Jesus said to the disciples that they would have to leave what they had and follow him. He gave them strict instructions that they were not to take any luxuries and they had to rely on other people’s generosity. They were going to heal people and do many other great things.
This would bring the kingdom of God closer and show people that there is a God. In the story “Jesus sent out the apostles” he told them to take nothing except a stick and some sandals. Wherever they were welcome stay in the same house until you leave that place. This shows that the disciples are students; they all make mistakes and learn from them like any other human being.
Jesus gave a very clear indication that Peter was going to deny Jesus three times. He also says that anyone who wants to be a follower of his should leave and forget their family behind and take their cross and follow him this way it shows you believe in god and in eternal life. Discipleship also involves looking after people healing people and preaching the word of the lord, a disciple will also cast out demons and bad spirits.
When Jesus was around the rewards of discipleship were simple, all you had to do was leave everything including your family and home. The reward for leaving your family and home was that you had eternal life.
To be a disciple you have to be patient because they often fished all night, and sometimes didn’t catch a thing. They had to be courageous because the Sea of Galilee was a dangerous place. They had to have commonsense and had to be hardworking, practical and no nonsense men. Jesus didn’t choose them because they were religious; he chose them because he could see the potential of these men. Judas required some common sense because he betrayed Jesus and which
Explain what a study of St. Mark’s gospel can tell Christians about the nature of discipleship.
then meant that he would have felt guilt so he committed suicide and lost his life as well as Jesus’ the commonsense needed for this was to stick up for what was right and not go onto the other persons side. This is also known as betrayal.
As you know everybody makes mistakes but discipleship is an ongoing process of learning. Judas and Peter both betrayed Jesus and both regretted it after they had done it. These apostles made a mistake but regretted it as soon as they had done it. Judas took in some people’s view the coward’s way out as some people say by committing suicide.
In Mark’s gospel he paints a fairly negative point of view. But the eleven disciples that are left go on to be leaders of the Christian church the apostles eventually gain courage and great faith and in the end are even prepared to die for the Gospel’s message.
Gavin Clarke 10 Gwyn
