Discipleship for the first Disciples
“Anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
To the first the first disciples becoming a follower of Jesus meant going through metanoia, a change of life. This involved that the Twelve accepted a completely new perception of religion and God. They were required to disregard all their previous beliefs and accept the new ones that Jesus taught. As children growing up, the Twelve would have learnt that their God was a strict, stern God who rewarded the good with riches and punished sinners with ill health and poverty. To become a follower of Jesus the Twelve had to dispose of this perception and accept a new vision of God, one that said God was kind, loving and forgiving. The Twelve would have previously been taught about a rich, strong warrior-like messiah who would come to save them from the Romans. Becoming Jesus’ follower asked the Twelve to understand that the messiah that would come to save the Jews would be a ‘suffering servant’ who would come not to free them from the Romans but to free them from their sins. Jesus also taught the Twelve to accept a completely new concept of the afterlife. The Twelve would have previously learnt that the afterlife, Sheol, was a place where you went after you died and you just ‘existed.’ The Jews did not believe in resurrection. Jesus taught that in the afterlife you go to heaven where you be with God and live in the presence of his overwhelming love. Jesus also taught that everyone will be resurrected and be reunited again to be with God, in his everlasting love, for all eternity.