A disciple is expected to do what Jesus said immediately, for example in Mark 6: 7-13 ‘and he called to him the twelve, and began to send them off two by two, and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He told them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.” This tells us that disciples should trust Jesus and material possessions are not important, that they should rely on God to provide for them.’ Take nothing for the journey except a staff’ tells us that a disciple will have to do a lot of walking and traveling to spread the word of God. Jesus carried on to say ‘“where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. And any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them.” So they went out and preached that men should repent, and cast out daemons, and anointed with oils many that were sick and healed them.’ This tells us that disciples should spread the word of God, and if people do not want to listen they will be warned that as they ignored God’s message they too will be ignored. This means that if you do not take God and his teachings into your life you will not go to heaven and have an eternity of happiness.
Being a disciple would be very difficult because you have to leave all of your possessions, your career and your family and friends to follow Jesus’ every word. Jesus said ”If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross and follow me. For those whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” He is telling them to put God and other people before themselves and that they should be prepared to be tested and die for their beliefs and then they will enter heaven and have eternal life. It also means that if you give your life for your faith or to save someone else’s life you will have eternal life. This would be hard to follow because it is a basic instinct to look after yourself first and try to survive. If you are a true disciple you have to put yourself last and work for the good of others
Jesus’ disciples were not perfect, they made mistakes. Peter, Jesus’ closest friend, betrayed Jesus by denying that he knew him. This is because he knew that if he was found out to be Jesus’ friend, he would have been killed by the Romans. Peter could not give up his life because he did not understand eternal life. Judas betrayed Jesus by handing him over to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver. Judas could not do what was asked of him, he was greedy and could not give up material possessions. He may have also been afraid of being killed because he was a follower of Jesus.
Jesus chose twelve disciples but he had many more like Blind Bartamaus. Bartamaus was blind until he called for Jesus, he was persistent, when people told him to stop he just shouted louder. He was healed as a reward for his faith. The widow in Mark 12: 41-44 gave up all she had, all her money that she had to survive. She put others before herself, even though she might have starved and potentially risked her life to save the lives of others. These examples tell us that to be a good disciple you do not actually need to be really religious and that your actions can mean more than words.
St Marks Gospel tells us a lot about the nature of discipleship, it tells us that to be a true disciple you should be willing to give up everything to help others and follow God. It tells us that being a disciple will not be easy and that you will have to trust in God, even though it means leaving everything behind. Sometimes people mock and reject you but you have to be strong and have unquestionable faith.
