and Peter both shrug and indicate they have no idea)

 John:  But He knows. He knows why he chose us three, and the others. And why He wants only twelve of us instead of ten or fifteen. Somehow He’s on top of what is happening.  He doesn’t force things, but He is in charge.  I think any of us could have said no to Him.  We still could. We could walk off tomorrow if we wanted to and He wouldn’t stop us. But somehow I think He knows we won’t.

Peter. Yeah, I think you are right about that.  I don’t think any of us want to leave. What I don’t get is why He doesn’t get fed up with us and send us away. 

John (delighted): That’s right, Peter!  Exactly!  If I were Him I would have gotten tired of the bunch of us by now.  But, that’s not His way.  Another thing I can’t understand, why does He pay more attention to the three of us than the other nine?  It’s not like we are better people. He’s as patient with them as He is with us. He corrects all of us all the time and isn’t worried about our feelings or reactions.  He is not afraid to come down hard on us. Yet He doesn’t do it to embarrass or humiliate any of us when He does it. He treats us all the same, in that sense. It’s like He expects us to act like idiots and never gets tired of us anyway.

James: That’s true. But He also treats each of a little differently. Like He knows what is going on in each one, what we are feeling and thinking, and always is considerate of us.

Peter: But why does He take us three with Him, and leave the others behind? I don’t get that at all. I mean, I love it, but I don’t understand it.

John: I’m not sure, but I think there is less to it, and also more to it, than we think.

Peter: What do you mean?

 John: Well, the easy answer is this: We three are the most difficult to deal with of everybody there. James and I are the most emotional, and have the most explosive tempers. You, Peter, are the most thick-headed and stubborn. You are also very impulsive and rash. So I think He is doing the group a favor by not always leaving us with them when He has something to do. I also think in some crazy way we three are the hardest nuts for Him to crack, if you get what I mean. And so He is doing us a favor by taking us with Him, because He knows we need more of His attention.

James: I never thought of that. But when I hear you say it, it rings true.

 Peter: Yes. It does. And you know, there is probably another reason too. I bet He knows that in order for the group to be able to work together, He has to be able to get us three to work together.  If He can do that with us, the others will fall into line.

 John. You may be right. With Him I think there is always more to everything He says and does than we can take in at any one time, because there is more to Him all the time.  

Peter:  James, why you stay instead of leaving?

 James: I never thought about that before. I suppose it is because even though this is the hardest thing I have ever done, it is also the most exciting.  No, exciting isn’t what I mean. Sometimes it is exciting and sometimes it is frustrating, but it is never boring. That’s it. That’s what I want to say. When I am around Him, when I pay attention to Him, I feel more alive as a result.  He makes life into an adventure. Before, without Him, it got boring.