St. Mark's Gospel and the Nature of Discipleship

St. Mark's Gospel and the Nature of Discipleship

In St. Mark's gospel, Mark focuses on the nature of Discipleship. He

focuses on this theme because Christians were being persecuted in his

time, in AD 70.

They needed something to believe in, for they were losing faith. Mark

told us in his gospel that Jesus led by example and told parables to

us about how to live like disciples. For example in "the widow at the

treasury" (Mark 12:41-4). Mark includes this story in his gospel

because it shows how disciples should be generous and make sacrifices.

Disciple means "follower" and as followers we should exhibit love and

compassion such as Jesus did in "the feeding of the five thousand" and

Jairus' daughter.

The first disciples Jesus chose were Simon, Andrew, James and John.

When he called them they left everything immediately and followed

Jesus. This explains discipleship very well because a disciple is a

follower of Christ. Jesus called the fishermen to become "fishers of

men," in other words to spread the word of God

"Follow me and I will make you fishers of men" (Mark 1:17-28)

This quotation calls the first disciples to Jesus. They respond to his

call. They were stepping into the unknown and leaving family and

friends. From this Christians today can learn we must also follow

Jesus' call and follow him.

To be a true disciple of Jesus one must not disown or deny Jesus but

be loyal to him. Peter was very stubborn. When Jesus told him that he

was going to deny him Peter said that he would never do that. We

should risk death for Jesus for he did it for us in his time.

"I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered" (Mark

14:29-30)

This passage tell us that Jesus foretold all his disciples would leave

him, so even the very first disciples flee in times of trouble. But

Mark wants us to learn from this and stand up for what we believe in.

We are human and we make mistakes but when we do we must seek