Explain the meaning of discipleship for the first disciples

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Antoine Murray

Mark Gospel coursework

1. Explain the meaning of discipleship for the first disciples

        A disciple is someone who follows or learns from a teacher or master. The first disciples followed Jesus, their teacher. And involved having faith in their teacher. To have faith in Jesus would result in triumph in the Kingdom of God. The chosen twelve all came from diverse backgrounds, and learnt to set aside their differences. The disciples are always associated with Jesus, but people before him had followers, such as Plato in Ancient Greece.

        The first disciples were taught by Jesus about giving everyone a second chance for whatever they do, whether it is stealing a loaf of bread or committing adultery. Not only were the disciples told that everybody deserves a chance, they were preached forgiveness and to forgive as well, not to carry on bearing that grudge against them. The disciples learnt that they were not expected to show fearlessness or perfection but just trust, faith, self-sacrifice and self-rejection. This was made clear in The Cost of Discipleship when Jesus says that his followers must ‘forget self and carry their cross’. Jesus’ last instructions were the basic outline of what discipleship was and what was expected of them; they had to carry on the work of Jesus. Each disciple would have to be a literal: believing every word Jesus spoke.

        A first disciple was expected to serve others, have courage, and sacrifice many things. The disciples would serve their Lord God and Jesus by spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, but also to serve and help others when in need. When times were tough and even maybe dangerous the disciples had to show courage. If they were going to be executed they must be brave and have faith. They must not be afraid to tell of the word of God. For the disciples to be disciples they had to sacrifice everything they owned, their homes and occupations and worst of all, their close friends and family; this obviously would take a lot of determination in itself.

        The passage of Jesus calling four fishermen shows how the disciples sacrificed everything immediately to follow this stranger, Jesus, who they have straight away put their trust in. When Jesus called Simon and Andrew to come and follow him, ‘at once they left their net’, there is no hesitation between them as to whether they should follow Jesus or not they just do it. When Jesus calls the next two brothers, they get out of their boat, leaving their father and go with Jesus. Again there is no hesitation for these two men to leave everything including their father. He chose fisherman because they had the qualities that Jesus saw as necessary, patience, courage and common sense.

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 They have sacrificed everything for this man they probably do not know. There is a blind response from these four men; they are given no guarantees but show total commitment all the same.

        Jesus was by lake Galilee and as he was walking along he saw a tax collector called Levi. Jesus said to him ‘follow me’ and ‘Levi got up and followed him’. As with the four fishermen, Levi’s response is instant, there are no demands from him, no limits to his dedication, no equivocation in his acceptance.

        Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi’s house. ...

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