As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”
Mark 1:16&17
Dear members and friends,
It happened when I was a member of the youth council at a Korean Presbyterian church in Korea. After the youth pastor offered a prayer at one of our meetings, he suddenly asked a troublesome question: “Have you met Jesus yet?” To my amazement, all but me answered with a loud and assured voice, “Yes, we have met Jesus!” The youth pastor was pleased by this answer and said, “That sounds great! Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ our Savior.” Afterwards, everyone acted as if nothing had happened. However, this event confused me deeply because I was not sure what they meant by saying “we have met Jesus.”
Of course, I didn’t think that the members of the youth council had met Jesus in person like the disciples did 2,000 years ago. The reason for my confusion was not the possibility that they might have had a mystical experience of seeing Jesus, but the way they treated such a special experience. In addition to that, I was also surprised by the fact that they met Jesus, the God they worship, but they stayed the same as before. Even more still, they talked about such experiences very casually. They claimed to believe in Jesus, they even claimed to experience his presence in their daily lives, and they further claimed to have met Jesus! Yet, the way they lived did not change at all. Simply put, I wanted to know what they meant when they said “I believe in Jesus.”
My brothers and sisters in God, for this week I suggest taking a moment to listen deeply and ask to our own hearts a simple question: What do I mean when I say I believe in Jesus?
Blessings, Rev. Junchol Lee