The Call of Discipleship

 

Jeremiah 7:23 (NIV) - but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.

The prophet warned the people against worshipping false gods.

False gods are worthless.

The worship of false God’s invites the Lord’s wrath.

Beyond this, false gods can do absolutely nothing for the worshipper.

But confusion was not confined to Old Testament Times.

The eighth chapter of John provides a good illustration of this.

The chapter begins with the scribes and Pharisees bringing a woman to Jesus.

They claim to have caught her in an act of adultery.

They then try to put Jesus on the spot by reminding Him that the law condemned her to be stoned.

Admittedly, my first question is: “Why did they bring her only?”

Surely it takes two to commit adultery.

But that aside, they wanted to trap Jesus to charge him.

But Jesus did something unexpected.

He bent down and began writing on the ground.

Scripture does not tell us what Jesus wrote, but it obviously had a tremendous impact on those present.

As he wrote, they departed; first one then another.

Finally only Jesus and the woman remained.

There was no one left to condemn her.

Jesus did not condemn her, but He did tell her to depart and sin no more.

Jesus was there for the woman.

Likewise, He is there for us.

The chapter goes on to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world.

It even reminds us that Jesus was aware of the fate that awaited Him.

Finally, it reminds us of who His disciples are.

John 8:31 (NRSVue) - Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,

People still worship false gods.

Some may not even be aware that they are doing so.

This is a pity as false gods can do nothing for us.

Jesus still does.

And once we come to terms with that, our discipleship begins.

But as Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, there is a cost to discipleship.

Matthew 16:24 (NRSVue) - Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Discipleship is a privilege.

Discipleship is a call.

The question is: Are we ready to listen?

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, October 20, 2023.

I will be back here on Friday, October 27, 2023