Jesus as a Model of Discipleship
Everyone wants to speak of Jesus as the model of community. He lived and breathed and ate with the disciples. How community must be present in order for true discipleship. Very true. Very convicting. However, if you keep reading in the gospels, you see that at the end of the 2-3 years, most of the disciples are not what you might be proud of. One denied him three times, to the point of swearing. Another one didn’t believe he rose from the grave, even though he had repeatedly prophesied that he would. Not to mention the one who betrayed him for a few dollars. But after Jesus left, and the Holy Spirit came, these same men exploded. Why is that? What is the lesson here? 1.Keep Teaching Even when it seems like they don’t get it, even when you know they don’t get it. Keep teaching. “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted." (Matthew 28:16-17, ESV) They