Commitment in Mark’s gospel was foretold in the call of the 1st disciples in which they had to give up everything so they could be totally committed to Jesus. When examining the story “the mission of the twelve”, Jesus sent the disciples out in twos, told them to take nothing and preach the word of God to everyone. With this Jesus gave them the gift of authority over evil spirits.
Commitment in the story is shown because the disciples did indeed go out and preach the word of god to the people. Unless you are committed to something you wont be rewarded or given the opportunity to do what others are doing .i.e. in a football team, you are expect to be committed to your team and if your team needs you at training and you never turn up, then your not going to get on the team meaning your not committed. Jesus needed the same commitment from his followers and that’s why the disciple had to give up everything to follow him, with this it shows us Christians than in everyday life commitment is necessary, you need to be committed to something, just like in Jesus’ time.
Sacrifice plays an important theme in Mark’s gospel because to be a disciple of Jesus you need to sacrifice everything for God. The story of the 1st disciple is important because they gave up life (fishing) to follow Jesus. Even in the call of James and John they left their father and friends on the boat when Jesus called them. In the story of the “rich young man”, Jesus asked him if he would give up all his riches and come follow him. The rich young man couldn’t do this so sadly he turned and walked away. This shows that sacrifice is necessary. Jesus gave him the chance of a better life and he couldn’t give up his riches, this is good example of “man” and is selfish ways.
The story of the “widow’s mite” shows a poor women giving up the last two coins she had into the temple treasury, this is all she had to life on a still she gave it up, and when Jesus saw this he said this is a true disciple of god.
There’s a connection between the stories of the “rich young man” and the “widows mite”, this being the poor woman given up everything she had making her a true disciple of Jesus and the rich young man being selfish to give up everything to follow Jesus.
When looking at when Judas betrayed Jesus, Jesus knew that he was going to be and could have saved himself, but Jesus sacrificed himself for us and or sins. This is the ultimate sacrifice, to give your own life for god; this teaches us Christians that sacrifices are faced in our everyday lives not to the same extent as what Jesus did but still we sacrifice everyday things, we give up our Sunday mornings for mass to praises god, at lent we give up something, to make us better people and true Christians of God.
Service in Mark’s gospel is displayed in the story of “The woman anointing Jesus”, in which a woman came up and washed Jesus’ feet, this shows service towards Jesus.
Also at the end of mass the priest says “go in peace to love and serve the lord”, as Jesus said “I did not come to be served but to serve my life as a servant for many”, this means that we must show service towards not just god but others just as Jesus did. As a Christian this shows us that we show service toward God by helping other Christians in their time of need, just as Jesus helped others .i.e. he cured people who were blind, disabled and helped people onto the path of being a true Christian.
Suffering (cost of discipleship) is used in the story “The cost of discipleship”, in which Jesus said “if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself”, “and take up his own cross and follow me”, this meaning that disciples must put themselves last, have no desire for rights, privileges or materialistic goods They must prepare themselves for rejection and suffering just as Jesus did.
“Take up your cross” means being prepared to follow Jesus, through suffering, rejection, hatred and even to the point of death.
As a Christian when looking at suffering it tells us that to be a true follower of God you will face suffering, everyone in there life’s face suffering at one time or another.
Rewards for discipleship is gaining eternal life, you will be richer in the next life if you give up everything in this life. This teaches Christian’s today that no matter how poor you are in this life, if you lead a life of a true disciple you will he richer in the next life.
Therefore in conclusion Discipleship is for everyone and it require 4 the of the main themes, commitment, sacrifice, service and suffering and that leading a life of these a true disciple of god we will be rewarded with eternal life!
