Explaining Discipleship

Explaining Discipleship

A disciple is somebody who wants to learn from and follow another. In

the New Testament, the word disciple was used to describe the

followers of Jesus, the twelve in particular. There are still

disciples in the world today who lead lives following God and

spreading His word. Examples of these people who we call modern day

disciples are Jean Vanier and John Paul II.

In Mark's gospel, we learn that faith is an important aspect of

discipleship. Faith is the belief or trust that we put into someone or

something completely. We see the significance of faith in discipleship

when it is referred to in the gospel. The commission 16: 14-15 tells

us that when Jesus appeared to the twelve disciples once when they

were eating and "…He scolded them because they did not have faith and

were too stubborn to believe." This shows to us as Christians that to

be a good disciple you must have faith. Another illustration of the

importance of faith comes in the story of the epileptic boy 9: 23-24

where Jesus says to the boy's father "…Everything is possible for the

person who has faith..." This suggests that if faith is complete in a

person then they can achieve anything.

Another point about discipleship that we are taught in Mark's gospel

is service. This means that disciples of Jesus should give up their

time to help and serve others. We see the value of service to

discipleship in the gospel when Jesus replies to the request of James

and John 10: 43-44. He tells them "… if one of you wants to be great

then you must be the servant of the rest, and if one of you wants to

be first, he must be the slave of all." Jesus shows the importance of

service as he leads by example 'for even the son of man came to serve

and not to be served' (10: 45). This tells us that we must help and

put others first before ourselves to be a true disciple. Another