What is a Disciple?
From Luke 5
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid, from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”
----Luke 5:10,11
Jesus is a Jewish Rabbi with Jewish disciples living in a first century Jewish world.
Jesus grew up in a region called Galilee and the Jews in Gallilee believed God had spoken to one of their religious leaders, Moses, and had given him the first five books of the Bible, they called these books Torah.
Torah means teaching, instruction or the “Way”. The Torah was the foundation, the center of their lives and it was the focus of their educational system. So most Jewish boys would go to school for the first time to learn the Torah around the age of six.
It would probably be held in the local synagogue and be taught by a local Torah teacher who was a rabbi.
This first level of education was called Bate Safair.
In Bate Safair, most kids would begin memorizing the Torah-- and by the age of 10 have the Torah by heart.
Hold up the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy memorized!
I remember standing in line to recite my memory verse in front of the church and being so nervous to speak. I’d stand in front of the microphone and whisper “Jesus wept.”
By the end of Bate Safair most kids were no longer going to school. They were apprenticing; or learning the family trade.
Today, We think of going to a university or technical school for career preparation. For us, career preparations involve decisions and an overwhelming number of options and choices for schooling.
In the ancient world, the majority had no choices and only one decision.
"Dad worked as a potter until he died. I will work as a potter until I die. And so shall my sons."
In the Ancient world, sons perpetuated the livelihoods of their fathers. Therefore you find James and John the Sons of Zebedee. Zebedee was a fishermen. Joseph was believed to be a carpenter or builder of some type—Jesus called the carpenter son.
For the few who could pursue an education,--the gifted ones, the route was be a disciple.
They would continue their education into the next level which was called Bet Talmud.
In Bet Talmud, the best of the best who were still going because of their natural abilities, would memorize the rest of the Hebrew scriptures. Genesis through Malachi…memorized.
Now by the end of Bet Talmud, 14,15 possibly most kids are learning the family business, learning the family trade, apprenticing with their parents.
But the best of the best of the best would continue on to the next level of education which was called Bate Midrash.
They would go to a rabbi and they would apply to that rabbi to become one of his disciples—explain the idea of ‘disciple’.
Most of us associate the word "disciples" only with the twelve men Jesus selected [invited] to follow him during his earthly ministry.
Jesus did not create the concept of a teacher and his disciples. Nor did this concept begin in Israelite history/culture. The disciple method/concept of education originated centuries before Jesus' birth in non-Jewish cultures.
The concept signified the pupils of a teacher. For example, notable Greek philosophers had disciples. Plato was a direct disciple of Socrates. Aristotle was a disciple of Plato.
Just as we are familiar with school buildings that house teachers and students, the ancient world was familiar with the teacher/disciple method of education.
Seeing a teacher followed by a group of disciples did not astound people in Jesus' lifetime. It was a common means for educating successors even in Jewish society. In Jesus' day, the teacher/disciple relationship was a well known, recognized, old form of teaching.
Now when we hear the word disciple, we think of student or someone who knows what the teacher knows. But a disciple is deeper than that.
A disciple wants to be like the teacher and wants to learn to do what the rabbi does.
Now rabbis differed in how they interpreted the Torah. They would take like a command or a verse and say, “This is what it means to interpret this command or this verse.” But another rabbi might say, “No, I think it means something slightly different.”
And so different rabbis had different sets of interpretations about how they lived out and how they understood and applied the scriptures.
Now a rabbis set of interpretations was called that rabbis ‘yoke’.
So when you went to a rabbi and applied to by one of his disciples, what you wanted to do, is you wanted to take that rabbi’s yoke upon you so you could learn to know what the rabbi knows in order to do what the rabbi does in order to be like the rabbi.
So you would go to a rabbi and say, “Rabbi, I want to become one of your disciples.” The rabbi would then grill you and ask you all types of questions about the Torah, about the prophets, questions about the oral traditions—because the rabbi wants to know ‘can this kid sit in front of me? Can this kid do what I do? Can this kid spread my yoke? Does this kid have what it takes?
And so the rabbi would fire off all these questions and finally assess the applicant. And he might say, “you know it’s obvious you love God and you love the Torah, but you don’t have what it takes to be my disciple.”
And so he might say, “Go and continue learning the family trade, you’re a farmer, not a disciple of mine.”
But if the rabbi thought the kid has it takes, the rabbi would say to the kid,
“Come, follow me.”
So as a teenager, you would leave your family, your friends, your synagogue and you would devote your entire life to being like your rabbi. Learning to do what your rabbi does.
This is what it means to be a disciple.
So a rabbi comes to town and he’s got like a pack of disciples following him and their doing everything they can to keep up with him because they devoted their lives to him.
So by the end of the day, if you are a disciple traveling with your rabbi along these hot, dusty roads, you’ve got whatever your rabbi stepped in covering all over the front of you. So this saying developed among the wise men and the sages, they would say to the rabbi,
You would say, “May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.”
All of this has major implications as we try to understand Jesus because most rabbis would begin their teaching around the age of 30 and here we find in Matthew 4 Jesus walking along the sea of Galilee and he comes upon Peter and Andrew and he says to them, “Come follow me.”
Well if they’re fisherman then that means that they are not following another rabbi. And if they are not following another rabbi, then they are not the best of the best…they didn’t make the cut.
Then the text goes on and says they dropped their nets at once at followed him.
Describe traditional dramatizations (Robotic weirdness)
But if you understand it in context it starts to make sense.
I mean rabbis are some of the most respected figures in Jewish society, they are the best of the best of the best, otherwise they would not be rabbis.
And here this rabbi walks down the beach and says to you, “come follow me.”
And what he’s really saying is I think you could do what I do… “You can be like me.”
Of course you’d drop your nets and follow him.
And the text goes on and we see Jesus comes to James and John who are with their father Zebedee.
They are learning the family trade.
If they are learning the family trade, then they are not following a rabbi. And so they are the ones who didn’t make the cut they were the ones who would follow their father’s footsteps.
But Jesus comes and calls them to be his disciples.
Why these run of the mill, nothing flashy fishermen to become the disciples of Almighty God on earth!
Jesus could have gone to any synagogue and entered the house of study in order to find the best of the best disciples who spent hours studying his word and even slept in the house of study; surely they would prove more qualified to be his disciples.
These disciples whom Jesus will call have no idea what they are getting into. They don’t know what lies ahead—they can’t imagine the future. However, one thing about each of the twelve—they were willing.
***Willing to leave the comfort of being in control of their lives.
***Willing to leave familiar surroundings
***Willing to leave the security of employment in order to follow this Jesus, trusting He would provide.
***Willing to depart from family they had grown up with in order to cling to Jesus.
These men, if they were anything, they were willing.
And we can appreciate this quality, can’t we?
Because each of us who have proclaimed to be disciples of Jesus have known the secret fears that come with that decision.
What will my friends think?
What if I mess up and embarrass God?
What if I mess up and embarrass myself?
Is God going to truly take care of me if I choose to leave a job because what I’m involved in isn’t pleasing to God?
Is God going to provide for me if I choose to leave this dating relationship because my girlfriend/boyfriend isn’t interested in being a disciple?
If I live like a disciple and give God the first-fruits of my income, will my finances hold out till the end of the month?
If I live like a disciple and I step out in faith and begin a ministry in church or agree to help in a ministry, will God provide me with the strength and the resources necessary to succeed?
You see all of these questions, doubts, and fears are normal and to be expected in fact sometimes I reread OT accounts of people God used to do amazing things but they were riddled and racked with doubt, fears, and insecurities.
Consider: Jeremiah and Moses
Jeremiah 1:4
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
Before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
“Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
Moses
Exodus 3:4
“When the Lord God saw that he had gone over to look , God called to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
3:10
So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharoah to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.?”
And God said, “I will be with you.”
May you be encouraged knowing Christ Jesus called soiled fishermen rather than the “professional religious students” of the day—He called those who were willing to follow, trust, and learn from Him—just as they were.
Are you following Him as a mere student of a book or as a disciple of the Lord? God bless you this week!
From Luke 5
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid, from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”
----Luke 5:10,11
Jesus is a Jewish Rabbi with Jewish disciples living in a first century Jewish world.
Jesus grew up in a region called Galilee and the Jews in Gallilee believed God had spoken to one of their religious leaders, Moses, and had given him the first five books of the Bible, they called these books Torah.
Torah means teaching, instruction or the “Way”. The Torah was the foundation, the center of their lives and it was the focus of their educational system. So most Jewish boys would go to school for the first time to learn the Torah around the age of six.
It would probably be held in the local synagogue and be taught by a local Torah teacher who was a rabbi.
This first level of education was called Bate Safair.
In Bate Safair, most kids would begin memorizing the Torah-- and by the age of 10 have the Torah by heart.
Hold up the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy memorized!
I remember standing in line to recite my memory verse in front of the church and being so nervous to speak. I’d stand in front of the microphone and whisper “Jesus wept.”
By the end of Bate Safair most kids were no longer going to school. They were apprenticing; or learning the family trade.
Today, We think of going to a university or technical school for career preparation. For us, career preparations involve decisions and an overwhelming number of options and choices for schooling.
In the ancient world, the majority had no choices and only one decision.
"Dad worked as a potter until he died. I will work as a potter until I die. And so shall my sons."
In the Ancient world, sons perpetuated the livelihoods of their fathers. Therefore you find James and John the Sons of Zebedee. Zebedee was a fishermen. Joseph was believed to be a carpenter or builder of some type—Jesus called the carpenter son.
For the few who could pursue an education,--the gifted ones, the route was be a disciple.
They would continue their education into the next level which was called Bet Talmud.
In Bet Talmud, the best of the best who were still going because of their natural abilities, would memorize the rest of the Hebrew scriptures. Genesis through Malachi…memorized.
Now by the end of Bet Talmud, 14,15 possibly most kids are learning the family business, learning the family trade, apprenticing with their parents.
But the best of the best of the best would continue on to the next level of education which was called Bate Midrash.
They would go to a rabbi and they would apply to that rabbi to become one of his disciples—explain the idea of ‘disciple’.
Most of us associate the word "disciples" only with the twelve men Jesus selected [invited] to follow him during his earthly ministry.
Jesus did not create the concept of a teacher and his disciples. Nor did this concept begin in Israelite history/culture. The disciple method/concept of education originated centuries before Jesus' birth in non-Jewish cultures.
The concept signified the pupils of a teacher. For example, notable Greek philosophers had disciples. Plato was a direct disciple of Socrates. Aristotle was a disciple of Plato.
Just as we are familiar with school buildings that house teachers and students, the ancient world was familiar with the teacher/disciple method of education.
Seeing a teacher followed by a group of disciples did not astound people in Jesus' lifetime. It was a common means for educating successors even in Jewish society. In Jesus' day, the teacher/disciple relationship was a well known, recognized, old form of teaching.
Now when we hear the word disciple, we think of student or someone who knows what the teacher knows. But a disciple is deeper than that.
A disciple wants to be like the teacher and wants to learn to do what the rabbi does.
Now rabbis differed in how they interpreted the Torah. They would take like a command or a verse and say, “This is what it means to interpret this command or this verse.” But another rabbi might say, “No, I think it means something slightly different.”
And so different rabbis had different sets of interpretations about how they lived out and how they understood and applied the scriptures.
Now a rabbis set of interpretations was called that rabbis ‘yoke’.
So when you went to a rabbi and applied to by one of his disciples, what you wanted to do, is you wanted to take that rabbi’s yoke upon you so you could learn to know what the rabbi knows in order to do what the rabbi does in order to be like the rabbi.
So you would go to a rabbi and say, “Rabbi, I want to become one of your disciples.” The rabbi would then grill you and ask you all types of questions about the Torah, about the prophets, questions about the oral traditions—because the rabbi wants to know ‘can this kid sit in front of me? Can this kid do what I do? Can this kid spread my yoke? Does this kid have what it takes?
And so the rabbi would fire off all these questions and finally assess the applicant. And he might say, “you know it’s obvious you love God and you love the Torah, but you don’t have what it takes to be my disciple.”
And so he might say, “Go and continue learning the family trade, you’re a farmer, not a disciple of mine.”
But if the rabbi thought the kid has it takes, the rabbi would say to the kid,
“Come, follow me.”
So as a teenager, you would leave your family, your friends, your synagogue and you would devote your entire life to being like your rabbi. Learning to do what your rabbi does.
This is what it means to be a disciple.
So a rabbi comes to town and he’s got like a pack of disciples following him and their doing everything they can to keep up with him because they devoted their lives to him.
So by the end of the day, if you are a disciple traveling with your rabbi along these hot, dusty roads, you’ve got whatever your rabbi stepped in covering all over the front of you. So this saying developed among the wise men and the sages, they would say to the rabbi,
You would say, “May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.”
All of this has major implications as we try to understand Jesus because most rabbis would begin their teaching around the age of 30 and here we find in Matthew 4 Jesus walking along the sea of Galilee and he comes upon Peter and Andrew and he says to them, “Come follow me.”
Well if they’re fisherman then that means that they are not following another rabbi. And if they are not following another rabbi, then they are not the best of the best…they didn’t make the cut.
Then the text goes on and says they dropped their nets at once at followed him.
Describe traditional dramatizations (Robotic weirdness)
But if you understand it in context it starts to make sense.
I mean rabbis are some of the most respected figures in Jewish society, they are the best of the best of the best, otherwise they would not be rabbis.
And here this rabbi walks down the beach and says to you, “come follow me.”
And what he’s really saying is I think you could do what I do… “You can be like me.”
Of course you’d drop your nets and follow him.
And the text goes on and we see Jesus comes to James and John who are with their father Zebedee.
They are learning the family trade.
If they are learning the family trade, then they are not following a rabbi. And so they are the ones who didn’t make the cut they were the ones who would follow their father’s footsteps.
But Jesus comes and calls them to be his disciples.
Why these run of the mill, nothing flashy fishermen to become the disciples of Almighty God on earth!
Jesus could have gone to any synagogue and entered the house of study in order to find the best of the best disciples who spent hours studying his word and even slept in the house of study; surely they would prove more qualified to be his disciples.
These disciples whom Jesus will call have no idea what they are getting into. They don’t know what lies ahead—they can’t imagine the future. However, one thing about each of the twelve—they were willing.
***Willing to leave the comfort of being in control of their lives.
***Willing to leave familiar surroundings
***Willing to leave the security of employment in order to follow this Jesus, trusting He would provide.
***Willing to depart from family they had grown up with in order to cling to Jesus.
These men, if they were anything, they were willing.
And we can appreciate this quality, can’t we?
Because each of us who have proclaimed to be disciples of Jesus have known the secret fears that come with that decision.
What will my friends think?
What if I mess up and embarrass God?
What if I mess up and embarrass myself?
Is God going to truly take care of me if I choose to leave a job because what I’m involved in isn’t pleasing to God?
Is God going to provide for me if I choose to leave this dating relationship because my girlfriend/boyfriend isn’t interested in being a disciple?
If I live like a disciple and give God the first-fruits of my income, will my finances hold out till the end of the month?
If I live like a disciple and I step out in faith and begin a ministry in church or agree to help in a ministry, will God provide me with the strength and the resources necessary to succeed?
You see all of these questions, doubts, and fears are normal and to be expected in fact sometimes I reread OT accounts of people God used to do amazing things but they were riddled and racked with doubt, fears, and insecurities.
Consider: Jeremiah and Moses
Jeremiah 1:4
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
Before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
“Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
Moses
Exodus 3:4
“When the Lord God saw that he had gone over to look , God called to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
3:10
So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharoah to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.?”
And God said, “I will be with you.”
May you be encouraged knowing Christ Jesus called soiled fishermen rather than the “professional religious students” of the day—He called those who were willing to follow, trust, and learn from Him—just as they were.
Are you following Him as a mere student of a book or as a disciple of the Lord? God bless you this week!
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