As we can see from Mark’s the apostles had a mission that was instructed by Jesus. In the mission Jesus sent them out in pairs for moral support, he gave them authority over unclean spirits so they could cast out devils. They were to take nothing for their journey, as this would have been a burden on them except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals as the would be doing a lot of travelling. He said to them ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not make you welcome and people refuse to listen to you, as your walk away shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.
From studying Mark’s gospel we can see that the apostles had also to accomplish the commission too. This was the same as the mission; only the commission was after Jesus’ death. The apostles had to continue their work; this time it involves the whole world. They were given special powers, nothing could harm them and Jesus said to them, ‘go out to the whole world: proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned.
In Mark’s gospel the apostles are called to have duties. They had to imitate Jesus in every way by spreading the Good News to the whole world, they hade to baptise and heal people who want to be disciples, they had to cast out evil spirits. They had to enlighten people on one hand and fight against evil on the other. They were called to help the weak and feed the poor, at the feeding of the 5000 Jesus said to them, ‘you yourselves give them something to eat.’ By doing all of these duties they would be most importantly bringing the Kingdom of God on earth.
As we can see from discipleship, there were to be costs as Jesus said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.’ From this Jesus is telling us that if anybody wants to be a disciple he has to think of others, rather than himself and to get on with life no matter what hardships they endure. He said, ‘For anyone who wants to save his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.’ However Jesus did clearly point out that for their sacrifices the disciples will be rewarded greatly, the main reward being eternal life. We can see this as Jesus said, ‘I tell you solemnly, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not be repaid a hundred times over.
For to be an apostle they would had to have certain qualities that would make their teaching of God easier. They would need a great deal of determination to keep their faith strong; they would need patience, as many people would have rejected them. They had to be able to talk to people who wanted to listen. Jesus chose these apostles, as they would have been supportive and caring to each other because he felt that they were going to have some hard times ahead of them. They would have need to be good communicators as they were preaching the word of God. They had to be brave and courageous as many people would attack them, although the apostles had to forgive these people. The apostles would have to be trustworthy as Jesus gave them authority and special powers to cast out devils.
As we read Mark’s gospel we can see that there was a big risk in the apostles failing the tasks they were given. Peter had denied three times that he knew Jesus and Judas betrayed him. Jesus rose from the dead although Thomas refused to believe it, but the apostles had to try their best not to fail. The had to work hard to make sure that they would not fall into the hand’s of evil as Jesus said, ‘you will lose faith, for the scripture says I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.’ We can see that the apostles didn’t fail as people all around the world have heard the Good News to this very day. The could not fail as they had to continue Christian living.
After Jesus’ death we learn that the disciples had to carry on Jesus’ word, ‘go out to the whole world, proclaim the Good News to all creation.’ This would be very hard for them as there is no leader to guide them but however they did continue to proclaim the Good News around the world.
Ao2 – Explain how this teaching about discipleship might affect the life of a Christian today.
From studying St. Mark’s gospel we can see how it explains to Christians the nature of discipleship and how this might affect the life of a Christian today.
All of us have good qualities; we can express and show our qualities in many ways for example by thinking of others. We can do this by giving money to charity like Concern or Cancer Research. We can be generous, by doing even simple things such as sharing your sweets of lending a music CD to someone. We can work for a more just society, by doing this we become honest and truthful and treating people equally just as just as Jesus told us to do as disciples. By resisting the temptation to steal is being honest and truthful to yourself and by doing this we are living out our Christian values as disciples.
As we see from Mark’s gospel we are called to carry out our duties as disciples. We are expected to pray and have faith in prayer, without prayer there is no point having faith in God. We are asked to put Jesus first and our main priority forgetting about money and other material possessions which are a burden and are irrelevant in our lives, for example Mother Teresa. By spreading the word of God both in words and in action we are living up to what we are called to do. We can spread the word of God in actions by simply doing all good known to man, whether it is helping others, we are following in Jesus’ footsteps and we are setting an example of what should be done in order to be a true disciple.
From Mark’s gospel we are called in life to have our vocations whether we are priests or clergymen, whether we decide to marry or we decide to stay single. If we decide to go into the religious aspect of life we will make many sacrifices, serving God both in our words and our actions and living out our Christian beliefs. If we go ahead and marry, we give our undivided attention to our partner and to our children. By marrying we still have sacrifices to make, especially for God as he said about us disciples, ‘the first will be last and the last first.’
We must have hope not just hope as what is literally means but as accepting our failures and moving on in life by forgetting our troubles, worries and thank God for being a follower, a disciple. By accepting our failures we are being honest with ourselves, acknowledging that we have not succeeded in life and spiritually. If we are in a time in our lives where as everything is going downhill it is very easy to find fault in God. We ask ourselves why this tragedy has happened but this is a time for prayer and faith in prayer. By coming through these troubled times we become that bit stronger, increasing our faith and bringing us that little bit closer to God.
We can clearly see that from Mark’s gospel it has greatly affected Christian’s life and belief today.
Ao3 – Children can’t be disciples so they can’t be Christians either. Do you agree or disagree. Give reasons for your answer showing that you have considered more than one point of view.
Children can’t be disciples so they can’t be Christians either, I would disagree, many children are baptised as Christians and therefore as they get older they learn about what it means to be a disciple. Many children know right from wrong, they know that it is wrong to take something that doesn’t belong to them and it’s wrong to use foul language. Jesus once said, ‘For you to enter the Kingdom of God you must be like a child.’ This really emphasises the point that children can be disciples, as a child is so innocent it takes things a face value, children would not see a poor man any differently than a rich man or a white man as different from a black man. Children are very honest, so honest that it can be hurtful but it is their honesty that is accounted for. When a child has done wrong its immediate reaction is to say sorry to that person, this is a thing that most adults find hard to do. Another thing is that a child is trusting and can trust other people, many children find it easy to share the simplest thing of life such as sweets and their toys, this shows that a child can be a disciple and therefore a Christian.
However this is not always the case as when the child is baptised the parents make all the decisions for the child and although the child is welcomed into God’s family the child may grow up to be the opposite of a Christian. We can see this, as many children have no respect for their parents as the are deliberately defiant and stubborn even when it comes to simple things and doing what the are told. We can see that children can’t be disciples as many children vandalise property and are responsible for most vandalism committed. Some children will want to get their own way and will do anything by annoying their parents and people around them, this also shows the selfish side of a child. Most bullying is committed by children and such physical and mental torment on another child has occurred in that child taking their own life. Surely this is not the work of a Christian.
There are many reasons for and against why children can’t be disciple so they can’t be Christians either. I personally feel that children can be disciples and therefore Christians as the positives outweigh the negatives. After all we all once were children so it would be hypocritical to say that children can’t be disciples.
