Various Steps towards Discipleship
- Do you Know Jesus?
o Knowledge is the first step to the discipleship of Jesus.
o Can we be proud that we know Jesus? Or, Is the knowledge is exclusively for the disciple? No. For example those who do researches on Bible study Jesus. (there was a Buddhist monk who did doctorate in Jesus Christ)
o Even Satan knew who Jesus was. They even proclaimed it in the public in the story of exorcisms in the Gospel.
o Therefore the disciples have to go beyond the knowledge
- Are you an admirer of Jesus?
o The disciples are admirers of Jesus’ words and deeds.
o In the gospel people admired Jesus about his wisdom and the miracles. When Jesus multiplied the bread they admired at him. But they need not necessarily be a disciple.
o The disciple must go further.
- Are you a devotee of Jesus?
o Devotee here means the one who pray to Jesus and listens to him.
o It is good to be a devotee of Jesus like Mary who sat at the foot of Jesus to listen.
o But the disciple must go further
- Are you an advocate of Jesus?
o Advocate is the one who publicize the work of somebody else.
o The Samaritan woman was an advocate of Jesus when she experienced that Jesus is the Lord. She had knowledge about Jesus and later became an admirer of Him and also a devotee. Then she went to the nearby town and proclaimed this truth.
o Advocate is the one who are convinced about the specialties of Jesus as a divine person.
o When we share the wonders of Jesus that we have experienced in our lives we become the advocates of Jesus.
- Are you the disciple of Jesus
o It is a call to follow Jesus closely or to become another Jesus in the community.
o It is a call to be obedient to the Words of Jesus even at the cost of our lives. It is a total surrender to His Will.
o Two things that Jesus asks from the disciple is
§ To hate oneself – detachment spirit to all the material things – giving always the first preference to Jesus and His values
§ To take up the cross and follow Him – our daily crosses
o When we take the crosses with willfully and whole heartedly, Christ turns the crosses into the experience of Resurrection.
o The experience of a mother of three children. While she was pregnant for her third baby the doctors found out that the boy in the womb is a mentally challenged child. They told the mother to opt for abortion. But the mother did not. “I do not want to destroy the gift of God”. Now this child became the unifying factor of the family and the dearest of all the members, a blessing to the family.
o The experience of resurrection is through the suffering and death.
These stages are not exclusive. We should be knower of Jesus, admirer of Him, devotee of Jesus, advocate of Him and more than everything “a disciple” who follow Christ closely.
Let us grow to become the disciple of Jesus by having the first place to Jesus in our lives and by taking up our daily cross.
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