Being a True Disciple

Shalom from Israel!

We had an exciting day 4. God is continuing to speak through Mark in amazing ways. Today's theme was "disciple"

The day began in Chorazin, a city about two miles from the Sea of Galilee. We learned what a "bedav"(family house) was and how the family functioned as a community. The bedav was set up with a central court yard and around it there was many rooms. Each room served a purpose, and the entire family did life together there. After this we walked to the town synagogue. Part of how Jews would worship here is that one person was selected to read form the Torah. You had to be from the community in order to read. Men and women were both included. If I asked you what does God's voice sounds like, what would you say? If you asked a Jew, they would point to the community around, because God speaks His word through His people. WOW! What a blessing to see that today. The entire community would know what scripture was to be read that day and it is the same for all synagogues across the nation. This way, they can wrestle with God's Word together. Each synagogue has a school attached to it. One would expect this room to be large, but it is actually quite small. The rabbi's teaching was not primarily done in the class room but it was done beyond the walls. They read the scriptures in class but the real teaching, how to apply it, was done out in the community around them. 

Our next stop was atop the Mount Of Beatitudes. The Jewish people walked out a work-based righteousness. The written law alone has over 600 commands. In Matthew 5-7 Jesus raised the bar even higher. If we are going to be saved by our own righteousness we have to be perfect according to God's standard, not the standard we have set for ourselves to compare to others. I don't know about you, but even on my best day I am far from perfect. Praise God for the grace in Jesus Christ! We are not perfect and never will be. However, because of Him, He offers to make us perfect if we humble ourselves and say I can't.

The next place that hit me was Capernaum, the town of Jesus. This is where He stayed during His ministry. This is where a large number of His miracles occurred. It's a real place! This is the place where the story of Jairus' daughter happened. We learned that Jairus was the keeper of they synagogue in Capernaum. If you have read the story you know that while Jesus was on his way to heal the girl, a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years touched the corner of his tassels.  Two things stood out to me here. First, Jesus stopped for the bleeding woman while he was on his way to his main mission at that time. Sometimes along the path there are interruptions. Keep your eyes open to see where God may be giving you other opportunities along the way. Not all interruptions are from the enemy. Second, Jesus willingly allowed himself to become unclean on their behalf. He had their life at the front of his mind, not his convenience. 

Then we found ourselves atop Mt. Arbel. This mountain top was a reminder of the call we have to be and make disciples. Rabbi's would take their disciples up to mountain tops to learn how to pray. The Lords prayer we know from Matthew 6 is a reflection of 1 Chronicles 29. Jesus was using scripture to form the prayers of his followers. Also up here there are fewer distractions and you can get a glimpse of God's perspective on things. We read in Luke 6:12-13 that Jesus came up to the mountain to pray before he selected his disciples. He would have gotten up before the sun to hike up this mountain to pray. As a rabbi Jesus had an intense commitment to his disciples. How does our commitment compare, or are we too busy? One thing repeated over and over today is that a disciple does not want to know what the rabbi KNOWS, but aims to become what the rabbi IS. As disciples of Jesus, we are to be mirroring the actions of our rabbi. 

Finally we found ourselves floating on a boat in the Sea of Galilee. On this lake we have read the story where Peter sees Jesus walking out on the water, and joins him. After learning what it means to be a disciple I now see that Peter wasn't climbing out of the boat to be first or to get attention. He saw his rabbi, and he wanted to follow him and be who he was. When we see that Peter began to sink, I have always been taught that it was because he took his eyes off Christ. This could very well be a reason. However, today I saw that Peter also went down because he doubted himself and his ability to be like Jesus Christ, his rabbi. So I will leave you with this: do not be discouraged. Do not give in and give up. Through the grace of Christ, he has given us everything to strengthen us and equip us to be just like him. To walk like him, to talk like him, to have fellowship with the Father like him. We need only to believe, and follow our rabbi as we climb out of the boat. Do not doubt yourself. It is Jesus who will work through you. Go follow your rabbi Jesus.  

Savannah