Studying St.Mark's Gospel and Christian Discipleship

Studying St.Mark's Gospel and Christian Discipleship

St. Mark's Gospel outlines and explains how to become a disciple of

Christ, how to act and behave as one, what the costs and commitments

are and what the reward is. The Gospel is not just for the followers

of Christ, but also for anyone who is willing to listen.

In the story of "The Call of the First Disciples", we see firstly that

the disciples were not special or important people. They were simply

fishermen. He asked sinners to follow him as well, for example, tax

collectors. They were hated by society because they worked for the

Romans and where looked upon as outcasts. This shows that Jesus was

calling all people. These men did not know Jesus either, he was a

stranger to them but they listened to him because something must have

made them trust in him.

Jesus expected all these men to have certain qualities like putting

their self last in all things, being prepared to follow Jesus no

matter what, a disciples nature should not be one of privilege or

position but a humble service, a disciple should not be arrogant but

tolerant to other peoples beliefs, a disciple must be aware of dangers

such as wealth and obsessions and must be single minded in

discipleship, a disciple should imitate the life of Christ. The

disciples were sent out on missionary work. They had no money, only

one pair of clothes and a stick; this showed they were obedient and

willing to do the will of God.

One of the many tasks the disciples had to do was to go and drive out

evil spirits, there orders were to go into every town they came to and

preach the good news when they reached a town if someone was

hospitable they would stay with them until they were ready to leave

but if no one was hospitable in a town before they left they would

shake the dust off their sandals, this would be a sign to the town

residents. On one task the disciples came across an elliptic boy who