July
While he was on earth Jesus chose a number of people to be his
disciples. They were quite a mixed bunch. Several of them were fishermen, including
the down-to-earth Simon Peter and the young man called John, who thought deeply
and was perhaps a bit of a dreamer. There was a tax collector and a political
activist. And besides the twelve men there were a number of women too. Mary
Magdalene may be the best known, and perhaps we should include Jesus’ mother
amongst them as well.
But that was long ago. Can we be Jesus’ disciples today?
The word “disciple” basically means a pupil. This group of people
travelled around with Jesus, learning what he had to teach. They found that
what he said was so important, and gave such meaning to their lives, that it
was worth the discomfort of travelling around the country with him, picking
up all the gems that dropped from his lips.
Being a disciple today must involve wanting to learn from Jesus. I do recommend
trying to learn from Jesus. His words are profound. Some of them are easy to
understand, but there are others where it will take a lifetime to absorb all
that they mean. Helping us to take these in is, of course, one of the purposes
of the Church.
But there is a more important side of being a disciple than this. Those first
disciples had been ordinary people, going about their daily lives, until Jesus
met them. Then he said to them “Come, follow me.” They left what
they were doing, not just to travel with him, but to learn to live as he lived.
That meant living a life of caring for others and obedience to God. It meant
giving up all thought of personal gain. It meant being willing to make sacrifices
for the sake of doing good to others. It short, it meant taking on Jesus’ way
of life for themselves.
Being a disciple today must mean much the same. It means trying to live as
Jesus’ lived, putting into practice the principles he taught. Of course,
none of us are perfect and we don’t live up to it, but that is the goal.
A few weeks ago in our church a group of people were confirmed by the Bishop — those
who had been baptized as children taking on for themselves the promises that
had then been made on their behalf. By doing so, they were saying that they
wanted to be disciples of Jesus today. They were looking for his strength to
enable them to follow where he led.
He says to each of us “Come, follow me”, and we can all make the
decision to do so. How about it?
Your Rector,
David