Faith means having complete trust in God. It means believing in the power of God. He is in control. God loves us and wants the best for us.
The call of discipleship is someone that will give up everything and anything for Jesus to follow him and his teachings. If you do this Jesus will give you the chance to grant eternal life. God is important you should give everything and anything in his cause. “They left nets immediately to follow him.”(Mark 1:16-20) From the Old Testament the call of discipleship means the prophet will call a disciple who will once abandon everything and follow him. It has an immediate response to show our faith and love.
The first 12 were his companion and they were sent out to preach his name and to cast and drive out evil spirits. They were told to take no money, not to linger where they were not wanted and to shake the dust off their feet if not wanted.
In Mark’s Gospel we are told that to be a disciple of Jesus you have to make sacrifices. In the story “Widow at the treasury” the poor woman put in her whole two coins, which is what she only possessed.
Although rich people may put in large sums it is about the amount your willing to give up and sacrifice. It also shows God that your are depending him not on materialism. The rich are not condemned because they are rich.
In the parable of The Rich Young Man he told Jesus that he has kept all his commandment and how will he gain eternal life and Jesus answers, You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. It means accepting our cross and following Jesus knowing that God is talking love of everything Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel “ if you want to be a follower of mine you have to give up everything.”
Peter said what are they going to get out of following Christ and Jesus says, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many that are first will be last, and the last first." (Mark 10: 28-31) It is important to understand that being a Christian does not mean accepting a life of misery and constant suffering. You will gain eternal life with God in heaven; he will also give us the security that people look for in material possession he will give us. We are blessed with gifts that the world cannot give us such as peace joy and happiness.
Jesus couldn’t believe that Peter; the leader of the apostles, the first pope would let Jesus down. But it reminds us there can be weakness and failure right to the very top and Peter was forgiven and confirmed as the leader of the Church, despite his weakness.
