Discuss discipleship and its many meanings.
Discipleship
Introduction
At the time of Jesus it was customary for Jewish leaders to have followers, these followers were also known as disciples. The word disciple means 'learner'. It comes from a Latin word 'disciplus'. Nowadays people will know a disciple as a 'follower of Jesus'.
Jesus' disciples were different from the others because it was Jesus who chose them himself. He chose twelve special disciples also known as 'apostles', which means 'messenger'. The reason for him only choosing twelve is to represent the twelve different tribes of Israel. This was the old Jewish church and replace and it was renewed with the new church of Christianity. This is not only for Jews but also includes Gentiles.
Jesus had only three years to complete his mission so he had to get working as soon as possible. The twelve he chose were (MK3: 16-19) Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave him the name Boanerges or 'sons of Thunder'), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the patriot and Judas Iscariot (who betrayed Jesus).
All these men in whom he picked by Jesus were pretty ordinary. The majority were fishermen but among them there was a tax collector and even a zealot. This was rare because at this time the tax collectors worked for the Romans and were considered sinners and unclean because they cheated people and the zealots were rivalries of the Romans. But he picked these people, as he wanted them to work together and communicate with each other: 'love your neighbour as you love yourself' (MK12: 31).
Discipleship revolves around following Jesus both physically and spiritually. A disciple of Jesus would be expected to respond immediately to Jesus, love his neighbours, be willing to forgive sins, show generosity, accept persecution, and live their lives using gospel values in everything they do and say.
The first disciples of Jesus were excepted to give up everything to be real followers of Jesus and this is illustrated in Marks gospel when he called on his disciples.
'As Jesus walked along the shore of lake Galilee, he saw two fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew catching fish with a net. Jesus said to them 'come with me and I will teach you how to catch men'. At once they left their nets and went with him.
He went a little farther on and saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebeedee. They were in their boats getting their nets ready. As soon as Jesus saw them, he called them; they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired ...
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'As Jesus walked along the shore of lake Galilee, he saw two fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew catching fish with a net. Jesus said to them 'come with me and I will teach you how to catch men'. At once they left their nets and went with him.
He went a little farther on and saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebeedee. They were in their boats getting their nets ready. As soon as Jesus saw them, he called them; they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went with Jesus.'
(Mk 1: 16-20)
This extract portrays many features of Discipleships; for example to be a disciple you must respond immediately to Jesus' demands even if that means leaving your friends, family and property behind. But why did they do so is a question often asked and there could be various reasons i.e. they felt it was the right thing (had a gut feeling), they had heard about him, witnessed his miracles and teachings, or maybe they were followers of John the Baptist, it could of being curiosity and finally maybe they knew there was something special about him.
In the second chapter of Marks gospel Jesus went back to the shore of Galilee where he started to teach a crowd of people.
As he walked along, he saw a tax collector, Levi son of Alphaeus, sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, 'Follow me'. Levi got up and followed him. (Mk2: 14-15)
As you can see from this story Levi demonstrates true discipleship by also responding to Jesus' request by immediately following him even if he is too leave everything behind. Jesus knew hard it was for the disciples to have to give up all that they had worked for and earned without the thought of a reward.
The twelve disciples were all sent out on a mission, to do missionary work.
'He called the twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two. He gave them the authority to drive out evil spirits and ordered them, 'Don't ask anything with you on your journey except a stick- no bread, no beggars bag, no money in your pockets. Wear sandals, but don't carry an extra shirt.' He also said, 'Whenever you are welcomed, stay in the house until you leave that place. If you come to a town where people do not welcome you or will not listen to you, leave it and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a warning to them!' so they went out and preached that people should turn away from their sins. They drove out many demons, and rubbed olive oil on many sick people and healed them. (Mk6: 7-13)
From this we learn what Jesus expected off them and what they had to do as his disciples. The disciples were willing to do as he said and went out far and wide to spread the word of God. Jesus had told them what to bring and from this we realise that he had told them basically not to bring any material processions, as they aren't needed.
Jesus gives the disciples a very clear indication of the cost of discipleship just after the first prediction of his suffering and death and the rebuke of Peter.
'Anybody who wishes to be a follower of mine must leave self behind; he must take up his cross, and come with me.' (Mk8: 34)
What Jesus meant by these words was 'to leave self behind' does not just mean denying oneself. It does not mean going without certain pleasures in life so many people do, for example, in lent. To leave self behind means to put oneself last in all and to have no desire for rights or privileges except that of belonging to God.
To take up the cross means to carry your burden and take up the sins of everyone else. Discipleship means being prepared to follow Jesus even to the point of death.
Last of all there's when Jesus says 'Come with me'. This command from Jesus for all people to come with him only makes sense when put in the context of the teaching that immediately comes after it. Discipleship can involve suffering, rejection, and death.
When Peter asked Jesus about the 'rewards of discipleship' he emphasized by saying 'Look, we have left everything and followed you'.
Jesus replied, 'Yes... and I tell you that anyone who leaves home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel, will receive much more in this present age. He will receive a hundred times more houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields- and persecutions as well; and in the age to come he will receive eternal life. But many now who are first will be last and many now will be first.'
This shows that Jesus' disciples will be rewarded eternal life for the good they create in the world. It gives them real life values rather than materialised processions.
Another quality the first disciples needed to have was absolute faith in Jesus even though they may be frightened. Although the disciples may have witnessed Jesus healing the sick, another encounter Jesus was to be an experience they would not forget.
One evening the disciples went out with Jesus in a boat to cross Lake Galilee. Suddenly a strong wind blew up and waves began to spill into the boat. Jesus commanded the wind 'Be quiet', and be told the waves to 'Be still' the winds and waves then died down. Jesus then said to his disciples 'Why are you frightened? Have you still no faith?' (Mk4: 39-40)
Mark uses this in his gospel to show how the disciples learnt to have faith in Jesus. This story was so important for the first disciples because it showed that you should have faith in Jesus and it also demonstrated the power Jesus had above nature, and also of the coming of the kingdom to come.
One of the main aspects of Jesus' life was prayer and the disciples had to learn how to pray like Jesus. Jesus went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples 'Sit here while I pray' (Mk14: 32)
'The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch' (Mk14: 34)
Jesus went and prayed that God's wishes will be done. This was to show the disciples that were to pray that God's wishes, will be done. The disciples had to learn to pray as their life around Jesus was planned around religion and prayer. They also had to learn that being around Jesus wasn't an easy ride. In marks gospel in the passage of 'Jesus is rejected at Nazareth', the disciples watch Jesus turned away at his hometown of Nazareth. Jesus said to them,
'Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family'. (Mk6: 4)
Sometimes Jesus teaches his disciples through a simple talk rather than through an event. Like when Jesus sat down with his disciples and said,
'Whoever wants to be first place must place himself last of all and be servant of all' (Mk9: 35)
He took a child, put his arm around him and said,
'Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not only me but also the one who sent me'.
Jesus' words taught the disciples that it means not to be powerful and to be servants. Jesus always had a way of teaching his disciples how to be better people. He used events to teach them, he also used to talking sessions to teach them. The disciples were taught many valuable lessons from God.
A perfect example of Discipleship is 'the widow at the treasury'.
As Jesus sat near the temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money; then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny. He called his disciples and said to them, 'I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had- she gave all she had to live on'.
This story tells us also that the meaning to discipleship is to be willing to give everything up for God. Also the main person in this story is the old widow. At the time of Jesus women weren't really important and it shows that a disciple can be male or female. The widows' offering was very important as she gave out her poverty instead of her wealth. Her motivation was completely selfless; she was more dependent on God than on material wealth. She was the perfect model of Discipleship.
As you can see from all that has been written Discipleship has many meanings and their main aim is to spread the word of God and bring about the new Covenant.