Explain the meaning of discipleship for:- The first disciples - Christians today

Authors Avatar
Explain the meaning of discipleship for:

-The first disciples

-Christians today

For the first disciple, discipleship meant being a follower of Jesus. They followed Jesus' ways and teachings. In the Old Testament when a disciple was called they were expected to leave everything at once for Jesus. For many Christians today they consider discipleship to be a vocation, possibly to the priesthood. This means they have to take a vow of celibacy sometimes poverty and obedience. As Christians we also follow the ways and teachings of Jesus but not like the first disciples did. They felt an even greater importance for Jesus and they would drop everything at his first call. In the call of the four disciples, Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and there he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake and Jesus said to them

'Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men'

Immediately they left their nets and followed him. They went on until they came across James and John, sons of Zebedee. Jesus called them immediately and they too left and followed Jesus. Jesus also called a tax collector called Levi. He left his job to follow Jesus too.

Jesus went into the hills and summoned those he wanted. The twelve that Jesus appointed were Simon Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddaeus, Simon the Patriot and Judas Iscariot. The apostles followed in Jesus' footsteps. They were to be poor people with no bread, no money, no beggar's bag and no extra clothing. They were to accept any hospitality that was offered to them and they were to leave if they were not made welcome. The apostles began to copy the lifestyle of Jesus and so they went out to do his work. They preached, drove out evil spirits, anointed the sick and healed people.

Jesus disciples were expected to 'preach' the word of God to everyone and to teach people how to live like Jesus. The disciples learned how to do this from Jesus; they were with him when he was preaching in the synagogue, and when he healed the paralysed man. Four men carried the paralysed man to Jesus down through a small hole in the roof above the place where Jesus was. Seeing how much faith the men had Jesus said to the paralysed man

'My son your sins are forgiven'

The man got up picked up his mat and walked away.

The disciples had to drive out evil spirits, Jesus taught them that they had to pray and also have faith to heal someone; an example of this was when the disciples could not heal the epileptic boy. Jesus said to them ' you faithless generation how much longer must I put up with you?' (Mark 9, 14-29). In order for this boy to be healed Jesus needed faith and when the boys father showed that he had faith the boy was cured. Jesus also anointed the sick, he taught the disciples how to do this when he took Peter, James and John with him when he healed Jairus' daughter. His disciples were with him on many occasions in Mark's gospel when he anointed the sick. Jesus was known for his ability to heal people. He taught the disciples that for a person to be healed Jesus needed to see faith. An example of this is 'Jairus' daughter'. The news was brought to Jesus that the little girl was dead. Jesus said 'the child is not dead but asleep'. Peter, James and John witnessed this miracle. It would have showed them that if you have faith anything is possible.
Join now!


Becoming a true disciple involved a lot of sacrifices. Disciples in Jesus' time faced a lot of difficulties. The disciples had to give up their home without knowing when they would return and they would not have seen their families for long periods of time. To be a true disciple of Jesus you also had to give up all you had - your land, riches and other material belongings. A good example of this was 'the woman at the treasury'. The rich men put in a good deal of money, but it was the money they had left ...

This is a preview of the whole essay