In the mission of the Twelve, the disciples were sent out, totally dependent on God to preach repentance. They were not to pick and choose the best places to stay and they cast out many devils and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them. Today Christians try to follow the example of the Twelve in different ways. The main point is that Christians are supposed to depend on God for their livelihood. Some Christians take this literally as in driving out devils. For example, the Franciscans (a Roman Catholic religious order) began their work by travelling around preaching the Gospel taking the nothing with them and they still wear sandals today. Christian missionaries over the last 200 years went all over the world preaching and baptising, for example, Mother Teresa whom went out to countries to open hospitals world-wide. She also went out and worked with Lepers etc. On a smaller scale, people still work on a more local level in communities. Examples of people nowadays being completely dependent on God are Nuns and Monks who give up everything and live in a nunnery. You could also argue that many people begin their work for people with prayers and you could say that this is asking God for help and therefore depending on God.
The cost of discipleship was a lot in Jesus’ time. It meant giving up everything that was dear to you; your wealth, possessions and even your family. Being a disciple could even mean giving up your life for the cause as Jesus did. In the ‘cost of discipleship’ Jesus says “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.” This gives the idea of suffering on behalf of your faith. Jesus later goes on to explain the rewards of being a disciple. He explains how, if you are willing to give your life in this World then you receive eternal happiness in heaven. Nowadays, to be a true follower of Jesus may result in your being rejected by your friends, or even your family. This is very painful but discipleship is very costly and you have to remember that Heaven is a priceless reward. Nuns and Monks take vows of Poverty, Chastity and obedience. Priests take vows of Chastity and obedience. As I said earlier, Nuns and Monks take a very literalism view about what Jesus meant when he said a true disciple must give up everything. Other people take the Bible and its contents liberally which means that they apply it to everyday life, such as giving money to the church (Tithes) rather than giving everything up.
In Jesus’ time his disciples had strengths and weaknesses just as is common to any normal human being. Peter had great leadership skills and was able to recognise by faith who Jesus was. When Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was Peter replied “You are the Christ”. The other disciples also had great strengths in that they gave up everything for Jesus and this took a lot of strength and courage. Jesus told his disciples that, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me”. The disciples knew that, by following Jesus that they were going to have to suffer. Another strength that not only the disciples had was that they were willing to give their lives for their faith. Many of the first Christians would have been discriminated against by the Romans and many of Jesus’ first followers were executed for what they believed in. For example St. Stephen was the first Christian martyr. Jesus named his Disciples after what they portrayed. For example Peter was called the ‘Rock’ because of his strong leadership qualities. As I said, the disciples were human so they did have weaknesses. They could not fully understand Jesus and his ways. Once, for arguing with Jesus about his prediction of the passion Jesus took Peter and said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s. Peter is trying to tempt Jesus to be a military Messiah with power and glory and for that reason Jesus calls him Satan. This shows that the twelve disciples did not really understand Jesus. The disciples were not completely reliable, Peter denied Jesus and, according to Mark, none of the twelve were present at the crucifiction. This is understandable because if they were there then they would probably have been arrested and even crucified.
Nowadays, there are still great Christian disciples showing strength such as Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and Martin Luthar King Junior. Other people try to be disciples in quieter ways and on a more local scale. They show strengths in this. Even today in modern day society Christian disciples are not perfect and they make mistakes.
Thousands of people followed Jesus and out of them he chose only twelve. The significance of choosing twelve was that, in the time of Moses God had divided the Hebrew people into twelve tribes. Now Jesus chose twelve leaders to be at the centre of the new people of God. There were three disciples out of the twelve that were especially close to Jesus: Peter, James and John. Christians nowadays see these three Disciples as founders of the Christian church. They also believed that Bishops are successors of the twelve and that the Pope is the successor of Peter. Jesus then chose Peter to be his closest disciple.
In comparison, today most churches have a Hierarchy where people do different kinds of work in the church. This Hierarchy is based on how Jesus put his disciples in order of companionship. The general order is: Pope, Bishops, Priests and finally the people. Another form of levels of importance is that in the Roman Catholic Church there are no women priests whereas in other churches women can be priests and in some churches they may take on a leadership role.
2). A fundamental point when answering this question is the way the Bible is interpreted, whether it is interpreted literally or liberally.
Some people may agree with the statement. They might argue that to be a true disciple in the modern world then you must take every word in the Bible as true. They might say that if you take everything literally then you would have to give up absolutely everything as it says in the Bible, “ ...he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses.”. In the modern world this is very difficult to do and most people would find it impossible. They would say that no-body can be a true disciple of Jesus in the modern western World. It is very hard to give up and live without any modern conveniences or money. Another argument is that most people cannot live their whole lives in poverty for the hope of getting a reward after life in heaven. Another problem is that if you take the Bible literally then what does it mean when it says that disciple should go out and cast out devils? How can someone interpret this in modern day society? It is very hard to understand Jesus’ teaching and so is very hard to follow it.
Other people may disagree with the statement. They might argue that the Bible is not something to be taken completely literally. They would say that it should be applied to the modern World, and by casting out devils it may mean preaching so as to remove any ideas of false Gods or getting rid of evil in the world. For example, working for World peace, charity or upholding morality. They would say that people can be disciples of Jesus. The main, most important points for being a disciple are ‘Love God and love you’re neighbour’ and anyone who tries there hardest to follow these points or rules is being a true disciple. They would also argue that there have been great disciples such as Mother Teresa and Martin Luthar King jnr. Another point is that Jesus did not choose his disciples with great knowledge. He chose fishermen, a zealot and a tax collector. This shows how anyone today may be a disciple as long as they are willing to follow Jesus and listen to his teaching.
My opinion is as follows. I believe that it is possible to be a true disciple of Jesus in the modern world. It all depends on whether you are willing to give up everything to follow Jesus and spread his teaching. The Franciscans for example are a Roman Catholic religious order that began their work travelling around preaching the Gospel and taking nothing with them. They still wear sandals today. Today, to be a disciple you must, and are instructed to do the same as the first disciples did. You must help the sick and needy and spread the word of God. These are all possible to do in modern day society. I believe that the Bible should be taken liberally in that it should be applied to the modern world. When Jesus chose his disciples they were not chosen for what they were but for what they could become. This is true today, if you set yourself a goal then the chances are that you will succeed if you really try and are willing to make sacrifices.
