In this Section we are concerned about the requirements of discipleship in view of Gospel Proclamation by a disciple of Jesus Christ. When the Gospel or Good News is offered to every man, woman and child on a daily basis it turns out to be a presence of a human being to another human being. Thus, it is essential for the Gospel-bearer to be transformed into a new person like from being a fisherman to be a fisher of the humans! We have varied pictures of discipleship in the four Gospels. If we try to look for common elements of discipleship scattered through the Gospels, it is inevitable that we end up with truncated versions of the original characteristics of discipleship found in the first disciples, including the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Our attempt is, therefore, to proceed by discussing the Positive and Negative Elements of Discipleship as well as its various types in so far as they have a bearing on the Gospel Proclamation. It would be better to be fore warned that what might look like a repetition of what we have already discussed is actually an attempt for a deeper understanding of the same subject!
Positive Elements in Discipleship:
They are positive in as far as our co-operation to the graces of God is necessary for bringing out results. They are the conditions for the Christian discipleship.
Obedience: Easily the most outstanding and prominent disciple, among the Apostles, was Peter who was a born leader of people, although with his own weakness and strength of character. Peter was open-minded, sincere and outspoken, quick to react to situations and in the process risking to making a fool of himself. The very first meeting of Jesus with Peter as recorded in the Gospels portrays many of those qualities. Mark (1: 16-18) and Matthew (4: 18-20) report the meeting as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee when Peter and his brother Andrew were casting a net into the Sea. They did not bother to pull out their net from the Sea at the call of Jesus as they followed him immediately forgetting all about their routine activity. Luke (5: 1-11) reports the scene a little more elaborately where Jesus was standing at the lake of Gennesaret when he saw two boats at the shore and the fishermen washing their nets. He brings out very vividly the peculiarities of Peter's character in his very first encounter with Jesus. Here again, the very first reaction of Peter to the words of Jesus is unquestioned obedience. Thus we see that the first condition of discipleship is unreserved and total obedience to the Word of God. [Incidentally, if any doubt about the authenticity of the versions in Matthew and Mark on one hand and the one in Luke is lurking in the minds of some readers, it is because they assume that the Gospels ought to be biographies of Jesus, which is not the case. The Gospels are announcements of the Good News of salvation wrought by Jesus for which the Evangelists used their own ways of interpretation of historical facts called their theology. For further discussion, see my blog site: christologiainsitu.blogspot.com].
Leave everything behind: Jesus wanted to reward Peter and his companions for letting his boat to be the first pulpit for preaching the Word of God. It was not accidental that the boat was Simon's in Luke's view who is also the author of the Acts of the Apostles detailing the activities of the nascent Church where Simon Peter had a pre-eminent role to play. The next command of Jesus to Simon was to "put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch" To Simon this was a most unreasonable demand as he and his companions toiled all night and caught nothing. If Simon Peter knew anything at all it was about fishing and his experience and knowledge in the matter could be termed infallible as far as human powers go. But because the man of God told him to do so he was willing to take a chance to satisfy him about its futility. What happened then is known as the miraculous catch by which Simon was completely overtaken to request Jesus to go away from him , a sinful man. Here we see the intensity of Peter's feelings confronted by someone unaccountable in his scheme of things. According to Luke, the call of Simon follows this episode where Jesus tells him not to be overtaken by such insignificant events like catching fish as he is going to make him a fisher of the humans. Thus the second condition of discipleship is the willingness to leave everything behind including and beginning with one's own self as a consequence of hearing the Word of God, obedience to which is the first condition.
Self-renunciation is only the beginning of discipleship. The disciple of Jesus should not be preoccupied with any thoughts of food, drink, shelter, the welfare of relatives and even with one's own life when it is a question of following Jesus or proclaiming the Gospel (See Matthew, 8:19-22; Mark, 8: 34-36). Here what is meant by Jesus is preoccupation bordering on anxiety that actually incapacitates us from action, but to give priority to the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew, 6: 33) At the same time, Jesus was extremely concerned about the well-being of individuals as may be seen from the healing of Peter's mother-in-law from a severe fever and all the sick people brought to him at the house of Peter and Andrew at Capernaum. (To be Continued).
Positive Elements in Discipleship:
They are positive in as far as our co-operation to the graces of God is necessary for bringing out results. They are the conditions for the Christian discipleship.
Obedience: Easily the most outstanding and prominent disciple, among the Apostles, was Peter who was a born leader of people, although with his own weakness and strength of character. Peter was open-minded, sincere and outspoken, quick to react to situations and in the process risking to making a fool of himself. The very first meeting of Jesus with Peter as recorded in the Gospels portrays many of those qualities. Mark (1: 16-18) and Matthew (4: 18-20) report the meeting as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee when Peter and his brother Andrew were casting a net into the Sea. They did not bother to pull out their net from the Sea at the call of Jesus as they followed him immediately forgetting all about their routine activity. Luke (5: 1-11) reports the scene a little more elaborately where Jesus was standing at the lake of Gennesaret when he saw two boats at the shore and the fishermen washing their nets. He brings out very vividly the peculiarities of Peter's character in his very first encounter with Jesus. Here again, the very first reaction of Peter to the words of Jesus is unquestioned obedience. Thus we see that the first condition of discipleship is unreserved and total obedience to the Word of God. [Incidentally, if any doubt about the authenticity of the versions in Matthew and Mark on one hand and the one in Luke is lurking in the minds of some readers, it is because they assume that the Gospels ought to be biographies of Jesus, which is not the case. The Gospels are announcements of the Good News of salvation wrought by Jesus for which the Evangelists used their own ways of interpretation of historical facts called their theology. For further discussion, see my blog site: christologiainsitu.blogspot.com].
Leave everything behind: Jesus wanted to reward Peter and his companions for letting his boat to be the first pulpit for preaching the Word of God. It was not accidental that the boat was Simon's in Luke's view who is also the author of the Acts of the Apostles detailing the activities of the nascent Church where Simon Peter had a pre-eminent role to play. The next command of Jesus to Simon was to "put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch" To Simon this was a most unreasonable demand as he and his companions toiled all night and caught nothing. If Simon Peter knew anything at all it was about fishing and his experience and knowledge in the matter could be termed infallible as far as human powers go. But because the man of God told him to do so he was willing to take a chance to satisfy him about its futility. What happened then is known as the miraculous catch by which Simon was completely overtaken to request Jesus to go away from him , a sinful man. Here we see the intensity of Peter's feelings confronted by someone unaccountable in his scheme of things. According to Luke, the call of Simon follows this episode where Jesus tells him not to be overtaken by such insignificant events like catching fish as he is going to make him a fisher of the humans. Thus the second condition of discipleship is the willingness to leave everything behind including and beginning with one's own self as a consequence of hearing the Word of God, obedience to which is the first condition.
Self-renunciation is only the beginning of discipleship. The disciple of Jesus should not be preoccupied with any thoughts of food, drink, shelter, the welfare of relatives and even with one's own life when it is a question of following Jesus or proclaiming the Gospel (See Matthew, 8:19-22; Mark, 8: 34-36). Here what is meant by Jesus is preoccupation bordering on anxiety that actually incapacitates us from action, but to give priority to the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew, 6: 33) At the same time, Jesus was extremely concerned about the well-being of individuals as may be seen from the healing of Peter's mother-in-law from a severe fever and all the sick people brought to him at the house of Peter and Andrew at Capernaum. (To be Continued).
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