On being a disciple

July 12, 2009
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus sends out the Twelve

"Jesus then went around the villages teaching. He called the Twelve to him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over evil spirits. And he ordered them to take nothing for the journey except a sraff; no food, no bag, no money in their belts. They were to wear sandals and were not to take an extra tunic." ...
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Imagine if you were directed to go on a mission to a foreign land where you are a complete stranger, and you have to go with absolutely no food, clothing, and monetary provisions. Anyone would have rejected the idea outright.

Not the twelve apostles. There is nothing in the text that suggest they expressed any reservations.

The following are excerpts from "An Introduction to Christology" by Thomas P. Rausch.

From the time of his departure from the company of the Baptist, Jesus was accompanied by a group of disciples. The New Testament uses two words to express the concept of discipleship, the noun mathétés, "disciple", and the verb akolouthein, "to follow after".

Mathétés appears more than 250 times in the New Testament, mostly in the Gospels and Acts. In secular Greek a mathétés was someone bound to another to learn, an apprentice in a trade or the student of a philosopher. There is no mathétés without a didaskalos, a "master" or "teacher". The verb akolouthein means to "follow after". Appearing fifty-six times in the Synoptics and fourteen times in John, it sometimes referred to the crowds that followed Jesus (Mat 4:25;8:1). But when used of individuals, like mathétés, it shows he special characteristics of the disciples in relation to Jesus.
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While there are some important parallels between the disciples of John and those of Jesus, the usage of mathétés in reference to the disciple of Jesus is unique.

First, being a disciple of Jesus was the result of a personal invitation. Unlike the case of discipleship in Rabinnic Judaism, the disciple did not choose the master; rather Jesus chose and called his disciples (Mk 1:17; 2:14)...
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Second, there was an exclusive character to to Jesus' call to follow him; his invitation was not restricted to the ritually pure, the religiously observant, the poor, or even to men. The safe-marker buoys were removed; the necessary separation of the holy and the unclean, the righteous and the sinners, 'us and them', was deliberately undermined, for the dynamics of the Kingdom did not respect such parameters...
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Third, Jesus' call to discipleship meant a radical break with the past, both personal and cultural. Those who followed Jesus "left everything" (luke 5:11). They left behind parents, family, and children (luke 14:26), jobs (Mk 2:14). His disciples shared his poverty and itinerant life (Mat 8:20). They exchanged natural family relationships for membership in a new family with Jesus...
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Fourth, being a disciple of Jesus was very different from being a disciple of the rabbis. The latter were students, concerned with learning and passing on the teaching of their masters. The disciples of Jesus shared in his ministry; he sent them out to heal the sick, to cast out demons, and to proclaim the kingdom of God was at hand (Mk 6:7-13); Luke 10:2-12)...
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Finally, being a disciple of Jesus meant sharing his life of service and loving others with a sefl-sacrifical love. The disciples are to share what they have with others (Luke 6:30); they must be willing to take the last place and serve others (Mk 9:35), placing others first and willing to bear insult and injury (Mat 5:38-42). In other words, they are to love as Jesus loved...
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"...So they set out to proclaim this was the time to repent. They drove out many demons and healed many people..."