Tag Archives: disciples

How Jesus fixed breakfast for some losers.

Posted on by
10

Some guys were sitting around one evening, wondering what to do. They’d been part of a travelling band for a couple years, away from home for long stretches. Recently everything changed. The leader quit traveling with them. And so they were sitting around, sort of waiting for their leader to show up again.

Though there were seven guys, we only know five of the names. Peter, who had denied knowing Jesus. Nathanael, who grew up in one small town, mocked the even smaller town where Jesus grew up. Thomas, who couldn’t take the word of the other disciples that Jesus was alive. James and John, who a few days before the crucifixion asked Jesus if they could be at his right and left hand when he became king.

In other words, these were five disciples with the best reputations for having bad reputations as disciples. (There were other disciples with reputations from before they started following, but these guys got written up while being disciples).

And this night, at Peter’s suggestion, they go fishing. Back to the work they did before Jesus called them.

They had a bad night. No fish. Then Jesus called from shore (about a football field away) and told them to try the other side of the boat.

153 good size fish. Someone counted. Too many to pull the net into the boat. When they slowly rowed the load to shore, they found that Jesus had fixed breakfast.

That night they discovered that the only way they could be successful in their old business was with the help of Jesus. And he didn’t scold, he showed. In a huge way with fish. And in a quiet way, with breakfast.

If you’ve left your nets to follow Jesus, the way forward isn’t going to be by going back.

–

From John 21:1-14

How 2 ordinary guys confounded religious scholars.

Posted on by
Reply

Peter and John stood in front of the leaders of their tribe.

Imagine a random Catholic talking to the Pope and cardinals, an ordinary citizen in front of the Supreme Court or the President’s cabinet, a student in front of the university president and faculty, you in front of the people you grew up being taught to respect.

The formality of the setting is designed to remind you of the history of the tribe. Every person in the room is present because of intellect, scholarship, reputation, training.

Everyone but Peter and John.

Their families lived by the lake, but not in the resorts. They fished all night and then sold the fish to live. They didn’t have time to study, not beyond the basics that everyone learned.

Standing in this meeting room, Peter and John should have been tongue-tied, knock-kneed. They should have been silent when asked, “By what power or what name did you heal that man?” Instead, Peter reminded the leaders that they had killed Jesus, that God had brought Jesus back to life, and that the living Jesus was the name, the power, the authority they claimed when healing the lame man outside the temple.

These were gutsy words. This was the single most provocative thing to say to the people who had killed your rabbi because they were jealous of his power.

The leaders were astonished at the courage. They knew Peter and John were untrained, undereducated. The only remarkable thing about them, realized the leaders, is that Peter and John had been with Jesus.

Peter and John had spent three years listening to Jesus teach, watching Jesus challenge other teachers, seeing how Jesus healed. It wasn’t the same school as the authorities, but it was pretty solid training.

I think class is still in session.

–

From Acts 4

A disciple, simply

Posted on by
11

Okay. Can we talk for a bit? I’m out of practice with writing, so it will take me awhile to find my flow again. But I’m working on a sermon for Sunday and I’m sifting through my heart and brain (and all the tons of debris that live there), gathering fragments for a simple, useful, helpful, clear, not churchy, memorable, practical, both point AND process oriented, untricky, replicable definition of “disciple”.

We’ve talked about the idea of a disciple here for the last three years. There are several books on my Kindle and my shelves and my desk about disciples and discipleship and disciple-making. It is not for lack of material that I am wrestling this week. But perhaps the struggle that I have and that these many authors and organizations and ordinary people have is that there are so many words for a very simple thing.

I mean, for the first three years, a disciple of Jesus was someone who followed Jesus around, listened to what he said, argued with it, misunderstood it, and asked him for clarification about it. There was no political expectation, no perfection expectation. There was a huge learning expectation, a huge engagement expectation. There was uncertainty, skepticism, fear. There was failure.

As I thought about these first disciples this morning, I realized that they were always asking Jesus questions about what he meant. He was often pointing out what they didn’t understand and then explaining. I realized that I hardly ever hear people ask him what he means. I hear people asking for things, like healings and miracles, but the disciples didn’t so much. They were wanting to understand what he meant.

I wander what he’d say if we did that more?

I mean, maybe I should ask Jesus what he meant by “disciple.”

Helping each other grow

Posted on by
4

The other night we were talking about being disciples. I had asked, “What would a group of people committed to helping each other be disciples and make disciples do?” And we were talking about we would do.

So I asked, “In the course of a week, how would they help each other?”

I enjoyed the responses:

  • Praying for each other
  • Knowing needs
  • Meeting together
  • Talking and listening
  • Actually telling their needs
  • Being personally responsible (so that they can help each other)
  • Providing accountability

Then we moved to “In the course of a month, how would they help each other?”

There were fewer answers, but they dig deeper.

  • Providing some measure of evaluation. Over a month there is the possibility of helping each other see growth.
  • Following up on evaluation, there is the possibility of offering each other forgiveness, understanding that we are human.
  • There would be time to work on meeting physical needs. By pooling expertise and resources and planning, it is possible to work on helping each other, or others.

And then we moved to “In the course of a year, how would they help each other?”

  • Intimacy
  • Trust
  • Correction and nurture

I should point out that the “we” in the “we were talking” in the opening paragraph was a group of people that has been meeting most weeks for the past 18 months. We are starting to develop the trust that allows people to say, with tears, “But I don’t understand what that means for me.” We are starting to develop the intimacy that allows us to laugh with each other. And we are starting to say, “So we talked about doing something to actually help someone. Can we do that? Is there someone in our town that needs help?”

Growth takes time. Spiritual growth takes community and willingness.

—

More on this idea tomorrow.

A challenging passage

Posted on by
1

Jesus wants breakfast. The fig tree is covered in leaves but there are no figs. He tells it that it will never bear fruit. It dies immediately.  The disciples are amazed at the power Jesus displays. He says that they can do it. He ends by saying “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

I’ve summarized Matthew 21:18-22.  The story is also told in Mark 11:12-25. There, it takes 24 hours for the tree to die, and Mark adds that it wasn’t the season for figs.

Which is most troubling to you in the synopsis above?

  • that Jesus killed a fig tree because, it seems, the tree inconvenienced him,
  • that it wasn’t even the season for figs, so it was an irrational act,
  • that Jesus says if you believe enough, you’ll get what you pray for, or
  • that the accounts can’t agree about the very timing of the events.

Each point can be challenging to those of us who are following Jesus, who want to be like him. Either he is cranky, agriculturally clueless, out of touch with our experience of prayer, or part of textual conflict that we have to ignore or reconcile.

I understand the challenge. But just because it makes no sense to our sensibilities doesn’t mean we can avoid this passage.

At the time, the disciples weren’t concerned about why Jesus was killing a tree; they were stunned that he could make a tree die. Though we are familiar with Roundup, we would be stunned, too.  In response, Jesus invites the disciples to believe that their words, with God’s affirmation, do things.

I know that we often pray and nothing happens. But what if Jesus is right? What if we could move mountains?

What if we asked with confidence…that it was what Jesus wanted?