Many Are Called, But Few Are Talmidim
Jesus said many are called, but few are chosen. Jesus chose his disciples, unlike the normal process of a rabbi's disciple gathering, which was to have a teenage student apply to follow him, by asking the rabbi "Can I be like you?" Upon the rabbi accepting the disciple, after testing him with many questions concerning the Torah, prophesies, other scrptures, etc., the disciple would live with the rabbi day and night from the time the disciple is 15 years-old until he is 30 years-old. Thirty years old was the time a disciple would become either a Torah-teacher or a Master-teacher. Master-teachers were rabbis who had the authority to make new interpretations. These rabbis were very rare, and they were the only rabbis who had disciples. Torah-teachers could only teach in the synagogues and schools and they could only teach what was considered orthodox teaching. Jesus was thirty when he began his public ministry in accordance with the common custom of his day. He was also a Master-teacher, recognized by every Jew of his day by the fact that he led disciples and made new interpretations of the Torah.
Torah-teachers taught students. Master-teachers led disciples. Disciples were not students. The difference between a student and a disciple or the Hebrew equivalent “talmid,” was that a student wanted to know what the teacher knows. A talmid wanted to be like the teacher. Jesus was a Master-teacher or 'Rabbi with shmikah (translated 'authority' in the English Bible).
When Jesus called his 12, he did not require them to apply to him and ask if they can follow him or “be like him.” Instead, he went to them and said, “Come. Follow me.” Or more literally, “Come. Be like me.”
The rich young ruler could not follow Jesus, because to be in the Kingdom of Heaven (a member of the group of Jesus' followers) meant living exactly how Jesus lived, icludeing Jesus' lack of wealth. The rich young ruler's refusal to enter the Kingdom of Heaven did not mean that the rich young ruler couldn’t go to “heaven” when he died. It meant that he couldn’t be a disciple. The Kingdom of Heaven was the group of disciples who followed Jesus in order to learn how be like Jesus, emotionally, spiritually, economically and every other way. It would be impossible for a rich man to be like Jesus, without being willing to share his riches.
When Jesus says it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of God (Heaven), he is actually saying that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a person who's not willing to share his wealth to become a disciple.
Very few people have ever been disciples. Many have been saved, but few have been chosen to be disciples. In fact, if you or I were to say to one of Jesus' disciples, "I'm a disciple of Jesus," even Judas Iscariot woud laugh in our faces. Jesus only chooses as his disciples those who desire more than anything in the world to be like him. Others may be saved, but only those who are willing to mimic him in every way are chosen to be his disciples.
In all truth, I probably don't know a single disciple. Only those believers who live every moment, every occasion, and every situation as an imitator of Jesus who says, "Before I do or say anything, how would Jesus respond, what would Jesus say, what would he do in this situation" are disciples. Everyone else may be saved, but they are not disciples.
Most Christians don't know Jesus well enough to mimic his words, much less his life.
Forever learning,
Johnny
24 comments:
I believe my Dad is a true disciple...completely sold out and abandoned to be like Christ. But you're right, they are few and far bewteen.
Seems almost impossible to be a disciple in todays times. I am not saying it shoulden't be our goal though.
It's not our goal to become Jewish, but to be like Jesus. You bring up a valid point in saying that it's difficult today to be a disciple.
If imitating Jesus is to be humble, teach others the ways of God, love our enemies, bless others with the blessings God has given to us, eat with sinners, bless those who curse us, and forgive others for hurting us, then it is very difficult.
Ultimately to be a disciple means we have to love others and put their needs before our own. I don't know many people who really do that. I know people who care about the needs of others. I even know people who share in order to give to others who are in need. But I can't say that I know a single person who, like Jesus, would give up his desires so that another person can have his met. Nor do I know of a person who imitates Christ in all the areas mentioned above.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Well Johnny, perhaps we have set Jesus up to such a standard that no one, including him, could live up to it. As I recall, Jesus did not heal everyone he met or came across, he had clothes (even though there were certainly those around him or those he knew of that did not), and people died even when most of them probably didn't want to. So, did he really sacrifice all his desires and things for others or did he have lines in the sand like the rest of us. Perhaps his lines were a bit farther than mine, but they were lines none the less.
Great point, John. He did have a line. His line was the religious people of God, not the non-believers. Jesus went after God's children in order to bring them back to living in The Kingdom.
Contrary to many teachings of Christendom, Jesus did not go after the pagans, the Gentiles, nor did he go after anyone other than the lost sheep of Isreal, as prophesied in Hosea.
His line was drawn at bringing the 12 tribes back to being the people of God.
We have, however, been grafted in and are now on the other side of the line, which is also part of prophesy--the prophesy that Abraham is the father of many nations, not only the nation of Israel.
Jesus had definite lines and those lines served a purpose, the purpose of bringing God's people back to God.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
I think we may be on two issues. One is his mission and the other is what we expect from him and what God expects from us. I agree with your perspective of his mission, but Jason and Kathy seemed to be concerned with no one having the ability to truly follow as his disciple. You said,
"But I can't say that I know a single person who, like Jesus, would give up his desires so that another person can have his met. Nor do I know of a person who imitates Christ in all the areas mentioned above."
I was merely stating that I believe we have diefied and perfected Jesus to the extent that no one can follow him. I don't even think he could, do we really think that he said all he said, did all he did, and then left this earth knowing that on one could ever really be like him? Why do we try then? People leave the church in droves because we give the impression that one has to be perfect. I want a religion that is both mysterious and tangible.
In harmony,
John
Hey John,
Jesus said that we will do even greater things than he. I don't think that being like Jesus is intangible. I believe that we have so distorted the words and life of Jesus that we have made it unattainable in our own minds.
Jesus never intended to be more than we can be, as a man. He intended to model exactly what we can be as children of God doing God's will. That means that we have to be willing to put others first without neglecting ourselves as children of God. I say that because I believe that too often we think of ourselves as following God when we put ourselves through undue struggles in the name of Jesus. This is called asceticism and is not required by God. Jesus didn't torture himself or go naked in order to give clothes to others, though he did give up his life in the name of justice for others.
I agree with you, without argument, that many of us have created a Jesus that is unrealistic and not what God intended. I think that we think of Jesus as a person who would give up all his groceries to feed another family, all of his clothes to clothe the naked, all of his medicine to take care o the sick, et cetera. But that is not the life that God intends, lest we all go back to the world of asceticism, living in caves, not getting married, eating nearly nothing, wearing scratchy clothes, and not talking to other people all to prove our devotion to God; this was not the model of Jesus.
I love what Jim Rohn says about self-sacrifice. "Self-sacrifice is not honorable; self-investment is." If I sacrifice myself for others, then I drain myself of value and I am no good to anyone. If I invest in myself, then I become someone who adds value to the lives of everyone who interacts with me.
Jesus was a self-investor who brought value to the entire world.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Well said!!!!
Johnny, you are a gentleman and a scholar.
In harmony,
John
"Ultimately to be a disciple means we have to love others and put their needs before our own. I don't know many people who really do that."
So, are you saying that the 12 disciples of Jesus time were not true disciples at all?
Because even though they strived to be like Christ, when push came to shove they all put themselves before even Him. They fell asleep in the garden when he needed them, they ran and hid when he was arrested, the denied they even knew him...
I don't believe discipleship lies in constantly being identical to Christ because that would be perfection and none of us are perfect...I believe it lies in striving to be Christ-like...in the journey of trying desperatly to be like him inspite of our humaness.
I know many people who legitamately strive to be the kind of person who is like Christ in everyway and put others first...they all have messed it up on many occasions but the intention, heart and mission are in the right place. I consider those people disciples.
I know you are probably not saying this, but it sounds as though you're saying that discipleship is not possible.
I believe the earth is filled with disciples, desperatly trying to be like their Savior and I feel blessed to have met several of them. People who inspire me to be better.
Hey Kathy,
To be a disciple meant that a person lived with a rabbi for 15 years learning to imitate everything about that rabbi. When Jesus chose the 12, he chose them to live with him, not simply learn from him. The 12 had 3 short years to do what all other disciples had 15 years to become like their teacher. Jesus believed that they didn't need an entire life to begin imitating him. That doesn't mean that he believed they would never make mistakes or not be required to continually learn throughout their lives. It meant that Jesus doesn't expect us to live our whole lives and never be able to truly imitate him.
The 12 made mistakes, many mistakes and Jesus would eventually confront Peter on the shore, where he said, "If you love me, feed my sheep." Peter had stopped being like Jesus at that point and Jesus was saying, "Get back on track, Peter. Be like me."
Often we in the Western world decide that we want Jesus' words to mean what we read them to mean in English, when there is an entirely different perspective in the mind of Jesus. We want discipleship to be a one hour class on Wednesday nights, going to church, being nice to people, and obeying the basic commands, when real discipleship is a matter of constantly seeking the ways of Jesus in every aspect of our lives.
To be a disciple requires three things:
1. You cannot be a disciple alone. Disciples lived in communities of common faith, common occupation, common commitment to God, and mutual admonition of each other. Disciples are close communities of passionate Jesus imitators, not people who live completely separate lives and join each other for worship on Sunday.
2. You have to be a disciple maker. You can't spend your whole life getting to be like Jesus; you have to become a person who others want to imitate, because imitating you means imitating Jesus. You will make mistakes, but ultimately you are so dedicated to being like Jesus that you are worthy of being imitated.
3. Being a disciple is all about the text (Bible). It's the only way to know Jesus and how to be like him. “Hiding the Word in your heart” means knowing the text in your mind and heart, not simply reading the Bible occasionally and memorizing a few passages. Learning a few memory verses is not being a disciple; it's being a student. A student wants to know what the teacher knows so that he or she can pass the class. A disciple wants to be like the teacher. There is a huge difference.
The level of commitment required for being a disciple is not the same as being a part time volunteer who imitates Jesus in religious issues only; it is the commitment that a brain surgeon takes on before he ever has his first surgery. He is then expected to begin doing surgery like his teachers, not spend his life never having attained the ability.
How many Christians can we say are as equipped to be like Jesus in obeying and living out God's word as a brain surgeon is to perform surgery? Jesus did not give us an impossible task. He modeled the life that we should live and can live.
Forever learning,
Johnny
I completely agree with you. I had a feeling I was misreading you. Thanks for clearing that up.
I saw a bumper sticker:
"The truly educated never graduate."
There is truth in that.
I saw a bumper sticker that posed the question, "What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?"
Think on that one for a minute....
Hi Kathy.
Mel and I have been laughing and contemplating that all night.
Thanks for the bumper sticker philosophy!!
John
Take a perfectly good debate and turn it into a funny, fluffy, friendly conversation.
Heehee. Glad to be of service!
Hello Mr. Walker,
I will be happy to add to the subject of the kingdom of Heaven.
I hope to find time today. If not, I'll send you an email of an article from a great historian, scholar, theologian, and teacher.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Hey Bob,
I sent you that article via email.
I'm sure you will appreciate the insights.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Johnny,
Do you believe that the Kingdom Of Heaven exists in the form of an afterlife or is it Gods community on earth, or is it both?
Jason
Hey Jason,
The kingdom of Heaven or "malchut shamayim" , as Jesus spoke of it, was the people of God doing the will of God on earth. In most cases, this is what Jesus was referring to when he said things like, "To enter the kingdom of Heaven" or "the kingdom of Heaven is like." His group of disciples made up the kingdom of Heaven when they were teaching God's word and doing God's will.
There is an eschatological heaven or people of God doing the will of God in the future as well. This is when the earth is destroyed and recreated. Then the world will no longer contain the kingdom of God among other kingdoms. Earth will be "the" kingdom of God, because it will be the place where all people will be doing the will of God.
The reason Christ entered the world was to break open the way to the kingdom of Heaven. This means that, like a shepherd who keeps his sheep in a cave at night with the opening to the cave covered in rocks and in the morning begins taking down a few rocks, crawls through, and then all the sheep bust down the rest of the door of rocks, we are to follow after Jesus breaking through the world with the kingdom of God.
We are not supposed to wait on heaven. We are to introduce it to the world by imitating Jesus as we actively obey his teaching daily.
Jesus will be terribly disappointed when he comes and finds that so many of those who claim him as their Messiah have been waiting for heaven. To them he will say, "I never knew you."
In His dust,
Johnny
Jason,
Just for fun, get out your Bible and find all of the accounts where Jesus mentions the kingdom of Heaven. When you read them, imagine that Jesus is speaking of his group of followers, rather than a place of reward after death.
When you read it this way, you will begin to hear the words in the way those who were listening to Jesus at the time he spoke them understood the kingdom of Heaven.
Also, it's important to know that "eternal life" was an idiom for "a life of correctly living out the words and will of God." This is also a phrase that has been tarnished by the Western mindset of eschatology.
The kingdom of Heaven was made up of people who were correctly living out the word of God in their daily lives.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Bob,
An important cultural point that we must be aware of in order to understand this passage is that a person would move out of his home and live with the rabbi from the age of about 15 until he was 30 years old.
When Jesus called disciples, the expectation to live with him was no different, other than the fact that they would only be spending three years rather than the normal 15.
Most people believe that this was an unusual expectation, but all disciples left home to live with their rabbi. All "shmikahed" rabbis, known as Master-teachers or rabbis with authority who were the only rabbis with the privilege to have disciples believed that they were teaching the clear and correct interpretation of God's word, though each rabbi's yoke (interpretation) differed slightly from the others.
Jesus was saying that anyone who joins his group of followers will be living exactly as God's word (the Torah) intended; his yoke was the clear and perfect interpretation, which is why following him was synonymous with inheriting eternal life (living in God's will).
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Johnny,
I love the forever learning thing.
can I use that too or is it trademarked?
Feel free to use it.
Blessings,
Johnny
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