Matthew 4:23-25
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
Now what?
You are a disciple… You have left the boat and now you’re following Jesus… So what exactly is it you’re supposed to be doing? What does a disciple do? What is a disciple?
The easiest definition for ‘disciple’ is ’student.’ The easiest definition for ‘Rabbi’ is ‘teacher.’ Your relationship with Jesus is a teacher-student relationship. Sort of. Today we think of school as a place you go to. Or, at the moment, log into. Your teacher is someone who educates you in the classroom setting for a year or a semester. This is not the rabbi-disciple relationship. When a disciple decided to follow a rabbi, they left home and spent their every waking moment with their new teacher. Much like a master and apprentice, the disciple is committed to assisting the rabbi in his ministry and learning the trade so that they can eventually do all the things the rabbi does.
This is what it means to be a disciple. To be committed to following Jesus and learning to be more like him each day. To engage with others in the same way that he engages with them. To be a disciple of Jesus is to seriously and wholeheartedly endeavor to be what he is and inso doing, to discover who we are. Every person who calls themselves a disciple of Christ is a Jesus in training.
A version of the passage above shows up in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It's an important passage because it outlines the threefold ministry of Jesus. Jesus is described as doing three things in his ministry to others: (1) he teaches in the synagogues, (2) he proclaims the good news of the kingdom, and (3) he heals every disease and sickness among the people.
Understanding the threefold ministry of Jesus is not only important because it gives us a sense of what Jesus spent his earthly life doing, but because it gives us a sense of what we are called to spend ours doing. As disciples, we are called to imitate Christ in this way. This is our manner of engaging with others… the tools of our trade as we fish in this great sea of souls. Let's look at each of these things a little more closely.
Every disciple is called to be a teacher and a learner. A learner first, because we cannot teach what we do not know. Every disciple is called to spend time in Bible study to deepen their intellectual knowledge of God. But also in prayer to deepen their experiential understanding of God. This time profits our souls tremendously but that is not why we do it. As disciples, we are committed to learning so that we may teach others.
That sounds like YOUR job, Pastor…
I have been called to teach congregations and I take that calling very seriously. But I have not been called to teach your children in the way they should go so that they will not stray from it. I can help, but that is uniquely a parent and grandparent’s calling. I have not been called to teach the friend or coworker or relative that comes to you asking questions about why you pray before your meals, or go to Church on Sundays, or hold on to hope through life's darkest trials. God has put those people in YOUR life, not mine. Every disciple will have a thousand opportunities to deepen another’s faith or to plant the seeds of faith in a place where it does not yet grow. We will invariably find ourselves talking about our faith. It is up to us to know what it is we are talking about.
Every disciple is also called to proclaim the Gospel: the good news of what God has done and is doing and will do through Jesus Christ. Every disciple is called to proclaim. Some proclaim the Gospel through preaching. Some proclaim it through music. Some proclaim it through acts of kindness. Some through art, some through civic engagement, some through cooking, some through the infectious joy of their personalities. There are as many ways to proclaim the good news as there are disciples. Each of us is called to find ours. And each of us is called to challenge and stretch ourselves to discover new gifts we never knew we had. But each of us has a story to tell. One that is uniquely ours. Your preacher cannot preach the word God has put on YOUR heart. It falls to you.
Finally, each disciple is called to be an agent of healing. The ill, the suffering, the demon possessed— all those seized and paralyzed, wait for the compassion of Christ to meet them where they are. Each of us is called to a healing ministry. It can be a ministry of prayer or action. It can be a ministry of counseling or simply of listening. Some are called to use their past struggles with abuse, addiction, or mental illness to reach others. Some are called to use the talents God has given them to bring healing to others. Henri Nouwen famously wrote that our calling is where our deepest passion and the world’s deepest pain meet. Every disciple is called to be a source of God’s healing energy, putting the world back together just as Jesus did. Again, Got has given you your own passions and has put people in your life with pains you are uniquely suited to heal. It is not a job that can be handed off to others. It is YOUR calling.
This threefold ministry: teaching, proclaiming, and healing, is the path that Jesus walked and that all his disciples are called to walk, each in their own way. We are called to be like Jesus, all of us. But we are not called to be the same. Each of us has wisdom only we can share, stories only we can tell, and hearts only we can mend. Next week, we will ascend the mountain and begin to explore our calling with more depth and clarity, but for now it is simply enough to commit. To stop looking around for someone else to answer the call that only we hear. And to say: "Here I am. Send me."
Father, We pray that you would make us into disciples. Give us the wisdom to teach others your ways. Give us the courage to boldly proclaim the Gospel. And Give us the compassion to bring healing wherever we go. Amen.
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