Defining Discipleship
Mark 1:16-20
Introduction
One of the themes that repeatedly comes up in both personal reflection and my preaching is the question of: What is a Christian? For some people, being a Christian simply means belonging to a specific religion, the one we call Christianity. Others may specify that a Christian is one who holds to a certain set of theological beliefs. Some might see Christianity primarily in the context of who we worship, that is the Christian God. There is validity to all of those concepts of being a Christian. However, the one that rings true to me is that of being a disciple of Jesus. What are the images that come to mind when you hear the word ‘disciple’? When some people hear the word ‘disciple’, they automatically think of the twelve disciples of the Gospels. They are important and they help us to understand discipleship but discipleship is not limited to them. The Great Commission tells us to go out and make disciples, not just believers or converts, but disciples. Discipleship should be the identifying mark of every Christian.
But we still haven’t exactly defined what a disciple is. The Cambridge Dictionary defines a disciples as: “a person who believes in the ideas and principles of someone famous and tries to live the way that person does or did.” This definition is assuming, rightly so, that being a disciple is wider than the Christian context. You can be a disciple of almost any individual or group. In fact, the New Testament did not invent discipleship but rather Jesus adopted a model that already existed in his culture. Some people would attach themselves to a rabbi or teacher as a disciple and that is what Jesus’ followers did with him. And by followers, I mean many more than just the twelve.
Perhaps we can imagine what it would be like to be a disciple of Jesus two thousand years ago. We would spend time with Jesus, listen to him, allow him to correct us, we would observe and emulate. But what does discipleship look like today with Jesus no longer physically observable? We are going to take a number of weeks to dig into what discipleship looks like but we are going to begin simply by situating ourselves by defining discipleship, specifically in the context of Christian discipleship.
Leaving Our Nets
It seems that from very early on in his ministry, Jesus began calling disciples. We should take some time to reflect on that. It is not that Jesus exactly needed the help or even that they were overly helpful. As we read through the Gospels, the impression is that some of the disciples created more work for Jesus rather than less. Jesus was the best preacher, miracle worker, compassion-giver, and every other role and yet he made it a priority to gather about him a number of disciples. We actually see that there was an inner core of three (Peter, James, and John), the twelve disciples, and then even a larger group of disciples, more than seventy at least. We wish we had more information about these disciples. Even among the twelve, we sometimes have little more than a name. However, for a few, we have the narrative of their calling from Jesus and from that, we might learn something about what Jesus intends for our discipleship.
The passage that we are looking at is the calling of two sets of brothers from their occupation as fishermen to that of disciples. While at first, it may seem as if their experience is much different from ours, we may see some very relevant principles.
Fishing was a common occupation in that area and so it is not surprising that Jesus would find followers from this background. These two stories almost seem to run together and you could almost wonder why they are both shared. It is about two sets of brothers, both of whom are fishermen, both of whom leave their nets, and both who follow Jesus. But what might be to us is unnecessary repetition is actually an ancient way of stressing importance. Two similar stories in parallel is a sign to the reader that what you are reading is very important and that we should pay attention.
This brings us to the first part of discipleship. What we find is that Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John both leave their nets to follow Jesus. In addition to the nets, we also see that James and John leave their father to follow Jesus. This may leave us more confused than informed.
When we as a church invite people into the life of discipleship, we do not tell people that they have to quit their job or separate themselves from family members to follow Jesus. If we did that, we would be accused of being a cult. So is this just an obscure detail from the experience of four men from long ago or is there something here for us?
What this passage is telling us is that discipleship is not about tagging a bit of Jesus onto our regular life and then it is business as usual. True discipleship actually does include a giving up of something, a laying aside of nets if you will, even if it might look different for each of us. It likely doesn’t mean quitting a job, but it is a shift of our inner identity. One does not become a disciple if everything was working fine before hand. Discipleship assumes that the old way was not working and that there is a need for a radical change. Now I am fully aware that not everyone understands this as they decide to follow Jesus. A child who prays to accept Jesus is not going to be wrestling with this. But discipleship as a process is a continual reflection about the nets that need to be set aside in order to truly follow Jesus.
Following Jesus
These two stories are ones that I would have loved to been present at. I would love to have interviewed both sets of brothers to ask them not just why they were willing to give up their livelihoods but what was it about Jesus that made them want to follow Jesus. I would also want to know what they thought they were getting themselves into as they dropped those nets and began travelling with Jesus throughout Galilee and beyond.
We can say a little of what following Jesus looked like for them. They spent a significant amount of time personally with Jesus. Peter, James, and John spent the most amount of time with Jesus all the twelve. We do not know why Andrew was not included in that group. They listened and observed. At times they participated in ministry, but often in a less than effective way. We find that they often made mistakes and Jesus corrected them, with varying degrees of gentleness. By the time that Jesus died, rose again, and ascended to heaven, they were as prepared as they could for the leadership of the church. Even so, they were far from perfect.
We would love to be able to sit at the feet of Jesus, the way Mary, the sister of Martha, is described in the Gospel of John. We would love to hear those parables spoken directly from Jesus’ lips and to see him actually heal people before our very eyes. That our experience is mediated through the accounts in the Bible does not mean that our discipleship is any less valid. We can still spend time with Jesus and to learn from Jesus and seek to emulate Jesus. It is still very possible for us to go beyond just believing in Jesus and moving into actually following Jesus. We will spend time in the coming weeks looking at what that looks like. For now, it is sufficient to say that we can follow.
A number of years ago, we took a Mediterranean cruise that included a tour of the ancient city of Pompeii that had been covered by volcanic ash. Amanda was ill that day and so I was on my own with the tour group for that day. We were given earphones to listen to the tour guide as there was numerous groups all criss crossing this popular tourist attraction. The place was so interesting and I was so easily distracted by the amazing sites that I would look around and find that my tour group was nowhere to be seen. I hadn’t noticed because I could still hear the tour guide through my ear phones. But the sound was starting to become more distant. I would start in one direction to find the group and the voice would get quieter and then I would turn in another direction and the voice would get louder. I was actually able to track the group by the strength of the signal coming through my ear phones. This is actually a nice picture of what discipleship in terms of following Jesus looks like. We might get lost from time time and wonder where we are supposed to be. But when we start going in the direction that Jesus’ voice is the strongest, then discipleship is happening.
Conclusion
Our task today has been a modest one. We have not sought how to become the perfect disciple but rather to simply understand what a disciples looks like. We have looked briefly at the calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John. We saw that they left their nets began to follow Jesus. Our call to discipleship is both like and unlike their call. The outward change for us may not seem near as radical as theirs. But there is still a laying aside of nets, even that is simply our own plans and understanding for our future. It also includes following Jesus, even if Jesus does not seem to be physically present for us as he was for those first century disciples. We are called to be disciples just a much as those Galilean fisherman. Thankfully this is a lifelong process and we can develop over time just as they did.
