Sunday, April 10

Jesus said to Peter the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” John 21:17-19

Theme for the Week: The Truth about Discipleship and the Great Commission

Who is a disciple? A disciple is one who trusts Jesus for everything, whose faith in him is a response of the whole person to overwhelming divine love. A disciple leaves all to follow Jesus. Jesus explains it to the crowd around him: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." The decision to become a disciple of Jesus has eternal consequences.

What, then is discipleship? Discipleship can be defined as the relationship we stand in with Jesus Christ in order that we might take on his character. As disciples we learn from him how to live life under his rule as he helps us live our lives. In language perhaps familiar to you from the Rite I Eucharistic Prayer, we enter into a relationship such that he may dwell in us and we in him. For the disciple of Jesus, the relationship between follower and Master is intimate. The natural outcome is that our thinking and behavior are transformed. We no longer live for ourselves but for him who lived and died for us. We become his witnesses. Increasingly we routinely do the things he told us to do, as his words, actions, and character express themselves through us.

Consumer Christianity is almost the opposite of discipleship. Consumer Christianity leaves our character—our thinking and our behavior—unchanged. Consumer Christians are concerned with receiving benefits from Christ. Salvation means going to heaven eventually, biding our time unmoved by the call of Jesus to follow him in this life before we die. Living in the kingdom of God is a future benefit rather than an immediate reality and requirement. Consumer Christians do not give their innermost thoughts, feelings, and intentions over to Jesus, but routinely live lives of greed, impatience, and fear. Unfortunately, Consumer Christianity has become the default system of Christian identity in the Western world. In Consumer Christianity you can be a Christian forever and never become a disciple. Think of Consumer Christianity as receiving rather than giving.

By contrast, true disciples of Jesus care about what happens in between their conversion and their death. They are guided and directed by the last words of Jesus before he ascended into heaven. These words are known as the Great Commission: Jesus came and said to [his disciples], "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20).

There are three essentials Jesus commands his followers in the Great Commission: First, make new disciples who will follow and walk with him in his kingdom. Jesus does not say to build churches and wait for others to come but to be proactive and go to the lost. When we go to the lost and reach out to the hurting and dying, we can be assured that Jesus has been there before us, preparing the fields for harvest. Second, baptize these new followers in the Trinitarian name of God. Baptism symbolizes what salvation and sanctification are, the dying to our old life of sin (going under the water) and the rising to a new life (coming out of the water) that reflects that of our Master as we grow and mature in our new life of faith. We are born again into a new life in Christ and then we mature in him, becoming more like him as we walk with him and other disciples in his kingdom. And third, teach these disciples to do everything Jesus taught. This is Jesus’ plan for spreading the gospel by making more and more disciples. Teaching is therefore a core ministry of the Church and of individual disciples.

Unfortunately, many Christians think the Great Commission is something they can opt out of, if they consider it seriously at all. It is probably the ministry of someone else. Others are supposed to do this. We do not tend to think of it as what has already been done for us and that Great Commission ministry is to be continuous. As disciples, Jesus calls us to go and to grow and to teach.

Perhaps the greatest example of a disciple in the New Testament is the Apostle Paul. Paul understood that Jesus sent him out into the world as his ambassador. Ambassadors are sent into foreign countries as representatives of their leader. Ambassadors do not represent their own positions and standards but those of who sent them. As ambassadors, disciples are called to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We have a responsibility to our Master to grow, but because he proactively calls us, he has a responsibility to help us. He does not leave us alone as orphans to grow by ourselves but blesses us with his Spirit. Jesus told his disciples not to worry that the Holy Spirit would equip and accompany them as they obeyed his commandments. In fact, Jesus told his disciples that if they obeyed his commandment, he and the Father would come and take up residence with them. Jesus explains this to his disciples in John, Chapters 14-16.

During this week, we will look at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.