Define the meaning of discipleship.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

In this essay, I am to define the meaning of discipleship. The word disciple means to learn, but there are many differences between disciples today, and disciples 2000 years ago, in the midst of a hostile Roman Empire. The very first disciples of the resurrection were the holy women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. If Christianity is defined as the belief that Jesus died, and was resurrected, and then to me, these women were the first Christians. Three scared women hunted by the Romans. To be a disciple then meant an exclusive loyalty to Jesus and readiness to put Jesus first whatever the cost. He chose the disciples in order to train them to share in his work of preaching and healing, and to eventually carry on his mission after he had departed. In a sense he was to live on in them.

This is a far cry from today’s Christians, all different colours, creeds, backgrounds and denominations, all over the world. At the start of Jesus’ vocation, he chose 12 disciples. This is very significant, because 12 is the Jewish number of perfection. These 12 were not, as one may expect, "model citizens", or even senior men of the church. As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew, catching fish in a net. Jesus said to them, ‘‘Come with me and I will make you fishers of men’’ at once they left their nets and followed him. He went farther on and saw two brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee in the boat with their hired men and they also went with Jesus. Among the rest of them were Matthew, who was Levi, a corrupt tax collector, Simon the Zealot, a murdering terrorist who had killed many Romans, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James, Thaddeus, and last but not least, Judas, the man who betrayed Jesus to the Romans. The choice of his disciples shows that the kingdom of God is open to everybody, not just "modern day saints" or the violently devout. It showed people of the time that you didn’t have to be perfect, blameless, and sinless to inherit the kingdom of God. It also showed that God forgives everyone, unconditionally, if you repent.

Jesus expected all these men to have certain qualities like putting their self last in all things, being prepared to follow Jesus no matter what, a disciples nature should not be one of privilege or position but a humble service, a disciple should not be arrogant but tolerant to other peoples beliefs, a disciple must be aware of dangers such as wealth and obsessions and must be single minded in discipleship, a disciple should imitate the life of Christ. The disciples were sent out on missionary work. They had no money one pair of clothes and a stick this showed they were obedient and willing to do the will of God.

One of the many tasks the disciples had to do was to go and drive out evil spirits, there orders were to go into every town they came to and preach the good news when they reached a town if someone was hospitable they would stay with them until they were ready to leave but if no one was hospitable in a town before they left they would shake the dust off their sandals, this would be a sign to the town residents. On one task the disciples came across an elliptic boy who they could not heal, they sent ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

One of the many tasks the disciples had to do was to go and drive out evil spirits, there orders were to go into every town they came to and preach the good news when they reached a town if someone was hospitable they would stay with them until they were ready to leave but if no one was hospitable in a town before they left they would shake the dust off their sandals, this would be a sign to the town residents. On one task the disciples came across an elliptic boy who they could not heal, they sent for Jesus and he healed the boy. He explained they could not heal him through their lack of faith.

This is one of the main themes of Christianity. "..."It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Peter had a wife and mother-in-law to support, Levi, although corrupt, was rich, and Simon the Zealot left his cause. He was a terrorist with the same goal as Jesus, freedom for the Jews. However, at first he chose to fight the cause by violence and murder, before turning to pacifism. As well as this, they all had friends, and they were all fairly safe where they were. When they left Galilee, they risked violence from other areas. Their thick Galilean accents stuck out like a sore thumb around other people, which deterred travel. Back then, discipleship, and even just trying to follow Jesus teachings was a lot more difficult than it is now. Maybe it is because the Christian faith has changed so much since Jesus time, or maybe we are just lazy, and cur corners, just going through the motions, without actually making any of the sacrifices that this faith demands. Examples of these sacrifices are shown in Marks gospel: "...sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow me." At this the rich young mans face fell, because he had great wealth. "...a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny... "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into to treasure than all the others...she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on." "...they had to be prepared to give up everything.

Jesus was a suffering servant, the Son of Man. For a disciple to be a good Christian, they must be like Christ. Therefore, they must suffer, and serve, and sacrifice. "...whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." (Mark 10:43-44) "Jesus suffered because he could not go back on the ministry he had been given to do by God. He did not want to suffer, but he was convinced what he preached was right. He prayed "not what I want, but what your will be done"." (Dimensions of Christianity by Anne Burke) To be a true disciple, you still have to live by the rules set by Jesus, 2000 years ago. Many modern day disciples are said to have vocations, such as priests, or others in the religious orders. A building is just a building, no matter how grand, and a building that represents something is useless without the spiritual beliefs behind it. To enter the Kingdom of God, you must make real sacrifices, like the disciples did, not just make the token effort of turning up to church every so often, and giving your spare change into the collection. To enter the Kingdom of God, you must follow the example of the poor widow, who gave in all she had.

These are the qualities needed to build the Kingdom of God. Humans are, by their very nature, weak, and all of us fail at some time in our lives. All this suffering and sacrifice, the nature of discipleship, is an immensely gruelling way to live, and so humans would not choose to live their lives as disciples unless there was some sort of incentive, or reward, at the end of it. The reward, Christians believe, is eternal life in heaven. To achieve this, the goal of all Christians, you must live by the guidelines that are given in the Bible. " Go, sell everything you have to the poor, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Mark 10:17) "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25) "There were great joys and great sorrows attached to being a Christian. Their treasure was in heaven, and they could look forward to everlasting life, even if the Romans could destroy them in large numbers." (Dimensions of Christianity by Anne Burke)

As I stated in the last paragraph, humans are weak, and we all fail all the time. However, this is not an excuse to give up, or to decide not to try any more, and just make a token effort. To say that you don’t make mistakes is to say that you are perfect, and Christians believe that only God is perfect; even Jesus, as a man on Earth, broke down and cried, and begged that he would not to have to die. So to say you don’t make mistakes, is to commit a sin. This aspect of the bible, coupled with the faults and previous occupations of some of the disciples, gives Christianity a more accessible front. The idea that God is forgiving, and that if you repent you will be forgiven, helps Christians to be able to continue to strive towards leading a better life, without thinking "...right, that’s it then, I’m going to hell, so there’s no point in trying to redeem myself." The challenge of discipleship is to strive to act like Jesus when he was on Earth. Jesus strived to live up to his values, at times he failed, at times he felt like giving up, but he didn’t. He carried on, regardless of the danger to his own life around every corner.

The disciples, again, fail many times during Marks gospel; most notably in the garden of Gethsemane, when they all fell asleep several times, despite Jesus request that they stand guard, and after the crucifixion, when Peter, one of the first, denied that he even knew Jesus. " Simon he said to Peter, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. " (Mark 14:37-38) "The disciples called by Jesus had the faults of ordinary men..." (Witness in a Pagan World by Eric Johns and David Major) "When Peter saw the suffering of Jesus, his courage and his faith in Jesus failed him, and he denied any knowledge of him." (Dimensions of Christianity by Anne Burke) Throughout Jesus life, from Herod to Pilate, Jesus main enemy, or trouble, was the Roman Empire. Their religion was polytheistic; they had, among many others, a god of war, (Mars), a god of wine, (Bacchus), and a goddess of love, (Venus). They also believed that their Emperor, at the time Caesar, was a living God. So they perceived any person who was believed to be above the Emperor, a threat. This included Jesus, one of his titles being "King of the Jews". He was seen as a rebel by the Roman Empire, and therefore, so were all of his followers.

At the time of Jesus death, this number was sizeable, and as the early church grew, after the resurrection, the followers grew in number too. This was seen as a rebellion, by a new terrorist group, The Christians. Christianity was outlawed, and so the believers were forced to go underground. All of the people who attended these secret meetings, to tell or listen to the tales of Jesus Christ, were disciples. They were risking their lives to spread the good news. Many of them died at the hands of the Romans. Among these early martyrs, were some of the original 12. Stephen was viciously stoned to death after his great speech at the Sanhedrin (Acts 7), and Peter was crucified. "...In Palestine in the early 1st century AD Christianity spread rapidly. By the second century the new faith had won adherents in all parts of the empire...Christians were considered antisocial atheists..." There are many examples of modern day disciples around. More well known examples are easily forthcoming; Martin Luther King was a black Baptist in America. He sacrificed his life to the faith, protesting for black rights in America. In a way, the challenges and dangers have not changed. Endangering your own life by fighting oppression, injustice, and going up against bigger powers, or giving your life to helping others. There are still some people today who take the faith as seriously as the first Christians do, but not many. I believe that the message has been watered down over the past 2000 years, and many today are not making the sacrifices that were demanded then. Today’s society is too materialistic.

I would now like to move onto the second part of my coursework which is concerned with how Mark’s storys about discipleship are relavent today it is my intention to explain how discipleship can and infact does exist today.

In our own day there are many people who hear God’s call and are so challenged by it that they spend their whole lives working for the needs of others: for the needs of those who are oppressed, for the poor, the old, the lonely. Very often these people believe so much in what they are doing that they are prepared to continue their work, even when their own lives and personal safety are put at risk by doing so. One very well known person whose whole life is spent serving the needs of the poor is Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

This statement could be seen as true as many Christians would find it hard to follow all of Jesus´ teachings and become a ‘true disciple´. They may find it difficult to show all the qualities of a disciple, such as giving up all they have because they may have family responsibilities and it would be negligent to leave them or take things away from them. Also society has changed and money is needed, some people cannot rely on charity alone as people are more materialistic and so unwilling to part with everything, they may not have enough faith though they still wish to go out and preach or heal.

Yet we see from people such as nuns, monks, and priests that there are many people who give up all they have as the first disciples did. There are those who act as missionaries who preach and spread the word of God, and who care for the sick showing the qualities of a true disciple. These people give away all they have to depend on God knowing he will help them.

Then there are normal people who live everyday lives yet their heroism shows they are true disciples as they may risk their lives to save others. There are also other ways to be a disciple instead of going out and preaching as a vicar or missionary. If a person leads a good and Christian life showing kindness and generosity to others they are preaching by example and what they do reflects on their children and others around them. I think it is possible to be a true disciple if one does as much as they can to help others and be a good Christian, even if it is only a small gesture it will still result in rewards and an entry into the Kingdom of God.