The meaning of Discipleship, For the first Disciples.

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The meaning of Discipleship,

For the first Disciples.

In this essay, I am to define the meaning of discipleship for the first disciples. The word disciple is derived from the Latin discipulus meaning pupil or learner. In Mark's gospel there is reference to the disciples of the Pharisees 2:19 and the followers of John the Baptist were known as disciples. Although Jesus was not officially recognized as a teacher he was popularly known as teacher or rabbi 8:5, 11:21 and his associates were known as disciples. The word could be used to describe all those who responded to his message but it generally refers to a select twelve named in 3:16-19, who were all called personally by Jesus. To be a disciple then meant an exclusive loyalty to Jesus and readiness to put Jesus first whatever the cost. He chose the disciples in order to train them to share in his work of preaching and healing, and to eventually carry on his mission after he had departed. In a sense he was to live on in them. Such an attitude goes well beyond a normal pupil-teacher relationship, giving the word disciple a whole new meaning.

Teachers around the time when Jesus lived thought that learning was such that the people who wanted to learn should come to them to be taught. Jesus felt differently and rather than waiting for people to come to him, he went out to find them and then chose them to be his followers. He called them disciples. At the start of Jesus' vocation, he chose 12 disciples. This is very significant, because the 12 represents the 12 tribes of Israel and it is also the Jewish number of perfection. These 12 were not, as one may expect, "model citizens", or even senior men of the church, (Pharisees and Sadducees). Among their number, were Matthew, who was Levi, a corrupt tax collector, Simon the Zealot, a terrorist who had killed many Romans, James and John, sons of Zebedee, nicknamed Boanerges (Sons of thunder) directly implying that they were short tempered and impatient, and last but not least, Judas, the man who betrayed Jesus to the Romans.

The very first disciples were Simon, Andrew, James and John. The four were two sets of brothers and both sets were fishermen. Jesus said to them:
Join now!


"Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

(Mark 1:17)

Immediately, they left their things and followed a man they hardly knew. This shows that they were willing to give up everything for someone who they hardly knew or could trust. In Mark 2:13-17, Jesus calls up the fifth disciple, Levi who was a tax collector, and Jesus later renamed him Matthew. But Levi was not called in the same way as the other four disciples. Jesus was with him at the tax collector's booth and Jesus simply said,

"Follow ...

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