A Call to Discipleship

2 Timothy 3: 12-17.  

Genesis 12- 1-5a 

Mark 10: 17-22

            This week I had the privilege to sit outside for what was a beautiful day at the St Paul activities fair.  It was a relatively quiet day, as expected, but also quiet because fewer than half the registered student groups actually showed up.  It really is a sad showing I would say when you want to invite people to your groups but won’t even go over to St. Paul to find them. 

            While I was there, I happened to find that CRU took a liking to my location, and thus situated themselves right next to me.  We were cordial as expected and didn’t say much to each other for about an hour, as I was reading and they were busy handing out free coupons that mysteriously were already expired.  You could get these free coupons if they put their email and name down.  Hmmmm…..

            After about an hour, one of their lovely participants actually asked me so what is Wesley.  I told them, explaining that we were one of the campus groups that tried not to be aggressive about our faith, were very open to multi-faith dialogue and collaboration, and focused on social justice as a part of our experiences together.  They were interested, found out quickly that I was indeed a reverend and had gone to school for three years in order to lead this kind of thing, and were generally nice when I asked questions.  One particular one I asked stands out to me.  “Tell me about what kinds of things you are studying.”  Their response was simple: one group was focused on the way Jesus did evangelism, the other on the book of James.  Perfect.  Now for some of you who might know the book of James, James is famous for challenging Paul somewhat but also just adding to the discussion and offers us the famous passage where he says “Faith without Works is Dead.”  And Jesus’ understanding of Evangelism….oh yes.  They are trying to be like Jesus….to be what we call a DISCIPLE.  Now let me stop there for a moment…

            The Act of being made a Disciple, discipleship, that’s what we are talking about this week.   Now Discipleship is a pretty scary sounding word.  It’s very utterance is often something people want to run away from.  I’ve been considering that for the last couple of weeks when we’ve had our display board out.  But discipleship is what we are called to do.  As Christians, or at least as a Christian community, we are called to discipleship.  In Jewish Rabbinical teaching, the Rabbi, whoever they were, would surround themselves with a group of pupils, persons who were training to become Rabbis themselves.  And they would come to learn all that their teacher knew, following him wherever he went and following in the ways and methods of his rabbinical teaching.  Eventually, they would graduate from pupil to rabbi themselves, and they would be known coming from a certain teacher.  Some were Rogers, other Stan, Isaiahs, Hillels.  While they were learning, while they were growing and being perfected into the perfect image of their rabbi teachers…they were called Disciples.

            That’s what we are nowadays.  We are the learners, the followers of Jesus, the one we consider had a perfected life of what God intends for the world.  There are a lot of us, at various stages.  And you can imagine that it was pretty much like that for all the rabbinical teachers.  There were doubters, deep questions, moment of frustration, and people who didn’t get it.  And yet, the Rabbi’s would not give up.  They may have had to rebuke a few times (get behind me Satan comes to mind,) but the story I think remains the same.  And if we watch, and if we imagine Jesus as teacher for just a moment, we probably don’t think of him as a rigid, one way to the truth kind of guy.  IN fact, I think Jesus was a pretty calm evangelist, but of course we have to ask ourselves…what did Jesus do…like what are we supposed to do to become like him….

            That’s the real question of discipleship.  That was also my question I had for the CRU group the other day.  Their response, sharing.  What do I mean by Sharing, I mean they share how Jesus died for us and how if we don’t receive that into our life, we’re going to die and burn in hell.  TALKING is all they do. Now…. I agree that Jesus died for us, but that’s a much bigger discussion.  I don’t think we’re going to burn in hell, and that’s a big discussion.  I do believe it’s important for us to share though.  And by sharing I mean to share in Jesus’ teaching…. And Jesus was quite different.  His teaching, it was in action.  The very act of living out the Torah.  The thing he does to become for us the kingdom of God.  And that,friends, is where the plot thickens for the CRU and for us.

             As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

            This sounds like a story about money.  But it’s not. It’s a story about loving neighbor, and acting as you are supposed to.  Jesus’ life was not that of many words, but one of action.  His metaphors and teachings were not focused on sharing the repeated words of the Torah which had been said thousands of times before, but by becoming them.  The commandments tell us to love god and love neighbor.  Sum all of the commandments up and that’s what you get.  SO, to do so, he tells the rich young ruler, act upon it.  Sell what you own, give to the poor, and come, follow me.  We’ll feed the hungry, heal, clothe, we’ll become the very thing we were born to be.  And you will be my disciple and I will show you the way to truly live. 

            And that’s what made Jesus so different.  He wasn’t a Rabbi of many words, but a Rabbi who took the words and transformed them into action.  We can say we are a disciple, but if we aren’t caring, loving, or Welcoming, we aren’t really living it out.  Disciples of Jesus spoke little, and acted much.  Sure, they did talk things out, but once they discussed it, they moved onto to living it. 

            If we are to be a community that is growing, is deepening, and is truly following something of importance, it is imperitive that we act. That’s why we glean.  As Joe told me yesterday, we are doing exactly the thing that we fundraise for, this is exactly why we ask for money.  It’s true, it’s all discipleship because it’s all about as love in community that transcends words and becomes actions.  And people have always been called.  Abram, who we know mostly as Abraham, trusted and followed God to the ends of the earth.  He didn’t just use words to claim allegiance, he followed.  He trusted, he acted. We, the people who are at least somewhat trusting and faithful, are called to act.  We are not called to just speak loudly, but to bear witness as hands and feet. 

            Paul tells us that discipleship is use the teaching found in here as good for teaching and that to live a Godly life is to act upon what you hear.  When Jesus speaks, the disciples act. FEED!  HEAL!  GET UP!  GO FORTH!  LOVE ANOTHER!   CARE!

            Where does the idea of loving all in a community come from?  It comes from an example, a figure, a person to whom we follow.  Jesus, our teacher, our guide, our example.  If you could just see God as the one who calls us to live better than what we are living, if you could see the call to discipleship as one to grow deeper in our understanding and action, could you yourself follow.  Could you yourself stop what you are doing, drop everything, and act.  Would that message, a message of a call to action, would that convince you that this community is worth being a part of.  Would love from you overflow for your common other.  Would you be willing to do deeper in a faith journey that was not about picking carpet samples or reciting the right words and instead about acting in ways that benefit all.  Would you travel beyond your comfortable place, casting aside what others might think of you in order to do good, to act as Jesus acted.  Then it might be time to realize that if you would like this, if you believe that this is what the Church is supposed to be doing, you to can be a disciple, and can transform this church into one that truly makes sense.  A Church full of people who care about each other, who don’t worry about being different, or sweat the small stuff, but get busy living out this message and become examples, emulations of the Rabbi who stopped speaking words and starting living it all out.  I call you to discipleship, the act of loving in community and acting for a world that badly needs help.