The Twelve Apostles
"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."
After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to Mary Magdalene near the empty tomb. When she recognized Him, Jesus said: "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father..."
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus Christ's most devoted followers and is honored as the first witness of His resurrection. The Gospels record that she remained faithful during His crucifixion, witnessed His burial, and was the first to discover the empty tomb. According to the Gospel of John, the risen Christ appeared to her and entrusted her with the message to tell the disciples that He had risen from the dead, making her the first messenger of the Resurrection. Beyond the New Testament, the details of Mary's later life are uncertain. Various early Christian traditions suggest that she continued proclaiming the Gospel, with some accounts placing her in Ephesus alongside the Apostle John and others in southern Gaul (modern-day France). These later traditions, however, are not confirmed by the New Testament. What the biblical record clearly affirms is that Mary Magdalene was a faithful disciple whose eyewitness testimony to the resurrection became one of the earliest and most significant proclamations of the Christian faith.
High Priest Orders Arrest of Jesus for Blasphemy and Sedition
This dramatic painting depicts the dynamic moment during Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, ordered by the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas and religious authorities on charges of blasphemy and inciting the people. In the scene, a determined Peter has just used his sword to sever the ear of Malchus, a servant of the high priest seen clutching his wound on the ground, while a serene, radiant Jesus intervenes to miraculously heal Malchus's ear. The surrounding Roman guard witnesses this profound miracle firsthand, yet they are bound by duty to obey the strict orders of the law and carry out the arrest a submission to temporal authority echoed by Jesus himself, who instructs his apostles to peacefully allow the arrest and Respect the Law of the Land.
The Great Catch: From Fishermen to Fishers of Men
Previously, before the arrest of Jesus Christ, Jesus formed a team now known as the apostles of Jesus Christ, gathering individuals from diverse walks of life, including a tax collector (Matthew), fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, and John), a zealot (Simon), and others of varied trades. In the biblical accounts, most notably in Luke 5:1–11 and Matthew 4:18–22, Jesus meets his first disciples after they have spent a long, exhausting night catching absolutely nothing. Jesus instructs them to cast their nets into the deep water one more time. Though skeptical, they obey and pull in a miraculous catch of fish so immense that their nets begin to break and their boats start to sink.
The Biblical Verse
"And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.' And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him."
— Luke 5:10–11 (ESV)
(A similar phrasing is found in Matthew 4:19: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.")
The Translation and Meaning
The phrase "fishers of men" (or "catching men") is a profound metaphor shifting their trade from a natural vocation to a spiritual mission.
The Greek Root: In Luke's account, the Greek word used for "catching" is zōgreō ($zwgrevw$). Literally translated, it means "to catch alive" or "to save from death."
The Spiritual Shift: Unlike regular fishing, where fish are caught and taken out of their life element to die, Jesus is telling them that they will now be pulling people out of the dark, chaotic waters of the world and bringing them into the life-giving kingdom of God.
The Mission: It means their new purpose is evangelism, gathering people, offering them salvation, and inviting them into a transformative relationship with God. They went from seeking a livelihood in the sea to rescuing souls for eternity.
The Twelve Apostles and Their Door to Door Mission
Jesus and His Twelve Apostles traveled throughout towns and villages, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. He sent His disciples out two by two, instructing them to preach repentance, share God's message, and rely on the hospitality of those who welcomed them. In a lighthearted sense, you could compare their mission to the world's first promotional team, going door to door. The difference is that they were not selling products, subscriptions, or the latest gadget. They were sharing the message of hope, forgiveness, and eternal life. Unlike modern marketing campaigns, they had no flashy advertisements, social media, or billboards. They relied on faith, conviction, and the words of Jesus. According to the Gospels, Jesus carefully chose these men for their faith and willingness to follow Him, despite their ordinary backgrounds as fishermen, a tax collector, and others. Alongside the Twelve, devoted followers such as Mary Magdalene and other women also supported Jesus' ministry, witnessed His teachings, and faithfully remained with Him during His crucifixion and resurrection.
The Loaves and the Fishes: Jesus Feeds the 5,000
This miraculous event is one of the only miracles recorded in all four canonical Gospels (Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:31–44; Luke 9:10–17; and John 6:1–14). The setting is a secluded area by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had crossed the lake, and a large, hungry crowd of 5,000 men (plus women and children) followed Him, eager for His teaching.
The Problem and the Prayer
As evening approached, the disciples, overwhelmed and practical, urged Jesus to dismiss the people so they could find food in nearby villages. Jesus’ reply was unexpected: "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
Facing a logistical impossibility, the disciples found a young boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. Jesus instructed the crowd to sit in groups on the green grass. After taking the loaves and the fish, He looked up to heaven, gave thanks, and broke the loaves.
The Miraculous Highlight
The highlight of the account is the miraculous multiplication itself, which happens as Jesus hands the food to the disciples to distribute.
And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. — John 6:11 (NKJV)
The food did not simply multiply once and then stop. Instead, as the disciples continued to break and distribute, the five loaves and two fish endlessly supplied thousands. The scene is a powerful demonstration of divine provision.
Translation and Spiritual Meaning
The core meaning of the Feeding of the 5,000 is multifaceted:
Providence Over Logistics: The physical miracle showed that God can supply all human needs, defying mathematical or logistical limits.
The Bread of Life: In John's Gospel, this event serves as the preface to Jesus’ profound sermon identifying Himself as "the Bread of Life." Just as physical bread sustains physical life, only Jesus can satisfy the deepest, eternal hunger of the human soul.
The Messianic Banquet: In the Old Testament, the arrival of the Messiah was often described as a time of abundant feasting. This miracle served as a visible sign that the Messiah was present among them.
The event concludes with another practical highlight: the disciples gathered 12 baskets of leftover fragments—one for each disciple—emphasizing that God's provision is not just sufficient, but overflowing and abundant.
Biblical Accounts of Jesus Healing
According to the New Testament Gospels, Jesus performed numerous healings across the region of Judea and Galilee.
The Locations: Healed people in diverse settings, ranging from synagogues and private homes to public streets, hillsides, and coastal areas like Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee.
The Ailments: The texts document him treating blindness, leprosy, paralysis, chronic illness, and various physical infirmities.
The Methods: His primary actions involved laying on of hands, verbal commands, prayers, and sometimes symbolic physical acts like using saliva mixed with mud to restore sight.
The Cannabis Theory: "Kaneh-Bosem"
The idea that Jesus used cannabis for medicinal healing is a modern theory proposed by alternative etymologists and drug history researchers rather than mainstream biblical scholars.
The core of this theory rests on a linguistic translation:
The Ingredient: In the Hebrew Old Testament, specifically Exodus 30:22-23, God gives Moses a recipe for a holy anointing oil. One of the listed ingredients is kaneh-bosem, traditionally translated into English as "calamus" or "sweet cane".
The Reinterpretation: In 1936, Polish etymologist Sula Benet suggested that kaneh-bosem was actually a mistranslation and historically meant cannabis.
The Connection to Jesus: Subsequent fringe researchers, such as Chris Bennett, built on this to suggest that since Jesus and his disciples anointed the sick with holy oil to cure skin and eye diseases, they were effectively using a highly concentrated, topically absorbed cannabis extract.
Historical Note: While cannabis and hemp were certainly grown and utilized for textiles and oils in the ancient Near East, mainstream historical and theological scholars view the specific link between Jesus’s gospel miracles and cannabis oil as speculative, maintaining that the texts attribute his healings purely to divine authority.
The Origin of Hospitals and Hospitality
Your intuition about the connection between early Christian healing, "hospitality," and modern "hospitals" is historically accurate. The evolution of these concepts highlights how spiritual care transitioned into public infrastructure:
1. Etymology (Word Roots)
The words hospital, hostel, hotel, and hospitality all share the same Latin root word: hospes, meaning both "guest" and "host." Historically, practicing hospitality meant opening your home to offer shelter, safety, and care to traveling strangers.
2. The First Modern Hospitals
In the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, medical treatment was private; doctors treated people in their homes, and those who couldn't afford care were often left to fend for themselves.
Inspired directly by Jesus's commands to care for the poor and sick, the early Christian church began organizing systematic charity.
The Basilicas: In 369 CE, Saint Basil of Caesarea founded the first institutional hospital, known as the Basiliad, in modern day Turkey. It was a massive complex that provided free inpatient and outpatient care, professional medical staff, and housing for the poor and traveling strangers.
Monasteries as Medical Hubs: Throughout the Middle Ages, monasteries across Europe served as combined inns and infirmaries. Travelers and the sick could find a place of rest, which is why the concepts of giving a guest a bed (hospitality) and treating a patient's illness (hospital) grew out of the exact same buildings.
1. The Mushroom Theory (The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross)
The idea that psychoactive or medicinal mushrooms played a role in the origins of Christianity does exist, but it is a highly fringe theory rather than mainstream scholarship.
The Origin: In 1970, an eminent British philologist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar named John Marco Allegro published a highly controversial book called The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross.
The Argument: Allegro used complex linguistic translations of Sumerian, Hebrew, and Greek to argue that early Christianity was actually a cover story for a secret, underground fertility cult. He posited that the name "Jesus" was a coded metaphor for the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria (the classic red-and-white spotted toadstool).
The Modern View: Mainstream historians and biblical scholars roundly rejected Allegro's methodology, arguing that his linguistic connections were forced and inaccurate. However, the theory remains incredibly popular today in counter-culture spaces and modern psychedelic research discussions.
2. The "Lost Years" and Traveling Eastward
The point about a "missing link" in his life refers to what historians call the Unknown Years of Jesus (the gap in the Gospels between the ages of 12 and 30). He possibly traveled with other young students, not alone. He was a well-educated and thoughtful person, with knowledge that included philosophy.
The Eastern Legend: In 1894, a Russian traveler named Nicolas Notovitch published The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, claiming he found ancient manuscripts at the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh, India. The texts allegedly described a young Jesus (referred to as Issa) traveling along the Silk Road to India, Tibet, and Persia to study with Brahmin priests and Buddhist masters before returning to Judea.
The Connection to Medicine: In Eastern traditions, spiritual mastery and natural medicine (like Ayurveda or Tibetan herbalism) were deeply intertwined. Proponents of this theory suggest that Jesus’s unique healing ministry in the West was a direct result of him learning advanced holistic and herbal medicine while in the East.
The Scholarly Consensus: Mainstream historians consider Notovitch's claims to be a modern hoax, as no such manuscripts were ever verified by independent researchers. Instead, traditional historians believe that during these "silent years," Jesus simply lived and worked as a standard village carpenter (tekton) in Nazareth, as hinted at in the Gospel of Mark.
Drawing the Threads Together
When you look at theories suggesting Jesus used cannabis oils (the kaneh-bosem theory) or medicinal/psychoactive mushrooms, they almost always use the "Lost Years" as the perfect historical blank slate to explain where he would have acquired such advanced botanical and pharmacological knowledge.
Whether one views these healings as supernatural miracles or as early applications of natural, earth-based medicine, it is undeniable that the systematic push to care for the sick within these early communities laid the structural foundations for the modern hospitality and hospital systems we rely on today.
Those Who Stayed With Jesus During the Crucifixion
During the crucifixion of Jesus, several devoted followers remained near Him despite the fear and danger surrounding the event. The Gospels mention Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and other women who stood near the cross and witnessed His suffering. The disciple John is also traditionally identified as being present and is the only one of the Twelve specifically named in the Gospel accounts as staying with Jesus during the crucifixion. Jesus showed care for His mother by entrusting her to John's care, saying, "Woman, behold thy son," and to John, "Behold thy mother" (John 19:26–27).
The other disciples scattered and hid because they were afraid of being arrested or suffering the same fate as Jesus. The arrest of their teacher had shattered their expectations, and the Roman authorities had already shown that they could execute anyone considered a threat. Peter famously denied knowing Jesus three times out of fear, although he later returned and became one of the boldest preachers of the early Church. The disciples' fear also highlights the dramatic change described after the resurrection, when they went from hiding to openly proclaiming their testimony.
The Apostle Paul was not present at the crucifixion as a young follower of Jesus. At that time, Paul was a Pharisee who later became a persecutor of early Christians before, according to the Book of Acts, experiencing a powerful conversion after an encounter with the risen Christ. He later became one of Christianity's greatest missionaries and wrote many of the New Testament letters.
Judas Iscariot and His Betrayal of Jesus OR was it Betrayal?
Judas Iscariot was one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus, yet he became known for betraying Him by revealing Jesus' whereabouts to the authorities. According to the Gospels, Judas accepted thirty pieces of silver in exchange for leading the guards to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was arrested. Before this happened, Jesus already knew that Judas would betray Him and spoke about the coming betrayal during the Last Supper, showing that He understood Judas' intentions and the path he was choosing.
After Jesus was arrested and condemned, Judas was filled with guilt and remorse. The Gospel of Matthew records that Judas returned the silver, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." Overwhelmed by regret, he went away and took his own life by hanging himself. In my opinion, Judas may not have expected that Jesus would be sentenced to crucifixion.
It is possible that Judas believed Jesus would simply be arrested, confronted, or forced to reveal His power, but when he saw that Jesus was condemned to death, the reality of his actions may have deeply shaken him.
In my opinion, Judas may have talked about Jesus in pride (making pride as a deadly sin), and wanting recognition for his place among the disciples. However, what began as closeness and pride eventually turned into a tragic act of betrayal when Judas revealed Jesus' whereabouts to the authorities. The Gospels show that Jesus already knew Judas would betray Him, making the moment even more tragic because Jesus understood the person Judas was and the choice he was about to make.
The account of Judas is one of the most tragic moments in the story of Jesus and the apostles. It shows the contrast between human weakness and the consequences of betrayal. Judas had walked with Jesus, witnessed His teachings and miracles, yet still made a decision that changed history. Christians often reflect on Judas' story as a reminder of the importance of faithfulness, repentance, and seeking forgiveness even after serious mistakes.
The Gospels of the Twelve Apostles present one of the most influential historical testimonies in human history. The Hebrew name Yeshua HaMashiach (יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ) means "Jesus the Messiah" or "Jesus the Anointed One." When the New Testament was translated into Greek, Yeshua became Iēsous, which later became Jesus in English through Latin. Likewise, HaMashiach ("the Messiah") was translated into the Greek word Christos, from which we get the English title Christ, meaning "the Anointed One." The four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—record the life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Together with the testimony of the apostles and the early church, they form the foundation of the New Testament, not as a collection of myths or fairy tales, but as documents written by eyewitnesses or by those who carefully recorded eyewitness testimony.
The apostles boldly proclaimed that Jesus Christ was the promised Son of God, the Messiah foretold by the prophets. According to early Christian tradition, nearly all of the apostles suffered persecution and martyrdom because they refused to deny what they had personally witnessed. Peter was crucified upside down, Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross, James the son of Zebedee was executed by the sword, Thomas was reportedly killed by spears while preaching, and many of the others endured imprisonment, torture, and execution. They had every opportunity to renounce their testimony and save their lives, yet they remained steadfast. Their willingness to suffer and die does not, by itself, prove every claim they made, but it demonstrates the depth of their conviction that they had truly seen the risen Christ and were proclaiming what they believed to be the truth.
The Apostle John stands apart from the others because, according to early Christian tradition, he was not executed but lived to an old age after enduring severe persecution. Tradition holds that he was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he received the visions recorded in the Book of Revelation. Revelation is an apocalyptic book filled with symbolic imagery that reveals God's ultimate victory over evil, the final judgment, the return of Jesus Christ, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. It was written to encourage believers facing persecution, assuring them that despite suffering, Christ would ultimately triumph. For Christians throughout history, the New Testament is more than a collection of stories; it is a compilation of historical documents, letters, testimonies, and eyewitness accounts that have been carefully preserved and transmitted across generations as the foundation of the Christian faith.
My current musical artist profile as Vincent Projects as I am posting this blog. Anyhow, my work is available on Spotify. If you don't know already, my musical work includes both AI-generated and traditional music production.
Final words: Yes, I definitely believe in the testimonies of the Twelve Apostles about Yeshua HaMashiach, also known as Jesus Christ. The apostles stood by their testimony until death. They truly witnessed what they believed were the miracles of the Son of God and that He is God. However, I am not an apostle. My faith is simply Christian, and I was baptized in a non-denominational church in my early twenties. I was also present with my little baby brother during his christening as a Catholic in the Philippines.
It has been a while since I attended Bible studies, but once in a while, my family, who are predominantly Catholic, and I get to visit beautiful cathedrals. Based on my faith, I can only share my belief in Christ as the true Messiah. As preachers have said, God loves you so much that He gave you the choice to either believe in Jesus as the Messiah and the Savior of your soul and spirit or not. The choice is yours.
I have also had personal experiences that I believe were miracles, which strengthened my faith in Christianity. In the same way, I believe spiritual encounters are part of the journey of following Christ, as the Lord Himself warned that those who follow Him may experience challenges, trials, and moments that test their faith.
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