"On The Way With Jesus: What Does God Expect Of Us?"
What it means to be a disciple.
Sermon Preached by
The Reverend J.W. David McMaster
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Text: Mark 10:46-52
If we answer the question, “Can we know God?” affirmatively, as we did in last week's sermon, the next question before us ought to be, “What does God expect from us?”
What does God expect from us? Perhaps, a partial answer is given to us in Jesus' parting words to his followers in Matthew's Gospel: “Go, therefore, into all the world and make disciples…”(28:19).
Jesus did not say, “Go, encourage people to believe in me,” or “Go, enrol as many people in church programs as possible.” He said to his disciples, “Go, therefore, and make disciples.” What has been called Christ's Great Commission asks disciples to make disciples.
But is that what the Church at large is doing? Dallas Willard, Professor of Philosophy at The University of Southern California, says, “There is an obvious great disparity between, on the one hand, the hope for life expressed in Jesus - found real in the Bible and in many shining examples from among his followers - and, on the other hand, the actual day-to-day behaviour, inner life and social presence of most of those who now profess adherence to him.”
In today's church, a person can believe and do little else; a person can affirm God and Jesus, and do little other than attend a pew. Professor Howard Snyder speaks of a church that is too comfortable. It is “tranquillized, …institutionalized, …secularized,” and quite out of step with the radical call of Jesus,” he says. We have forgotten about the discipleship that God expects of us.
Our scripture reading has Jesus in Jericho, en route to Jerusalem and his appointment with a cross. As he and his disciples were leaving the town, a blind man, Bartimaeus, heard that Jesus was there and began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mk.10:47)!
“Be quiet!” the people around him said.
But he cried out even more until Jesus heard him and called him over. He sprang up from where he was seated and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” asked Jesus, to which Bartimaeus replied, “Lord, let me see again.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has made you well.”
It would probably be just another healing story in the Gospels except, in this instance, we are told the man's name: Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. Perhaps his was a notable case because he was known in the early church at the time the gospel tradition was being handed down. But this healing story is also notable because of Bartimaeus's insistence. He wasn't going to take “No” for an answer. He shouted out, and shouted out to the Lord to be heard, even when told not to. He was insistent.
We can note, too, how when Jesus called him, he responded immediately. Unlike those who would say, “Lord, hold on until I milk the goat,” or “Lord, hold on until I do something with my family, I'll be right with you,” Bartimaeus sprang up immediately and came to Jesus. But, perhaps most of all, we should note that unlike most who had been healed by Jesus, Bartimaeus was so moved by what Jesus had done that after he regained his sight, he “followed him on the way” (v.52).
You may recall the story in Luke's Gospel (17:11-19) of the healing of the 10 lepers and Jesus' surprise when only one of the lepers, a Samaritan of all people, came back praising God and to say “Thank you.” Of all those whom Jesus healed, only Bartimaeus is said to be so moved that he “followed Jesus on the way.” In other words, Bartimaeus joined the band of disciples around Jesus and became a disciple himself - the very thing that God expects of us.
What does it mean to follow Jesus and be his disciple? I was actually astonished at how much digging I had to do to get a good definition for the word “disciple.” After looking at a few dictionaries, I finally found one entry that included the words, “training” and “teaching.” It was an 1897 Bible dictionary that spells out what disciples actually look like - it states that a disciple is, “a scholar, sometimes applied to the followers of John the Baptist (Matt. 9:14), and of the Pharisees (22:16), but principally to the followers of Christ. A disciple of Christ is one who (1) believes his doctrine, (2) rests on his sacrifice, (3) imbibes his spirit, and (4) imitates his example” (Matt. 10:24; Luke 14:26, 27, 33; John 6:69).
In the days of Jesus, discipleship was actually quite simple. A person who was a disciple followed a teacher around and, as it were, entered into his academy, became an apprentice. He went everywhere with him and imbibed all that he did and taught. People like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates had disciples. In Judaea, individual rabbis had disciples. Saul, the Pharisee, who became the apostle Paul, for instance, said he sat at the feet of Rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem. It was no different for those who took to Jesus. He was their rabbi and they went with him everywhere he went and they heard what he had to say and teach. Sometimes he taught publicly, as he did from a boat to a crowd at the beach on the shores of Galilee. Sometimes he taught privately to his inner circle as they drew away from the crowds, and he explained to them his parables. It is very likely that his followers memorized his teaching, and they were charged with adhering to it, making it a part of themselves, even if they did not always understand it. They were truly to love the Lord their God with all their heart, their soul and their strength, and to love their neighbour as themselves.
They not only heard his teaching, followers of Jesus also observed his behaviour. Jewish tradition had it that there was not only teaching in what a rabbi said, but also teaching in how a rabbi lived. The disciples saw Jesus laugh, work and play. They saw him model spirituality as he frequently drew aside from the busy-ness of his ministry to recharge. He would go up into the hills to rest and to pray and reconnect with his heavenly Father whom he served (Mt.14:23, 26:36; Mk.6:46).
Followers of Jesus also observed his life of service to others. They witnessed how he cared for and helped others, how he brought healing and made people's lives whole.
But perhaps, more than all these things, the disciples were there to see their master walk up a hill outside Jerusalem bearing a heavy cross. They watched him suffer. They watched as he was nailed to that cross. They looked on as he gave himself up that others would have forgiveness and life. And perhaps it was only then that they understood his words: “If you will follow me and be my disciple, you must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me” (Mk.8:34). It may not have been until after the cross that they understood fully what he had said about losing one's life in order to save it (8:35). It was perhaps only then that they really understood what he said about being slaves and servants of all (10:44). And later, as they went out on their own missions on his behalf, one by one, many of his disciples did indeed deny themselves and they met crosses of their own for the sake of the gospel. One by one, they went out, and the church was built on the blood of the martyrs. Discipleship, you see, was a lot more than sitting in the synagogues and listening.
That was then. What about now? What does it mean to be a disciple today? As followers of Jesus now, we do not have the luxury of literally following Jesus on the way as Bartimaeus did, but I think that it is safe to say that God would want to see in us the same priorities and intentions - the same heart, the same inner attitudes - that the disciples of old had. He would want us, when we come to him, to begin to learn of him through Jesus Christ. He would want us observing, through the Gospels, what Jesus was like, how he taught, how he lived a life that was engaged, but then drew apart to be with his heavenly Father. He would want us to observe his life of service that made others whole and to observe the sacrifice he made that the world may have life. And as we observe, he would want us to follow, to learn, to imitate him with our lives so that he might live in us and through us.
One of Jesus' parables illustrates clearly that following is about living as he lived. He said that the one who comes after him and hears his words and puts them into practice is like the wise man who built his house upon a rock. And when a flood came and the torrent struck, the house did not shake because it was built on a solid foundation, on a rock. But those who hear his words and do not put them into practice are like the foolish persons who build their houses upon sand, so that when the floods come and the torrents strike, they collapse and their destruction is complete (Lk.6:46-49). God wants us to observe all that Jesus did and taught, but more, he would have us learn, put into practice and go out and live like him in the midst of the world.
I think if we, as individuals, were to read the Gospels again, and truly read them with the intent to learn and follow, we would find that this call to discipleship is a radical, radical call. It is a call that, if followed, would shake the world and probably the church. We could not continue with business as usual. It would change our very beings and everything around us.
That's one of the things, I fear, that the church has lost - a sense that the Christ event is life-changing. We have settled for a church that is life-enhancing rather than life-changing. We've lost the power of the gospel. We've become more consumers of religion than disciples of Jesus Christ ready to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him. And perhaps in making Christianity so light, we have failed to challenge not only ourselves but a whole generation that has turned away from church. I don't know how many people I talk to who lament that their children will not bother with church. They do not come any more. Perhaps indeed we have made it all too easy, too light, too insignificant. But what Jesus really lay before us is challenging, life-altering, discipleship.
Personally, I have been moved by the example of true love and discipleship that has been modelled for us by the Amish people in Lancaster, PA in recent weeks. Not long ago one of their number took a gun and slaughtered a number of children in a schoolhouse before turning the gun on himself. They say that he had psychological issues, but he has left many families hurting and bereaved, and his own in shock. The community has asked for privacy to deal with its grief, but in the midst of it, we know that they are not only reaching out to those who have lost their little ones, but also to the wife and family of the man who took those precious lives and then his own. When a collection was gathered by many Americans for the bereaved families, the Amish people insisted that it not only go to the families of the dead children but also in equal portion to the family of the perpetrator, which was grieving in another way.
I would put before you that the Amish people have learned from Jesus and they are following him on the way. It is not always an easy path, it is the way of love. It can, at times, be the way of the cross, but that is what God asks of those who would turn to him. He wants us to be prepared for the good and the bad, to love no matter what occurs. He wants us to follow him on the highways and the byways of life. He wants us to follow in our workplaces and in our schools. He wants us to follow when we are out on the road and when we are at home. He wants us to follow on the good days and on the bad. He wants to see us walk in the footsteps of Jesus, being disciples and making disciples as we model for others what he taught, how he lived, how he prayed and how he helped others to wholeness. May God help all of us “on the way.”
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.