Don Friesen
In recent years Christian churches have produced some catchy commercials in order to attract people to church. Some of the commercials are as technically superb and appealing to the eye as any current beer commercial. They convey a very positive and engaging message. A large church in Australia, for example, has produced a commercial with the theme, "All you've ever wanted life to be," a simple but catchy chorus repeated several times, with images of lovely-looking people having a great time one moment in a packed auditorium, the next moment in a cafι, then watching a drama; then a clown appears, followed by a rock band backing some lovely-looking singers and a radiant, upbeat speaker. (Kim Thoday, "A Fatal Attraction")
"All you've ever wanted life to be!" An uplifting and wholesome message, conveying the idea that the church is a fun place to be and attempting to make that particular church look as attractive as possible to a populace that stays away from church in droves! It's a good idea trying to gain the attention of a church-shy culture but what is intriguing about this commercial is that it makes no mention of Jesus remember him? The fun guy who started the Christian Church? Perhaps the producers of the commercial thought he didn't convey the right image. I don't know.
The Bible's D-List: D is not for the Devil or for Damnation
Both Jesus and the Church have a lot to do with the D-word I chose for today's alphabetical sermon. The D-letter is an interesting one because there are a lot of D-words in the Bible and the vast majority of them are negative words and ideas. You could call the D-list a diss-list, for I counted at least a hundred negative D-words in the Bible. If you would like to hear a sermon about a deranged, depraved, devious and defiant demagogue whose difficulties with the devil led to disgrace, desolation, despair, derision, and demon-possession, if not dysentery, defilement and debauchery then the letter D is for you!
Some of you expressed concern last week when I skipped from the letters, A, B, and C, right over to the letter, T, thinking that the murmuring heard at the retreat about this long series of sermons may have prompted me to take a shortcut! I want to assure you that I'm here for the duration and I only hope that you can be as well! And contrary to public expectation, the letter D is not for Dorothy. My brother suggested another D-word ... but that word is not really a biblical word.
The Bible's D-list has a lot of interesting words, but I have chosen a simple word for the letter, D, and that is the word, "disciples". It's not a complex theological concept, but it's an important one, especially with respect to our identity.
Disciples Are Students, Apprentices
Disciples are not unique to Jesus. The Jews considered themselves to be disciples of Moses. (John 9:28) The prophet Isaiah makes mention of his disciples. (Isaiah 8:16) The philosopher Plato had disciples. And it's interesting to see that the word, "disciple," still has coinage in our day. Bill Gates visited the University of Waterloo this week in an attempt to attract university graduates to work at Microsoft. The newspaper headline read, "Bill Gates preached the wonders of Microsoft Corporation to eager disciples at the University of Waterloo...." (Ottawa Citizen, October 14, 2005, page E4)
A disciple is essentially a student. The word in Greek and in English means student, pupil, or apprentice. We now have a TV show called "The Apprentice," featuring young people who want to be the apprentice of Donald Trump, whose most famous words are "You're fired!" Gates is hiring and Trump is firing, but both use the language of discipleship because they don't just want employees they want people who will learn and promote their particular view of reality, their set of priorities, their way of being in the world. And neither Gates nor Trump have any difficulty finding disciples and apprentices. The 650 students who came to hear Chairman Gates in Waterloo sat before him spellbound; in fact, they had to make a written case to receive a coveted ticket for the opportunity to hear him. Security was tight at the event and only a limited number of journalists were invited to engage Gates in a roundtable discussion.
The Original Dozen
It's hard for church commercials to compete with beer commercials, and it's hard to compete with mega-corporations that can purchase disciples. And if you look at the original disciples of Jesus, it's rather disheartening, another biblical D-word. No doubt some of you have seen the apocryphal letter from Jordan Management Consultants, whom Jesus purportedly hired to assess his first disciples. Having submitted the twelve to a battery of tests, the consultants concluded that most of the disciples were lacking in background and education. They also appeared unable to grasp the team concept. Simon Peter, wrote the consultants, is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has no qualities of leadership whatsoever. The two brothers, James and John, sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would undermine morale. Matthew is not in good standing with the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; and several of the disciples have radical leanings. Only one of the candidates showed potential, reported the consultants. Only one showed ability and resourcefulness, with a keen business mind and great networking ability, and that was Judas Iscariot!
And it's true. The original dozen disciples were not the sharpest knives in the class, or the top students in the kitchen drawer! Simon Peter was enthusiastic, but wouldn't stop talking until he had both feet in his mouth. His brother, Andrew, was very quiet, but if you grow up with a brother like Peter, you would probably be quiet too. We celebrate Thomas as the patron saint of our own skepticism, but some scholars think he may have been one of those people in a group who is obstinate about his negative point of view and pessimistic about any positive perspective.
There were conflicting temperaments among the original disciples, as well as more serious cultural and political differences that threatened the group's unity. For example, Matthew was a tax collector, while Simon was a Zealot, and some think Jude was as well. People like Simon and Jude thought people like Matthew were traitors, and it's a wonder that Simon and Jude didn't slit Matthew's throat!
Jesus could not afford to purchase disciples. And then there's the formidable task to which Jesus called his disciples. He said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34) He warned his disciples that he himself would "undergo great suffering ...and be killed" (Matthew 16:21), implying, of course, that the disciples could expect a similar fate. Jesus warned that there is a cost to discipleship, and for some prospective disciples the cost was too high! They found other things to do. (Luke 9:57-62) They dropped the discipleship course and went home.
The disciples were essentially Jesus' students, and in the first century people didn't go to school in a building; they used the Greek model from the days when Socrates and other philosophers taught in the city streets! Teachers would go around and gather a group of students, who would spend time with their teacher, trying to learn his way of thinking. Jewish teachers operated the same way, teaching their interpretation of the Torah. A "disciple, or apprentice, is ...someone who has decided to be with another person, ...in order to become capable of doing what that person does or to become what that person is." (Dallas Willard) Jesus is often referred to as a teacher in the NT (e.g., Matthew 8:19; 9:11; 12:38; 17:24), and his disciples spent time with him, training with him until they were capable of doing what that he did, and becoming the kind of person he was."
Disciples Were and Are Attracted to Jesus
If the original disciples were students, their transcripts leave room for doubts about them, and the task to which they were called was a formidable one, and yet and yet they wanted to learn from him. The Gospels tell us more than once that "great crowds" followed him. (e.g., Matthew 4:25; 8:1, 18; 13:2; 14:14; 15:30) We're familiar with the original twelve disciples of Jesus, but there were more! The disciples listed in the Gospels include Mary Magdalene, who also underwrote some of Jesus' expenses (Matthew 27:55-56); Joanna, another generous donor who was with Jesus at crucial times (Luke 8:3; 24:10); Susanna (8:3), and "many others"(8:3), including Mary, the sister of Martha, who adopted the classic disciple's posture at Jesus' feet (Luke 10:39); Mary, the mother of James (Matthew 27:56; Mark 16:1); Cleopas (Luke 24:18); and possibly Simon, the Pharisee, and Nicodemus. (John 3; 7:50; 19:39) Luke's sequel, the Book of Acts, tells us that thousands followed in the wake of these first followers. (Acts 2:41; 4:4)
Perhaps Jesus is not as much of a liability as that church in Australia might think! People were attracted to Jesus. Even those who decided the cost of discipleship was prohibitive felt the pull of his call. As the Gospel narratives unfold we discover many different shades of his attractiveness his compassion; his strength of character; his courage; his determination; his intellect; his impatience with injustice; his love for the poor and vulnerable and disenfranchised; his capacity to endure; his encouraging presence his holiness; his humanness. There was about Jesus' humanity a divine attractiveness.
Many of you are familiar with John Cleese, one of the comedians in the Monty Python team. He and his comedic buddies produced "The Life of Brian," a film whose satiric depiction of the crucifixion makes many people uncomfortable. Not everyone is attuned to a Pythonesque view of the world, but it was interesting to read about an interview with John Cleese, in which he reflected seriously on the attractiveness of Jesus. Cleese admitted that the original intention had been to send up some of the biblical stories about Jesus. After immersing themselves in the Gospel material, however, they realized they had a problem. Jesus' words and actions, on the whole, were difficult to satirise. "Blessed are the cheese-makers" was about as far as they got. And it was for that reason that they invented a life of Brian, set in the time of Jesus. Cleese said that he found Jesus too human, too transparent, too real. He said that Python humour works best when exposing human inhibition, double standards, hypocrisy, and self-interest. Python humour typically satirises the facades, masks and fronts that people put up to disguise their hang-ups and inhibitions. Cleese had never encountered such an uninhibited person as Jesus someone not limited by class, gender, status or religion. Somehow, said Cleese, Jesus was free to act as a truly human being in any context.
The Marks of a Good Student
Christian disciples are students of Jesus. As any teacher knows, there are a variety of students some gifted, some not so gifted but all students know that it takes effort to learn new things. If you decide to become a music student and take piano lessons from Carla, what do you do? You meet with Carla regularly. You practice the pieces Carla asked you to practice between lessons. You assume that Carla can play the piano better than you and if you're serious about being a pianist, you trust that what Carla tells you to do will make you a better musician and you become very receptive to the nuances of her own playing. That's how a good music student acts.
A good piano student also learns to play simple pieces before moving on to more complex compositions. Or to change the context it is like a mathematics teacher who says to a student, "Verily, verily I say unto thee, except thou canst do decimals and fractions, thou canst in no wise do algebra." It's not that the teacher thinks you're a bad person; it's just that you won't be able to do basic algebra if you are not in command of decimals and fractions. (Dallas Willard)
Similarly, a student of Jesus seeks to mature in his or her ability to do the work of Christ. As Paul indicates in our reading from Ephesians, it's important "to equip the saints for the work of ministry...." (Ephesians 4:12) It's important that we "come to ...maturity (of faith)" (4:13), that we aspire "to the measure of the full stature of Christ." (4:13)
We should never stop being students! Sometimes Christians follow a well-thumbed script: when we're young, or first become Christians, we learn what we need to know. Then we have a period of working in the church, serving on a committee or two. And then we retire. I don't think that the lessons of discipleship are as complex as the rigours of rocket science, but there are many nuances to the spiritual life, and one can always deepen one's understanding of God and the ways of God. The learning never stops. If we are students of Jesus, we are lifelong learners.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), who became one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the twentieth century, helping to free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance, was drawn to the teachings of Jesus. He thought that if Christians excelled as students of Jesus, living according to the ethical and moral teachings of Jesus as found in the Sermon on the Mount, millions of people would become Christians. Much to Gandhi's disappointment and to Christianity's sorrow Gandhi noticed a huge discrepancy between the teaching of Jesus and the lives of his disciples.
The test of our faith is in living it in concert with others. When Paul encourages Christian students to go for the gold, to aspire "to the measure of the full stature of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13), it is for the purpose of building up the community of faith. It is, as Ephesians expresses it, to "promote the body's growth in building itself up in love." (4:16) Western Christians value individualism, but individualistic Christianity is an oxymoron! Christian disciples come by the dozen, and if we could master the lessons of love and forgiveness and all of the other Christian virtues with at least a dozen other people, our faith would deepen appreciably.
When, as Ephesians phrases it, "the whole body (is) joined and knit together (and) each part is working properly" (Ephesians 4:16), amazing things happen. They begin to take on that salty flavour Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount. They become the "salt of the earth," a preservative, lending to our society and our world a wholeness even a tinge of holiness that ultimately preserves us from the more unsavoury aspects of human existence.
Dieter Zander, the pastor of a church near San Francisco, says that when he and his family first moved there, their new neighbours included an atheist family, a Buddhist family, an Irish Catholic family, a gay family, and a Hindu family. There was no sense of community in the neighbourhood, so Zander and his wife decided to become conduits of the kingdom by practising the spiritual discipline of hospitality. He recounts, "We learned people's names and used them. We introduced neighbours to each other. And something began to happen. My atheist ...neighbour came into my kitchen ...and said, You know, something has happened since you ...moved to this neighbourhood. It's hard to describe, but it's like an enzyme has been added. Where once there was no life, now there's life. What is that?'" (Christianity Today Leadership Journal, Summer 2005)
In 1928 Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) was at the very height of his jazz career. One day he was walking down a street on the south side of Chicago with a friend, when they across a band of young musicians playing "West End Blues," one of Armstrong's tunes. (Joe King' Oliver, composer) He called across to them, "You're playing too slow!" One of the young musicians called back, "How would you know that, pops?" To which Armstrong replied, "I'm Louis Armstrong, and that's my song." The young musicians were in awe of Armstrong, and he went across the street and helped them master the tempo and play it right.
The next day Armstrong and his friend took another walk, and met the same musicians on the same street corner. They were playing "West End Blues" again, but this time they were playing it right, and they had a sign in front of them which read, "Students of Louis Armstrong".
They were proud to have learned from a legend, just as disciples of Jesus are immensely pleased to be called his students because in him is life, abundant life. Thanks be to God!