My hope is that through this sharing, each of us would understand, appreciate and be changed by the knowledge of how extensive the love of Christ is towards each of us. That in that knowledge, we might all be convinced that without exception the Lord has demonstrated His love for us so that no matter what circumstance or situation faces us through the journey of our lives, we may anchor our faith in His love. My prayer is that we might at no occasion doubt his unwavering pursuit for us.
My second thought of no less import is that we may because of our understanding of his love for us may be moved and decide to obey Him. My hope is that we may also pursue him relentlessly and seek Him at every occasion because of the amazing and awesome revelation of the extent of his love for us. I still hold to the thought that obedience is the highest form of worship but only comes successfully through a true understanding of His love for us.
The Rabbi
A Rabbi was a respected fellow. He had gone through all the stages of education that existed in the day. He was well schooled and a man of means. A lot of families hoped that at least one of their sons would be a Rabbi. It would bring the family prestige. In the present day perhaps we may compare that to a doctor.
Jesus was a Rabbi
The Disciple
A disciple is one who followed a Rabbi.
For one to be a disciple in the days that Jesus walked on the earth as a man, you had to have gone through today’s equivalent of preschool, primary, secondary and university. It was the destiny of a very small group of people. It was not a common thing to be chosen as a disciple.
The objective of being a disciple was to be exactly like the Rabbi. They learnt to think and reason on things concerning the Torah/the word of God just as the Rabbi did. Disciples imitated their Rabbi. Nothing else was as important as following the Rabbi. Family life and any other business were secondary. The Rabbi and the disciple had a very intense relationship. The disciple followed the Rabbi a lot of times without even knowing where the Rabbi was going. He had faith that wherever they were going was for his learning. So the 3 things that were the duty of the Disciple were to (1) Watch, (2) Listen and (3) imitate whatever the Rabbi was doing. Their focus was on the Rabbi.
The objective of this intense exercise was that after a number of years the Disciple was to be like the Rabbi. When the Rabbi was convinced that the Disciple was prepared, he would then release him to go out and make disciples i.e. make others who would be just like the Rabbi(original Rabbi). It was a very exciting time when a Disciple finally got to that point because it meant then that it was actually possible to be like the Rabbi.
Notes to Remember
- That the Rabbi was a very respected individual in the community and every young man in the town wanted to be a Rabbi.
- It was very difficult to be selected as a disciple and many students were turned away by Rabbis. In most cases it was the disciple that sort after the Rabbi he admired and asked to be his disciple.
- Rabbis were also people of reasonable wealth.
JESUS CHOSE HIS DISCIPLES
Jesus was a Rabbi and He was acknowledged by other Rabbis to have great insight and understanding of the Torah. He was the only Rabbi who had not been a disciple under another teacher. Yet many of the Pharisees addressed him as Rabbi. However, he did not choose his disciples in the conventional way. Whereas disciples would go out and request to follow a certain Rabbi they admired, instead, Jesus went out to call his disciples to follow him.
He chose those who had dropped out of primary school and secondary school. He chose common people in the market place. He chose those who were considered low class and vulgar. He chose even those who were known to be corrupt and swindlers of the poor (Matthew). Jesus chose them on what He knew their potential to be. He went out to the market place and told them to follow him and they did.
Can you imagine someone telling you to come and follow him and you just drop everything (livelihood, family) and follow him? What made them do it? It was an honour to be singled out by a Rabbi to be his disciple. It is the equivalent of being called to a prestigious university to study where many people long to go but cannot make it because of the money you require and the grades you need to attain to be accepted. With no questions asked, they dropped everything and followed Jesus.
Today, Jesus still chooses those who had been rejected by society. Those that you and I think are of no value to the society. In fact today, Jesus chooses all who want to follow Him. It does not matter whether you are a person of great means or not. Does not matter what family background you come from. It doesn’t matter your level of education. Jesus came for you and chose you. Let us try and internalize that. His love for us must be so awesome and great. He created us so He has loved us. He knows our potential and if we just lay our lives at His feet and follow him, He promises to get us to the glory/purpose He created us for.
JESUS WENT TO THE MARKET PLACE AND HE IS COME TO US TODAY. IN OUR CURRENT STRUCTURE HE COMES TO US. EVEN FOR THOSE WHO ARE MEETING UNDER A TREE, HE GOES TO WHERE THEY ARE SO LONG US THEY WANT TO FOLLOW HIM AND ARE MEETING IN HIS NAME. HE IS ABLE TO CHANGE AND REVOLUTIONIZE OUR LIVES FOR HIS GLORY. WHAT OUGHT TO BE OUR RESPONSE TO SUCH A LOVE.
ON THE OTHER SIDE
Mark 4:35 – 41, Mark 5: 1 – 20
Please note the phrase in this text – “Let us go to the other side”
On the other side was a Decapolis. A Decapolis is an area with 10 cities. We are told that there were 7 tribes in this particular Decapolis. They were not Jews. In this instance these cities seem to have been inhabited by people who were considered heathen by the Israelites. We know again from history that these particular people held the pig up as a sacred animal that was sacrificed to their gods. The area was under Roman occupation. The Romans also placed the pig as a symbol of authority. It was also an animal with which to trade and consume.
The Jews on the other hand viewed the pig as unclean and detestable. Since the people of the Decapolis reared and revered the pig, the Jews believed that the “other side was unclean and full of evil Spirits”. Today we would say that the area was demonic. Because of this view point, the disciples were not surprised when the storm came up against them. In their minds they knew that the storm came because of their decision to go on the other side. In fact, in waking Jesus up, they seem almost to be rebuking the Lord for making the decision to “go on the other side”. It sounds like a retort when they ask “Do you not care that we perish?” – REMEMBER I MENTIONED EARLIER THAT A DISCIPLE WAS NOT TO QUESTION THE RABBI ON WHERE THEY WERE BEING TAKEN OR WHERE THEY WERE GOING. The disciples knew this and in as much as they may have not understood why Jesus told them to go on the other side, they still went even though grudgingly.
But then the Lord says “Peace be still” – Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? So Jesus went and healed a man filled with demons. His value of this individual was obviously more than that of 1000 pigs which went down into the sea.
Interesting to me is that these people did not stone Jesus for the loss they incurred from the pigs. My personal view point is that they seemed to fear him and thought of him as extra ordinary for having healed a demon possessed man. However their economic loss was of more concern then that of the man who had been in bondage and now was free. By the way we are sometimes like that. Following Jesus is for a fact a costly journey. Sometimes it costs you relationships. It can cost you money because now you are no longer in control of your finances because He is. The Lord will tell you to give money to a needy person and if you are surrendered to Him or following Him. NEEDLESS TO SAY THE BLESSING OF FREEDOM IN CHRIST IS WORTH MUCH MORE OF THE BONDAGE OF HAVING YOUR OWN WAY IN THE WAY YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE, HANDLE YOUR FINANCES AND RELATIONSHIPS.
Now when the man was set free, he wanted to follow Jesus and be His disciple. But Jesus told him to go and share what the Lord had done. This was not the normal thing that Jesus did. A lot of times He told people not to tell. In this instance he instructed him to go and share and then He crossed back to the other side.
Mark 6:1- 6
Jesus went to His home town and it is recorded that because of their lack of faith, He did very few miracles.
Mark 7: 31 -37, Mark 8:1-13
Jesus went back to the same region where He had healed the demon possessed man. This time there was a different outcome. The people brought the sick for Him to heal them. They were more receptive to Him because of the testimony of this one man who had been healed. He even fed the multitude of people. When they had eaten he asked them to collect all the left- over food. 7 baskets of food were collected to signify the 7 tribes of people that lived in the area. I believe that Jesus was very specific. There is a reason that He did all that He did. He wanted to show us that He cared for the gentiles as well as the Jews. He knows us by name.
Jesus truly knows us intimately. He knows our struggles and He knows the areas of unbelief. There are a lot of things He does to draw us to Him and to show us His love for us. A lot of times we do not pay attention to what we call small things around us that prove His personal love for us.
I want to encourage all of us including myself that Jesus loves us not just in general as part of His creation but individually as well. He has a specific plan and purpose for our lives. I want to encourage us to seek Him more everyday so that we may know for what purpose He created us. How we are to individually share His love with others. Let us be steadfast in our knowledge of His love and faithfulness.
When the wind of hardship and adversity blows, my prayer is that, none of us will doubt the master’s love for us individually. Instead, with the knowledge that He loves us, we would acknowledge that He is either teaching us something, glorifying Himself in the victory that will come thereafter or He wants us to stand so that the enemy will be defeated in the end.
Either way, the demon possessed man became his disciple because he shared what the Lord had done for Him and reached a whole Decapolis. We are called to be His disciples each and every day: To watch Him, to listen to Him and to imitate Him. We can only do so if we know His Word intimately; we spend time in prayer and obey. Purpose with His help not to be moved by hurdles big or small, that will face you daily. Those are the wind and the waves that rocked the boat that the disciples were in. But Jesus can calm the storm or He can command the wind and the waves to stop. His love pursues us in every situation.