They believe that disciples of today couldn’t possibly live such difficult and demanding lives as those of Jesus’ time. Today you couldn’t live without modern conveniences such as hot and cold running water, money and television and therefore they claim that the rules Jesus laid out for the twelve are not practical in the modern world. Furthermore they claim that it is hard for people to believe in something which they cannot see in this world, where everything remotely weird is questioned scientifically until proven otherwise. They believe that we cannot possibly do what Mother Teresa did which was to leave all behind to help the poor - we have family & friends who need us and we need them!
The main argument that discipleship is possible in the 21st century is that it is a tradition in most large catholic families to have at least one son become a priest to help the needy, the sick and outcasts. The disciples of Jesus had to leave everything, just as Peter said to Jesus in Mk10: 28
“We have left everything to follow you, our homes,
brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.”
Today this is still the case following the tradition of Jesus and his disciples. Furthermore they understand that the missionaries, nuns and priests who do this, don’t live as hard a life as the apostles but are still disciples as they are making a great sacrifice to live as Jesus asked them to.
The people who agree with this point of view claim that all disciples, priests and missionaries are based on the same principle - Mk8: 34
“Anyone who wants to be a follower of mine
must leave self behind, he must take up his
cross and follow me.”
They do all the things Jesus wanted them to do but just in a different setting - the modern world. They show love, care for the sick, teach repentance and have faith in God.
Another claim that they make is that there are a lot of good examples of disciples in the modern world, namely, Mother Teresa, Oscar Romero and Martin Luther King. And also there are lay people of the church who do readings and there are eucharistic ministers. You can join a religious order, become a priest or do missionary work. This proves that there is discipleship today and that it is possible!
They believe our call as disciples is not that dissimilar from the calling of the twelve Jesus chose. We are called by God as Christians to help our fellow man, Priests nuns and missionaries make a big sacrifice but just not as big as the twelve. Nowadays priests have most of the modern comforts such as cars, television, books, more than one set of clothes and more than one pair of shoes. The things Jesus asked the disciples to do are just not practical in the modern world and it is understandable why our call of discipleship today is not like the call of the twelve. The thing is that we are all given the call and it is up to you whether you choose to accept it or not - but you must first understand the hardship and sacrifices you must endure as a follower of Jesus today!
I feel that in order for discipleship to continue into the 21st century, further changes must take place in the perception of what it means to be a follower of Christ, Priests must be allowed to marry and women should be allowed to become priests. Jesus called his twelve in keeping with the values and ideas of the 1st century. If Jesus arrived to call his twelve today there would be married men and women among his apostles.
By Charles O’Loan . S1F.
