My Name Is Love
By: Carol Molliniere
Disclaimer: I do not own the Bible. No one except God owns it. (But He owns everything in the universe…does that mean when we invent something, we should give Him credit for that as well?) I also do not own the song "My Name is Love" by Amy Diamond.
A/N: Alright, this is a random story bunny that hit me one day. I thought that this fit Jesus fair enough. My first story also, so don't hate. But if you do, don't post flames. I might become: a) greatly depressed or b) mentally insane. It happens.
All Biblical quotations/verses are from the New International Version. Some of the parts of this story are inspired by "Manga Messiah" by NEXTmanga. The flow of the story, though, is affected by the passages I choose from the Bible.
Anyway, onwards!
My name is love, I'm your announcer
You bring the heart, I'll bring the answers
I need a few good men and women on the team
(John 1: 35-39)
John the Baptist was sitting near the Jordan River with two of his disciples, who were Andrew-bar-Jonah and John-bar-Zebedee. They have been listening to John the Baptist teach about the one who was to come; no doubt the powerful Messiah, the one who was to redeem Israel.
All of a sudden Andrew saw John look up from where he was gazing in contemplation, to a man. Andrew saw that this man that John the Baptist was looking at was, at first sight, an ordinary man. He had a simple green robe on, with a white cloth covering his shoulders, and long brown hair on his head.
When Andrew saw the man's eyes, however, he saw Him in an entirely different light. Those brown eyes were filled with a certain light, a light of holiness, of faith and of righteousness, of love. He felt an erratic beating in his heart, and he wanted to know more about Him.
"Um," Andrew said, "may we see him?"
John nodded. "If that is what you wish. You may also follow Him."
Andrew then stood up from his seated position, his friend in tow. They both walked over to the Man, following Him. Sensing that some people were behind Him, he turned around and saw the two young men standing there.
He chuckled a bit, and Andrew couldn't help but notice that His laugh seemed just as heavenly as His eyes. "What do you want?"
"Rabbi," Andrew paused a bit, for his heart beat faster than it ever had before, "where are You staying?"
"Come," the Man replied, extending His hand to them, as if it were a gesture for them to follow Him, "and you will see."
And so they followed Him.
My name is love, your friendly partner
I'm on alert 'cause my work's getting harder
I need a few good people to rebuild my dream, you see
(John 1: 41-50)
The next day, after having stayed with the Man – long enough to be introduced to Him, who was Jesus of Nazareth, Andrew and John went to get their brothers Simon and James and introduce them to Him.
Andrew had rushed to Simon as fast as his feet could carry him (and honestly, it was faster than John, who was much younger than him), and once he had found his brother staying in a house, he slammed open the door and yelled out to him, "Brother! I've got something to tell you!"
Simon rushed over to Andrew and covered his mouth, trying to avert his eyes from the glares of some people from everywhere else. Then he closed the door and rebuked his little brother, saying, "Andrew, stop making so much noise; the others can hear you from here. Anyway, what have you got to tell me?"
Andrew, full of excitement, said to Simon, "We have found the Messiah!"
Simon looked at his brother for a while before saying in response, "You're saying you've found the Messiah? Are you sure?" Andrew replied, "I've never been so sure in my entire life!" Then he took Simon's hand, and then exclaimed, "Come on! We have to meet Him!" Simon, knowing how excited Andrew could get, decided not to refuse and see this Messiah for himself.
Andrew, running as fast as he did before telling his older brother about the Man, finally came to where Jesus was. The former repeatedly poked His shoulder, saying, "Master! Master! I've found my brother, Simon! I want You to meet him!" Jesus turned around, pleased to see Andrew again, as well as Simon.
When Simon saw Him, the first thing that came to his mind was that his brother was not joking. This Man really was the Messiah. And those eyes…
"You are Simon-bar-Jonah, am I right?" Jesus said, making Simon jump a bit; how did He know his name? He was about to ask just that when Jesus continued, "You will be called 'Cephas'" - which is "Peter" in Greek – "from now on!"
These are uneasy times
Good friends are hard to find
In this life, that we live
(Luke 4: 16-30)
They went up with Him to Nazareth after been acquainted with Jesus, and the news about Him spread about in the town, and He taught in the synagogue.
When the Sabbath had come, Jesus went into the synagogue and, having stood up to read, was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. His disciples – 6 of them, after having added James-bar-Zebedee, Philip of Bethsaida, and Nathanael Bartholomew of Cana – along with His mother and brothers, were in the crowd as He read with authority:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant, who placed it back on its stand, along with other scrolls of the prophets. Jesus then said to the audience, who were watching Him, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
John watched on as the people began to mutter to themselves, saying, "Isn't this Joseph's son?" The young disciple clearly understood the situation before him; they still thought of Him as a mere man.
John's grey eyes turned to Jesus to see what He had to say about this. He said in a calm, if not rebuking, voice, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.
"I tell you," He continued, "no prophet is accepted in his home town. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy at the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed – only Naaman the Syrian."
At this point, John was overtaken by the people because they were furious and began moving together to drive Jesus out of town.
They wanted to push Him off a cliff.
John suddenly felt a hand grabbing his own. Startled, he looked up to see James, his brother. "Come on," he said. "We have to follow Rabbi!"
"What do you mean? They're going to kill Him!" John said. James pulled John towards the end of the crowd, where he could see a familiar head of brown hair. "What do you mean, John?" James asked. "He has walked through the crowd and gone on His way."
John was relieved at this, but still held something in his heart. Jesus's words were stuck in his head.
"I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his home town."
If that was true, then why did He go through all the trouble to come back here?
(Matthew 4: 12-17)
"So, it's true," Jesus said to Himself, having heard of it from the disciples of John the Baptist. "It's true that John has been put in prison."
He stood up, then called His group of disciples together and said, "We must go back to Capernaum." The disciples nodded in response.
Soon enough later, they had come to Capernaum, where Andrew, Peter, John, and James lived. Jesus began to preach there, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"
Reach out and lend your help
Sit back; ask yourself
Without me, what are you?
Tell me what's the world coming to
We've got a lot of work to do
We've got a lot of work to do
(Luke 6: 12-16, Mark 3: 13-19)
One morning, when large crowds were following Jesus, He went up to the hills and called all His followers together, who numbered up to a hundred or more. Smiling, He knew who the Father had picked out for Him after a night of prayer.
"Here are My apostles, the chosen 12," Jesus began by calling out to the crowd. "From this moment on they will stay with me, that they might be sent out to preach, and here I give them authority to drive out demons." Looking down at the crowd of people, he called out his Twelve.
"Simon Peter-bar-Jonah!"
Peter came forward, joyous to learn that he had been appointed to serve Jesus.
"Andrew-bar-Jonah!"
Andrew came forward and took his place alongside his brother.
"James-bar-Zebedee!"
James came forward, and as if he knew he would be picked also, John came forward as well.
"John-bar-Zebedee!"
"Here, Master!" John called out.
"Philip of Bethsaida!"
Philip came forward, smiling.
"Nathanael Bartholomew!"
Nathanael walked up to where they were as well, and bowed before Jesus.
"Levi Matthew!"
Matthew, who was a former tax collector, came up to take his place amongst the disciples despite all of the stares coming at him.
"Thomas Didymus!"
Thomas came in front of Jesus. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Rabbi," he said.
"James-bar-Alphaeus!"
This James came forward, and Andrew snickered a little at the thought of two James in the group. James (son of Zebedee) shot him a fully perfected death glare.
"Simon the Zealot!"
Simon walked up to the apostles and stood up straight. "Ready, Master!"
"Jude Thaddeus!"
Jude came forward, his breath hitched in excitement at the thought of following Jesus.
"Judas Iscariot!"
A man, apparently by the name of Judas, stepped from the crowd and into the presence of the man whom he would soon betray. Andrew took one look at him and knew that he was not a Galilean, like the rest of them. However, Jesus did not seem to care.
These were His twelve apostles.
My name is love, I'm here to tell you
The price of hate's getting way too familiar
We need to stop it now before it goes too far
(Mark 1:35-38)
"Where could He be?" Simon Peter thought to himself as he, along with Andrew, James, and John, were off looking for their Teacher. He, apparently, had gotten up and went somewhere while it was still dark. This made Peter very uneasy; Jesus could be anywhere.
He had just turned a corner, when behind a tree, Peter found Him.
He was kneeling by a rock, praying to God. Even with His eyes closed in prayer, Peter thought, that aura of holiness seemed to stay with Him. Although as impulsive as he naturally was, Peter was also a polite person, and he waited until Jesus was done praying to call out to Him.
"Master, there You are," Peter said when Jesus had stood up and seen him, along with his companions, there. "Everyone is looking for You!"
Jesus, instead of going back to town with him, said to His disciples, "Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
You know my name, you know my mission
So don't delay 'cause I crave your assistance
We gotta go start mending all the broken hearts
(Matthew 9: 35-10: 1.11: 1)
Now Jesus had been preaching around all of the towns and villages, and whenever He saw the crowds that flocked about Him, He felt a strong compassion for them, because they had suffered so much for them.
"The people of Israel," Jesus thought to Himself, "are like sheep without a shepherd. They don't know where to turn to for the help that they need."
So He said to His apostles, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Sensing that His disciples still did not get what He was talking about, He called them to Him and put them in pairs, giving them authority to drive out demons and to heal all diseases and sicknesses.
After giving them further instructions, He sent them off, and while they were away, He went from there to teach in Galilee.
These are uneasy times
Good friends are hard to find
In this life that we live
(John 6: 52-55.60-66)
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" That was the argument amongst the Jews after hearing from Jesus that He was the "Bread of Life". James did not find this hard to believe, as Jesus, with all His miracles and teachings, really seemed like the Messiah to him. And yet these Jews still couldn't see what the Twelve had seen?
Jesus said to the Jews in reply, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink…"
However, he could see why they still didn't believe it. They took these things that Jesus said literally. Surely these things should have some sort of meaning, an explanation of any sort? Even James, along with the others, couldn't understand it. Maybe, just like in the parables, He might explain it to all of them.
When the Man was done talking, his followers (excluding the Twelve) said amongst themselves, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Jesus saw them saying this, and said in reply, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe."
He continued, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
James looked on as many people in the crowd went away, grumbling to themselves about what Jesus had just said.
It seemed they would never come back to Him again.
Reach out and lend your help
Sit back; ask yourself
Without me, what are you
We've got a lot of work to do
We've got a lot of work to do
(John 6: 67-70)
Jesus's face fell. It seemed that many of these people were hard to win over, and it was even harder to get back their belief in Him. He frowned. "Well, they've made their decision…"
Then He turned to the others who with Him, the Twelve that He had chosen with the guidance of the Father. This was one of the times when His human side somehow showed itself; He was hoping they wouldn't leave Him, just like those others have.
"You do not want to leave too, do you?" He asked them.
At this, Peter knelt at His feet and answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe that You are the Holy One of God." And all the others nodded in agreement.
A ghost of a smile came upon His face. "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve?" He said. "Yet one of you is a devil!"
And all were shocked, for Jesus knew who was going to betray Him.
My name is love, I'm your announcer
You bring the heart, I bring the answer
I need a few good men and women on the team
(Acts 1: 7-9)
It had been 40 days after Jesus's resurrection, which had occurred 3 days after His death, which was on the feast of Passover. Now He had taught His disciples many things over the course of these 40 days about the Kingdom of God, also telling not to leave Jerusalem until they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
When the time had come for Jesus to rise up to Heaven, He spoke to them, "It is not for you to know the time or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
His disciples looked on as after He had said this, He was taken up into Heaven, as if He was flying. They were still looking up in the sky after a cloud had taken their Master from their sight.
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
~John 21: 25 NIV
So, how did you like that one? I know, some of the major pivot points I left out of the story. But hey, there's nothing dramatic in the song, so I felt no need to put in the Passion, and for some reason I didn't put in the Resurrection as well. So yeah. Constructive criticism is welcome on this kind of topic; I love a good discussion.
And by the way, about the "Andrew-bar-Jonah" thing; since Peter is Andrew's brother, and Peter's father is a so-called Jonah, I thought it would be best to say that Andrew's father was Jonah as well. (DUH.)
Update (6/6/12): Sorry, wickedmetalviking1990 for unintentionally copying you in the scene where Jesus calls His disciples! I didn't know I did until I re-read your story "Joshua the King of Heaven" (very awesome story).
Read and review, and look out for some other stories as well!
~Carol Molliniere
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
~1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 NIV