The Call to Discipleship

Take a look in the gospels and you’ll see a miraculous story. No, not that one. The other one. The story of twelve men who gave up everything to follow Jesus into the unknown, who suffered alongside Him, and who carried on His message after He ascended into heaven.

The twelve, as we so call them, were the first. They followed, they suffered, they learned. And they did it all to be next to the one they called The Messiah. The story of their lives is remarkable, comforting, and encouraging, but it also leads me to ask a number of questions of myself.

They Followed
To become a disciple of Jesus Christ meant to put the nets and the tax books down and follow him. Jesus was the leader, the King of the Jews, and he was walking down a newly created path; all they had to do was follow, learn, and be wholly committed to him and his teaching. Following Jesus opened new doors for the disciples. It allowed them to “escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ.”¹ It allowed them to follow the path to redemption and to become a part of the family of God.² It also allowed them to show their remarkable strength and their desire to be one with God. They didn’t hold on to anything from their past. They didn’t yearn for this or wish for that, they didn’t need it. “They left everything and followed Jesus.” ³

What have I put down?

They Suffered
When the disciples chose to follow Jesus Christ, they chose to begin a life of suffering that would last until their own deaths many years later. They knew they would have to drink from the “bitter cup” and be baptized with the “baptism of suffering,”⁴ but they were prepared. They were prepared to leave their houses and family, to deny themselves, to take up their cross, and to even lose their lives for Christ’s sake.⁵ The cost of discipleship was and still is high. But what you earn in return is something money or comfort cannot buy. It is a treasure hidden in the field. “It is the Kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble.” ⁶

Have I suffered? Am I willing to?

They Learned
In the three years spent with Jesus Christ the disciples spent much of their time learning. During the popular Sermon on the Mount – and throughout the entirety of the gospels – the disciples “gathered around him,” listening and memorizing his words.⁷ Why? Because soon they would be left alone to finish what had started. Jesus was preparing the disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations.”⁸ They would personify the words of Paul before he had the chance to write them. “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.” ⁹

Am I prepared? Am I ready and willing to finish the job?

The disciples were. They were more than ready. They followed him, suffered with him, learned from him, and then watched as “the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly.”¹⁰

Can I follow in their footsteps?

Can you?

1. The Cost of Discipleship, Deitrich Bonhoeffer [↩]
2. Mk 3:34-35 “Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” [↩]
3. Luke 5:11 [↩]
4. Mk 10:39 [↩]
5. Mt 10:37-38 [↩]
6. The Cost of Discipleship, Deitrich Bonhoeffer [↩]
7. Mt 5:1 [↩]
8. Mt 28:19 [↩]
9. 2 Cor 5:18 [↩]
10. Acts 6:7 [↩]