The Greatest Day of My Life

Whenever I read the Bible, I try to make it come to life in my imagination. I make every attempt to realize that these were real people with emotions, cultural ideals, dreams, and goals just like those of us today. I try to bring the stories of the Bible alive by trying to imagine how they might have played out. I especially try to understand the emotion, the sorrows, the depressions, the anxieties, and the joys, of the characters throughout the Bible. I wrote the following narrative with that in mind. This is my attempt to imagine the emotional charge that was built up in this man's heart. Open up your imagination and try to understand what this man probably felt during one of the most amazing miracles in the Bible.

"Sit for a moment and I will tell you the story of the greatest day of my life. Oh how well I remember that sweet memory. It floods my mind as if it just took place yesterday.

"You see, when I woke up that morning, I felt like I had no reason in the world to keep on going. I was so consumed with what had taken place just a few days before. I was still in shock from what I had seen...and what I had done. I was so heartbroken.

"Three years before, I met a man who changed everything for me. I remember the day that I met this man. He called out to me, "Follow me." I remember how he told me to follow him. He didn't ask. Who was this guy to tell me to just drop my nets and leave my father and follow him? Yet something in his voice seemed to intrigue me. He seemed to have such a deep and subtle authority. I felt compelled to follow him. My curiosity drove me. I had to know what this man was about. I was not disappointed.

"I watched him perform some of the most amazing things I had ever seen. He was a real live miracle worker! He made blind men to see. He caused lepers to be healed. He healed diseases. He caused lame men to walk again. He even brought a man back from the dead.

"I remember the day that we heard about one of his friends dying. I watched the tears as they dripped down his face. I saw the heartfelt compassion like I had never seen before or since. It was very obvious that he cared a great deal for his late friend. I could feel the pain of this man from the sheer sadness embodied on his countenance. I hurt for him that day in a completely unique sense.

"What he did that day, I will never forget. He demanded to see the body. They tried to stop him. After several days the body isn't pleasant to be around. Yet he refused to take no for an answer. He forced the people to roll the stone back from his grave. Then he spoke with that subtle authority that had demanded my attention a short time before. "Lazarus...Come Forth!"

"My heart froze. I couldn't move. My mind refused to believe what I was seeing. This man who had been dead for nearly four days came from the tomb as alive and well as I was.

"The miracles that he performed were so amazing! It wasn't long before we had masses of people following us. The crowds believed this man was the Messiah. This was the man that was going to deliver us from Roman oppression. This was the man that was going to gather the scattered remnants back to Israel. This was my Messiah!

"I was so enamored with this man. I came to believe that he was God himself! There was no other possible explanation for the great miracles that this man performed. I would have followed him anywhere...or so I thought.

"Yet all of my dreams and aspiration with this God-man came crashing down so hard that I thought I would just die. You see, I watched as they dragged him away. I saw the crowd that once followed him now turn on him and cry out for his crucifixion. I heard the groan as they whipped him with the cat-of-nine-tails. He never even opened his mouth. He never fought back. I thought he was going to deliver us and instead he just gave up!

"I stood there ashamed that I had followed this man so blindly for so long. I was in shock. I didn't even want to be associated with this man who had deceived me on such a huge scale. In fact, a couple of people recognized me as one of his followers. They asked me about him but I cursed his name and denied that I ever knew him. What a disappointment. I stood there from a distance and watched his last breath. I watched him die.

"It was with all this having taken place that brought me to the day in question. I had to walk away from all of this disappointment. I had to go back to work. I had to move forward...but it was so hard.

"I was out on my boat fishing. I had been fishing all night and hadn't caught a thing. When morning came, I heard a man on the shore tell me to cast my net in another direction. I was skeptical. What did this guy know? But I didn't have anything to lose. I mean I hadn't really caught anything all night so it wouldn't take much to be a step up. I cast the net.

"Suddenly I felt a pull at the net that was stronger than anything I had felt before. The net was completely full. We struggled and tugged and yanked to try to bring it in. Then John, one of my dear friends that I met those three years before, exclaimed loudly, "IT IS THE LORD!!!"

"I couldn't believe my eyes! It really was him! But I watched him die! I watched him hang his head and take his last breath! My heart jumped into my throat.

"I threw on my coat and jumped into the sea. I had to get to the shore. I can only imagine the look on the others' faces. I didn't care. Jesus was alive! He had risen from the dead! What a miracle! I watched him die and now he is alive! He really was the Messiah! He really was the savior of the world! He is alive!"

Written by
Nicholas Z. Cardot