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6. "Jesus & Discipleship"

 

From ‘ Jesus and Discipleship' – Corneck G in Religious Studies Review , Volume 2, No. 2, (Philip Allan Updates, 2005) pages 9-11 © A2 Religious Studies Synoptic Guide, Gordon Reid and Sarah Tyler, 2003, Philip Allan Updates

 

There is an immediate hundredfold reward for those who walk out on their commitments and dependents and join Jesus on the road; there will be even greater rewards ‘in the age to come' .

(Vincent Taylor, The Passion Narrative of St Luke: A Critical and Historical Investigation , 2004)

 

Definition & the Twelve

•  A disciple is a pupil — someone who learns from a teacher.
•  See the 12 disciples named by Luke in 6:14—16: Simon (Peter); Andrew; James; John; Philip; Bartholomew; Levi (Matthew); Thomas; James, son of Alphaeus; Simon the Zealot; Judas, son of James; and Judas Iscariot.
•  A disciple is anyone who follows Jesus .

 

Original Relationship

•  According to the Bible, every human being is called to be a disciple — someone who follows God in a relationship of faith and love.
•  In the O.T., the creation narratives of Gen 1—3 show how God created humanity in his own image.
•  Humanity was showered with all the blessings of God's love and lived in a close relationship with him.
•  However, that relationship was broken when humans disobeyed him.

Jesus, the first true disciple

• To restore the situation, God sent Jesus Christ — who was, in every sense, the first true disciple.
•  He was a disciple because of the way he lived his life;

•  he was aware of his relationship to God,
•  he knew the significance of that relationship and
•  understood how that relationship would bring in the kingdom of God .

•  Jesus appreciated the nature and demands of his discipleship and obedience to the will of God.
•  He knew he would have to suffer and to die, and that this action would bring salvation to all: ‘For the Son of Man… must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation' (Luke 17:24 —25).

 

 

Discipleship in Luke's Gospel

 

Discipleship is about following

•  In Luke: Historian and Theologian (1984) I. Howard Marshall observes that ‘ Disciples are those who believe in Christ and stand in a personal relationship to him as their Lord. '
•  Luke saw discipleship as the lifelong task of following Jesus in a spirit of love and service.
•  It came
  • from accepting God's love and forgiveness and
  • undertaking a commitment to follow Jesus as king.
• This meant
  •  repentance
  •  and being prepared to give up everything to follow God's call.
•  The 12 disciples were called by Jesus specifically, giving up everything to follow him: “ ‘Follow me,' Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him' (5:27 —28).

 

Discipleship requires humility.

•  A disciple had to be aware of his or her sinfulness.
•  Pride was a barrier between God and his people and, until it was removed, God could not work in their lives: ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance' (5:32).
•  This was shown when Jesus was anointed by the Sinful Woman.
•  She knew of her dependence on God. She repented and anointed Jesus with perfume as a sign of her grateful response for God's forgiveness: ‘Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much' (7:47).

 

Discipleship involved a demanding lifestyle

•  Luke made it clear that those who became disciples faced a demanding lifestyle;
•  the price of discipleship was everything: ‘ In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple' ( 14:33 ).

   

Discipleship involved receiving Authority

•  The disciples received authority from Jesus to act in his name, to preach, heal and cast out demons.
•  When they returned from their mission of proclaiming the coming of God's kingdom by signs and wonders, Jesus said he ‘ saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven' ( 10:18 ).
•  The disciples acted with the same authority that Jesus himself received from God because their relationship with Jesus was a reflection of Jesus' relationship with God .

 

Discipleship demonstrated the coming kingdom

•  The signs and wonders they saw were a demonstration of the coming of God's kingdom.
•  They were called to live by the principles of the kingdom.
•  They had to be steadfast and secure in their faith in God: ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom' (12:32).

Discipleship involved a unique relationship with God

•  Being a disciple meant having a unique relationship with God — the same relationship the Father had with Jesus. This relationship would endure forever.
•  Disciples were blessed by God and knew things that others could not know: ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, but did not see it' (10:24).

 

The cost of that relationship was high

•  However, the demands of discipleship and maintaining the relationship with God were high.
•  What was important was (a) the decision to follow God and (b) to know how to cope with the demands ahead: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it' (9:24).
•  The disciples had God's help — they faced the hatred of the world, but the Holy Spirit came to their aid in times of trouble: ‘When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say' (12:11—12).

 

Discipleship involved loving one another

•  Of crucial importance was the disciples' relationship with each other as it reflected God's relationship with them. By loving each other, the disciples learned how to love God.
•  This led to self-knowledge and enabled them to understand better the word of God and the meaning of the kingdom.
•  In this way, they were able to cope in times of trouble and to discover the best course of action in a difficult situation.
•  It was through their fellowship together that God was able to lead them. As Rowan Williams observed in Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert (2004): ‘ Our life and our death is with our neighbour. '

 

Summary Conclusion

•  Jesus looked for disciples to display (a) an openness of heart and (b) a willingness to live by the principles of the kingdom of God.
•  Disciples lived a life that reflected Christ's relationship with God.
•  Most importantly, they were people who (a) believed that God loved them and (b) made decisions of faith that reflected this belief, which was important because it reversed the fall of Adam and Eve and started the loving relationship with God afresh.

 

 

Discipleship in John's Gospel

 

•  Certainly the Fourth Gospel is a Gospel for Christian disciples. The Christ of St John invites people not only to live, but also to go on living in him. (Stephen Smalley, John, Evangelist and Interpreter , 1978)

 

Discipleship is about responsive obedience to receive life

•  In John's Gospel, a disciple is someone who has responded in faith to Jesus.
•  Crucial to the nature of discipleship is obedience to God through a loving relationship , which is the way to eternal life.
•  This is emphasised throughout the Gospel and underpins the ministry of Christ: ‘ I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full' (10:10).
•  Jesus did not come to judge the world (3:17), but the world will be judged by its response to the person and work of Christ: ‘ Whoever believes in him is not condemned' (3:18).

 

Discipleship is all about relationships

•  The nature of the relationship between the Son and the Father must be mirrored by the relationship of the disciples to Christ .
•  Discipleship is concerned primarily with the relationship between God and his people .
•  Jesus is the Light of the World who brings salvation to those who had previously lived in darkness: ‘Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God' (1:12).
•  This is made clear in Jesus' teaching to the inner circle of disciples who gathered around him during his earthly ministry.
•  His discourses with them dealt with the personal relationship between disciple and master and the implications this had for their actions within the world .
•  In John, discipleship is about relationships — with the Father, with Jesus, with fellow disciples, and with those in the community.
•  In The Community of the Beloved Disciple (1979), Raymond E. Brown claims: ‘ Discipleship is the primary Christian category for John .'

 

Prayer enabled the relationship with God

•  Prayer was the bedrock of discipleship.
•  It was the means by which the disciples related to God and the way in which they learned to hear the voice of God.
•  Through prayer, they discovered God's will and grew in confidence in God's love.
•  These would be important in times of persecution: ‘If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him' (14:7).

 

Discipleship impacts the wider community of believers

•  The relationships between the disciples themselves and the community of believers were also important.
•  It was within these relationships that people began to understand their deepest emotions and the driving forces that shaped their lives; it was not easy to live with God's truths, or to discern good from evil and confront the problems of the world.
•  The demands of discipleship were that decisions had to be made and there needed to be an authority and leadership that could understand and discern the will of God.

 

Discipleship involves witness

•  Out of this fellowship came the requirement to witness — to spread the teaching of Christ to others.
•  Disciples were asked to bear much fruit, and this was achieved through prayer and by staying close to the Father and abiding in him.
•  A disciple could not work alone: ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing' (15:5).

 

Discipleship follows New Birth

•  Discipleship required a new spiritual birth, unrelated to physical birth (3:3—7).
•  Once the disciple had experienced this new birth, they received eternal life.
•  This gift, according to the author of the fourth Gospel, was the hallmark of discipleship.
•  The disciple passed from death to life into a quality of relationship with God that could not be experienced by those who remained ‘of the world' (15:19).
•  Disciples passed from judgement to salvation on the basis of their decision to accept Jesus and the one who had sent him.

 

Discipleship involves love, obedience, opposition, triumph, unity, joy & confidence

•  Disciples were required to love Jesus and to be obedient to his commands: ‘Love one another as I have loved you' ( 13:34 ) and ‘If you love me you will keep my commandments' (14:15).
•  Discipleship involved opposition and conflict, just as Jesus experienced it himself (15:18).
•  He urged the disciples to rejoice when they shared his sufferings, just as they should rejoice at his death: ‘In the world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world' (16:33).
•  There was nothing the world could present to the disciples that Jesus had not defeated already, and this was made clear by John in Jesus' triumphant cry from the cross: ‘It is accomplished' (19:30).
•  In his final prayer in Chapter 17, Jesus prayed for a unity between disciples of all ages that would mirror the unity of the Father and the Son.
•  Unity was a witness to the world of the disciples' relationship to God.
•  They lived in truth and knew the experience of joy that came from abiding in the presence of God.
•  This offered confidence to those who would, in the future, choose to follow Christ and become his disciples too.