The Nature of Discipleship in Mark’s Gospel
A study of Mark’s Gospel can tell Christians lots of things about the
nature of discipleship. There are many different aspects of
discipleship. Sometimes there are positive aspects but sometimes there
are negative aspects. In this essay I will discuss what the nature of
discipleship means in Mark’s Gospel.
The word “disciple” means “follower” and is often used to refer to one
of Jesus’ followers from the Gospels. When Jesus first gathered his
disciples he says to them,
“Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1: 16-20)
At once they followed him without question, leaving all their
possessions behind. The main point of this story is that to be a
disciple you must respond immediately to Jesus’ demands even if that
means leaving your friends, family and properties behind. Also, Jesus
didn’t choose wealthy or powerful people to be his disciples he chose
ordinary people. What we learn from this is that Jesus accepts
everybody for who they are. Christians today may take comfort from
this because they believe God will accept everybody for who they are
as well.
For the 12 men Jesus chose to become his disciples they had to be
willing to make sacrifices like in the story of the widow at the
treasury. In this story, many rich people made large offerings at the
treasury, whilst a widow gives only two small coins. Jesus says her
offering was greater as
“She gave all she had to live on.” (Mark 12: 41-44)
What this means is that true discipleship is not something that can be
done in a half-hearted way. You have to give all you have in the
service of God and other people.
Jesus thought that life would be made difficult for those who believed
he was the Messiah sent by God so he warned he disciples the cost of
discipleship. He said,
“If you want to come with me, he must deny self, take up his cross and
follow me.
disciples then said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
If there is one thing that a person can take out of this book and nothing else is how we are to see people and how God sees people. Dr. Elmer is also correct when he say “that all who desire to follow Jesus must desire to be servants. We must put aside the robe and pick up the towel.”
become a Christian, a disciple of Christ. In this we have to be a good
To be a true disciple of Jesus one must not disown or deny Jesus but
Mark's Gospel and Nature of Discipleship In Mark's Gospel, there are many accounts of Jesus' disciples and Apostles which are helpful to Christians as examples of the nature of discipleship. In this part of my coursework essay I hope to address questions involving what Mark's Gospel tells us about Jesus' disciples and Apostles, as well as defining the principle of what being a disciple entails, and defining also who the apostles were. This is because by learning about past disciples and the Apostles, a modern disciple of the Church can learn about the nature of discipleship. A disciple is somebody who is inspired enough by somebody to learn about them, listen to their ideas and follow them and their way of life.
who "does what God wants them to do". This simply means that if we put
One can’t automatically assume this scripture in question was meant to excuse inaction or diminish the importance of helping those in need. I believe that this was Jesus’ way of paraphrasing a previous text, with the intent of calling to mind the larger passage it came from. He did this by quoting Deuteronomy chapter fifteen, verse eleven. Likewise, the sole intent and purpose was for the disciples and Christians to remember the instructions on how to deal with the poor and debt. In the Deuteronomic Law their were laws put in place for the purpose of people eluding poverty. If someone owed a debt they had the option of working off the debt for up to, but no longer than seven years. After the debt was paid their land and valuables were then returned to them. In Deuteronomy, perpetual poverty was
Similar to the Gospel of John the Epistles of John catalogues a variety of themes on discipleship. However, four main qualities of discipleship are highlighted in his letters, these are witness, obedience, chosen, and indwelling. These four qualities are announced in the first four verses of 1 John 1 by the apostle explaining how disciples of Christ are witnesses to the glory of Christ through their experiences of sight, sound, and touch (1John 1:1). While being able to experience the greatness of Christ is important to the reality of disciples, John exclaims that experience is not enough and one must publicly “testify to it” (1John1:2) and “proclaim to [the world] the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us” (1John1:2). Witnessing to the faith is an important quality also presented in 3
The Meaning of Discipleship In this piece of coursework I will be writing about the meaning of
Modern Day Disciples Following Jesus today is harder than it used to be, but modern day. disciples do not exist. Christians try to see Jesus in other people and they follow Jesus' example and teachings. An everyday Christian would try to see the good in everybody, try to forgive others when hurt or unhappy and apologise for things that they do wrong.
One of the main characteristics of the gospel of Mark is it’s length. Mark is much shorter than Matthew and Luke, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. The author of Mark does not slow down the gospel story and makes sure that only important and relevant details are included. When Mark is compared with Matthew and Luke, it becomes obvious to see what Mark has eliminated. The author’s omission of Jesus’ birth, lineage, resurrection, and ascension denote careful planning and purpose in the gospel of Mark.
... people today who do understand the consequences of the scarify Jesus has done for the salvation of the whole humankind.
In Luke, we see that Jesus’ purpose in ministry is to “proclaim good news to the poor.” At many points throughout the gospels, Jesus instructs his disciples and followers to care for the poor. One such passage appears in Matthew 19. In this passage we see a young man questioning Jesus on the way to gain eternal life. Jesus responds with, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Here, we see a direct example of what can be done to care for the poor. We see that a person’s attachment to their possessions leads to blocked generosity to the poor. Jesus’ example certainly portrays a concern for, and responsibility to the
When Jesus called His disciples, His invitation was simple. He invited them to follow Him. The same is true today. In Matthew 28, Jesus gave His last charge to His disciples, and the charge was simple. He called his followers to go and make disciples. Much effort has been placed by Christians to fulfill this charge, commonly referred to as the Great Commission. Jesus chose to fulfill the implementation of the New Covenant through 12 men who He called, appointed, and commissioned, and he only had a few short years to prepare them for the task (Willson, 1990). His methods were unconventional and were revolutionary for that time. His disciples were to be trained extensively by Jesus, living with Him for three years prior to His ascension. He taught about servant leadership and its meaning for both the leader and follower Matt. 20:25-28). From the beginning, Jesus put in place a careful plan, and an examination of His actions in the Gospels showed that Jesus left behind the pattern to be replicated. His methods, which included the incorporation of three different levels of discipleship, included His interaction with Peter, His closest three (Peter, James, and John), and finally the group of 12. This paper identified and analyzed the three levels of discipleship Jesus modeled, these discipleship methods were then measured against modern leadership theories, and Jesus’s level of involvement and interaction with his disciples were critiqued in light of these modern theories in an effort to determine the effectiveness of this approach.
Christianity and Wealth 'Jesus said to the rich young man, "Go, sell all that you have and