Admiration or Discipleship

In this the second half of the month of June, we have now entered into the season of Ordinary Time.  We have passed from the celebration of our Lord and Savior conquering sin and death in His resurrection from the dead.  We have passed through the short season of the beginnings of the Church with Pentecost and the solemnities of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, and now we come to the time of year when we focus most strongly on the ministry of our Lord.  We will hear His teachings, we will encounter His miracles and we will find ways in which He leads us to more fully enter into our relationship with God.

On June 13, 2021, the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, we heard a teaching of our Lord on the Kingdom (Reign) of God.  This Sunday’s Gospel reads: “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.  The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.  But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29)

Although we may know a little more at this point in history than our ancestors regarding the germination and production of seeds and plants, yet the underlying reality is still the same.  Even in the small gardens we plant, how many of us will find that the plants seem to grow without our even noticing it.

A second parable of that day it also given: “[Jesus] also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?  It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’  With many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; He did not speak to them except in parables, but He explained everything in private to His disciples.” (Mark 4:30-34)

In another agricultural parable, our Lord shows His followers that the kingdom of God upon the earth is part of a great divine and human work.  God will take even the smallest of actions by the faithful and multiply them into great works for salvation. 

Parables such as these are an important part of what occurs in this Ordinary Time season.  We hear the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and through them we begin to know and comprehend the designs of Almighty God for His creation and especially for us as His beloved children. But the reality is that as we consider these teachings in isolation we can fall into the trap of treating Jesus only as a wise teacher.  We fully assent to what is said, but we somehow treat the truth of the teaching separately from the truth that is the very person of Jesus Himself.

We run the risk of only being admirers of Jesus rather than disciples and followers.  The definition of ‘admirer’ I retrieved from the internet is ‘someone who regards someone or something with respect, or warm approval.’  I suppose that there is really not much wrong with this view in considering the teachings of our Lord, we certainly do have great respect for Jesus, but somehow the idea of warm approval doesn’t seem to go far enough.  We would not say of someone we truly loved that we only have ‘warm approval’ for them.

Another definition of ‘admirer’ from the Webster’s Dictionary is ‘someone who thinks highly of someone or something often in a somewhat impersonal manner.’  It’s here that we can really begin to see the deficit in being only an admirer of Jesus.  As we encounter the teachings of Jesus we can be ones who take them as true statements regarding a life of faith and living.  We can even go a step beyond that and say that we will use them as the guiding principles for our own lives.  And while all of this may be true, it really is not enough.  If we only have this view concerning the teachings of Jesus, we are admirers of Him, or admirers of His teachings.  But in reality Jesus calls us to so very much more.  He does not want only admirers, He wants disciples.

To be a disciple means to be a ‘convinced adherent.’  In the ancient world a disciple was one who not only learned the teachings of his master, but imitated every practical detail of his life.  It was an interaction always with a real living person and not only his teachings.  From our religious point of view it means to have a living relationship to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  It goes far beyond just assenting to the teachings of Jesus.  It is rather a sincere and deep loyalty to the person of Jesus Christ and everything about Him.

We are confronted with this when we consider the Gospel reading for the Sunday immediately following.  On the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we again read from the Gospel of Mark immediately following the above parables.  In this Sunday’s Gospel we read: “On that day, when evening had come, He said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’  And leaving the crowd behind, they took Him with them in the boat, just as He was.  Other boats were with Him.  A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.  But He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him up and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’  He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace!  Be still!’  Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.  He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid?  Have you still no faith?’  And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’” (Mark 4:35-41)

In this Gospel passage we are not presented with any teaching of Jesus, but rather we are called to contemplate this miracle and consider the question of the Apostles, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey?”  Of course it was not really a question for them, especially at the time the Gospels were finally written.  For one schooled in the ways of the Bible, we know that the One Who is creator and controller of the chaos that are the wind and seas is God Himself.  We are confronted within this Gospel passage with the question of do we accept Jesus, not just as a wise teacher, but as truly God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. 

And further we are challenged to show that in accepting this, has it truly changed our lives?  Are we truly and fully committed to the person, the message and the way of Jesus Christ in the world?  It is for that reason that Jesus asks the questions, both of the disciples then and us now, “Why are you afraid?” and “Have you still no faith?” 

Devoting ourselves truly to Jesus Christ will drive all fear from our lives.  If we place Him at the center of our daily living, at the center of our family life, our work life and of every part of our life, then we will have absolutely nothing to fear.  This, of course, does not mean that everything will be easy and painless.  Certainly not.  But it does mean that we will be standing beside the author of life and the One Who will safely bring us into the safe harbor of His kingdom.  We are challenged to be loyal to Him first and foremost in all aspects of our daily living.  This goes far beyond considering Jesus as only a wise teacher, to acknowledging Him as the author of all life and especially our own lives.  It calls us to acknowledge with St. Paul, “And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.” (Galatians 2:16b) “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ Who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

In this is discipleship, moving beyond acknowledging and admiring the teachings of Jesus, to rather more fully come to the place where we are totally dedicated to Him and His way in the world.  To be able to say “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”  This is what we are called to in discipleship.  To unite with the author of our creation, the One Who loves us and gave Himself for us.  Let us seek to unite ourselves to Christ in all things, to truly be His disciples.