Jesus also called a rich young man, the young man threw himself at Jesus feet and asked
“Good teacher what must I do to receive eternal life?”
Jesus replied you know the commandments, the young man answered
“Teacher ever since I was young, I have obeyed all the commandments.”
Jesus replied
“You need only one thing. Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then follow me.”
Once the rich young man heard this gloom spread all over his face and he went away sad because he was rich. The young man could not give up his possessions in order to follow Jesus. They were too important to him and he could not make the sacrifice, he could not take up Jesus call to discipleship, due to he love of money.
Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large number of people, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son of Timaes was sitting by the road. When he heard it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to shout,
“Jesus! Son of David! Take pity on me!”
many people scolded him and told him to be quiet but he shouted even more loudly.
Jesus stopped and said
“Call him”
so they called him to Jesus,
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked
“Teacher,” the blind man answered,
“I want to see again.”
Jesus replied
“Go your faith has made you well”
at once he could see and followed Jesus on the road.
This story shows us that the blind man had faith and is shown in this miracle in a sense of a plea or request. The cry of the blind man
“Son of David, have pity on me”
shows a faith that persists even when he is told to be quiet by the crowd.
Discipleship was very important for this man, Physically he could see again and spiritually he seen into the life of Jesus. There are many stories in Marks gospel showing Faith, people
coming to Jesus because they believed that Jesus could cure them. Take the story of when a man brought his son to Jesus, he said
Teacher I brought my son to you because he has an evil spirit in him and cannot talk. Whenever the spirit attacks him, it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth, grits his teeth and becomes stiff all over.
I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit but the could not.
Jesus said to them
“How unbelieving you people are! How long must I stay with you? Bring the boy to me!”
the father asked, Have pity on us and help us if you can!”
Jesus replied “everything is possible for the person who has faith.”
The father cried out I do have faith, but not enough. Help me to have more!”
Jesus commanded the evil spirit
“I order you to come out of the boy and never go in him again!”
the spirit screamed threw the boy into a fit and came out. The boy looked like a corpse and many people thought he was dead. But Jesus took the boy by the hand and helped him up.
This story shows us that the disciples did not have sufficient faith to cast out the evil spirit. And the father had not yet sufficient faith, which was built on a relationship of prayer with God.
Another story showing immense Faith is the woman with the haemorrhage, she had heard about Jesus and she believed that if she just could just touch his cloak she would become well. She reached out and touched his cloak and her bleeding stopped. At once Jesus knew that power had gone out of him, so he turned round to the crowd and asked
“who touched my clothes?”
the woman realised what had happened to her and came, trembling with fear, knelt at his feet, and told him the whole truth. Jesus said to her
“My daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your trouble.”
This story is an example of true faith in Jesus. Jesus cares not only for her physical health but also for her emotional and spiritual well being. She can now go in peace her faith in Jesus has saved her, she is now one of the family, a member of the kingdom of God.
Being a disciple was very important, these men followed Jesus they give their lives. For these twelve men discipleship would have involved physical hardship such as loneliness, tiredness, hunger, and lack of shelter they would also have suffered from emotional hardship such as fear, rejection and confusion. When they would go out with Jesus they would never know what was going to happen. One thing that was necessary was faith, in Jesus and his teaching. The apostles must have had faith as they followed Jesus at the start but often this faith was put to the test, take the incident at sea the disciples showed little faith in Jesus;
One evening Jesus and his disciples went across to the other side of the lake on the way over in the boat suddenly a strong wind began to blow, and the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water. Jesus was in the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The disciples woke him up and said,
“Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?”
Jesus stood up and commanded the wind,
“Be quiet!”
and then he said to the waves,
“Be still!”
the wind died down, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to his disciples
“Why are you frightened have you still no faith”.
The disciples often found it difficult to understand Jesus; they often were confused about what he was trying to teach them. The disciples didn’t understand when Jesus spoke about Death and Resurrection he said
“The son of man will be hunted over to those who kill him. Three days later, however he will rise to life”
The disciples did not understand what this teaching meant, and they were afraid to ask him. Instead they argued, as they walked along, about which of them was the greatest. Perhaps they had understood enough to get the impression that Jesus was not going to be with them for long and therefore, one of them would have to assume leadership. Who would it be?
Jesus stopped at Capernaum and when they were settled for the night he started to teach then about the true nature of discipleship. Discipleship should not involve quarrelling about greatness. He taught them the difference between greatness and humility. The only way to greatness was to serve others.
“If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.
Discipleship was very hard but it also gave the disciples a feeling of satisfaction as they were doing such a worthwhile and meaningful job. They experienced the powers of Jesus, the miracles he performed and the people he brought happiness to. Jesus’ time on earth was spent helping others and the disciples saw all the good Jesus did. Jesus had power over many things even nature, take the story when Jesus fed 5000 people on five loaves and two fish, he took the food looked up to heaven and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and distributed it amongst the people he also divided the two fish among them. Everyone had enough to eat and the disciples collected up twelve baskets full of what was left of the bread and the fish.
Jesus also had power over demons, take the story where Jesus was preaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. A man with a evil spirit came in and screamed
“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are- you are Gods holy messenger!”
Jesus ordered the spirit,
“Be quiet, and come out of the man!”
the evil spirit shook the man give a loud scream and came out. The crowd were amazed and said to one another,
“This man has authority to give orders to the evil spirits and they obey him!.”
Most importantly of all Jesus had power over death. While Jesus was curing the woman who had severe bleeding a messenger came from Jarius house and said to Jarius,
“Your daughter has died, why bother the teacher any longer?”
Jesus said to them,
“Don’t be afraid, only believe.”
When Jesus arrived at Jarius house he heard loud crying. He went and said to them
“Why all this confusion the child is not dead- she is only sleeping!”
the crowd laughed at him, so he took the mother and father and his three disciples and went to the room where the child was lying. He took her by the hand and said, “talitha, koum,”which meant little girl I tell you get up, the child got up and started to walk around.
Seeing all these miracles Jesus performed must have give the disciples great faith in him, During Holy week the disciples faced the most difficult time of their lives, their loyalty was put to the test especially when the arrest of Jesus was taking place. While Jesus and his disciples were in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus said to his disciples
“Sit here while I pray”
distress and anguish came over him and he said to the disciples,
“The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch.”
Jesus prayed to his father,
“Father, my father take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want”
he returned and found the three disciples asleep,
“Simon, are you asleep? Weren’t you able to stay awake for even one hour?”
and he said to them
“Keep watch, and pray that you will not fall into temptation, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
When Jesus returned, again he found the disciples sleeping they could not keep their eyes open. He said to them
“Enough! The hour has come! Look the son of man is now being handed over to the power of sinners.
The disciples let Jesus down they could not even stay awake while he was so distressed, in the end in his time of agony, the son of God is totally alone without the support of human friendship and loyalty. Jesus is abandoned even by his closest friends.
When Jesus was arrested and Peter was in the courtyard a high priests servant woman came by. When she saw peter she looked at him and said,
“You too, were with Jesus of Nazareth.”
But Peter denied it, they accused him twice again but as before he denied it denied it. The reason Peter denies Jesus is because he is fearing for his own safety at this time.
It is not only Peter that has failed at this time, Judas has also betrayed Jesus. He told the chief priests and teachers that he would lead them to Jesus so that they could arrest him secretly. No one knows Judas motive for this perhaps he was frightened he knew Jesus was going to be in trouble, and he was trying to save his own skin, or perhaps he was disappointed that Jesus was not behaving the way he expected the messiah should behave. And so he thought if he put Jesus into a tight corner, he would force him to show his power.
All twelve apostles showed lack of faith in Jesus, even when Jesus rose to life and appeared to two of the apostles, the rest would not believe them that they had saw Jesus. Jesus appeared to the eleven and scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.