The Nature of Discipleship

The Nature of Discipleship

Before beginning to answer this question, two things will need further

clarification, i.e. what is meant by nature? And what is a disciple?

Nature is defined as personality or disposition of something and the

word 'disciple´ is used to describe the very first followers of Jesus,

those people who left everything they had, to follow Jesus and to

learn from him. The term 'disciple´, although it means one who learns,

also applies to anyone who calls them self a Christiandisciple is a

follower of a cause. So in the course of this essay I will examine

different passages from Mark's Gospel and evaluate what we can learn

about being a follower of Christ and what discipleship qualities as

disciples we need.

The first passage I have chosen to examine is 'Jesus calls four

fishermen' (1: 16-20) In this passage Jesus was walking along the

shore of Lake Galilee where he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. He

called them saying, "Come with me and I will teach you to catch

people." A little further on he saw the Sons of Zebedee, James and

John, he called them also. In both cases the fishermen immediately and

unquestioningly abandoned what they were doing and followed Jesus.

This shows that the disciples had the ability to make a big sacrifice.

They were able to leave their homes, jobs, families and obligations.

This showed courage, trust and faith in Jesus, who at this time was no

more than a stranger, it also displayed that they were prepared to

face the unknown with bravery and courage.

Another passage which is relevant is 'Jesus calls Levi' (2: 13-17).

This is a passage similar to Jesus calls four fishermen. Jesus had

returned to the shore of Lake Galilee and as he was walking along he

spotted the tax-collecting outcast Levi. He said to him, "Follow me"

and at once Levi got up and followed him.