The Way of the Rabbi
Follow Me! Famous last words. It is important to know who we are following
Hillcrest Hosp. President tour
Everyone is following someone. Friend, peer pressure, parent, spouse, hero.
Scott & I are going to prison soon, many there because of who they followed.
Reflect today on Who you Follow
John’s gospel begins with a busy week.
Day 1 - John is baptizing
Day 2 - Jesus is identified as the Lamb (John never says that the Baptist baptizes Jesus)
Day 3 - John again identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God - and promptly loses 2 disciples - Andrew then goes to collect his brother Peter
Day 4 - Jesus heads off to Galilee - picks up Philip who brings along Nathanael
Read John 1:35-51
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"
They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39 "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."48 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." 50 Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51 He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
What was it like to be a disciple in Jesus' day? video clip - 5 Minutes
What was a disciple? Discipleship not widespread - fairly modern invention at time of Jesus
- Began in community - life with God was 7 days a week
- Individualism was sacrificed to step up and grow under a rabbi
- Up to age 12 all taught at a Bible school - Beth Sefer - learn the Torah
- World revolved around life in the synagogue - not merely the Sabbath - mezuzah
- Rabbi taught from the Moses seat - scrolls kept under the Holy Arch
- Ceremony of the Scroll - unwrap - open and hold up, some touch kiss taste
- Teach and debate
- not all at the Synagogue became disciples
- By age of 12 they would graduate - girls to domestic life, boys to the trades
- the cream of the crop would enter Beth Midrash House of Interpretation yeshiva
- not for the faint hearted - Tanach - Prophets and writings
- of those - fewer still would be talmid (talmidim) Disciples
After Beth Sefer - Beth Midrash - time for Grad School - hunt down a Rabbi you want to be like, and apply to study under him. If He accepts you - one day he would pay you a visit and say, “Come, Follow Me” - But to most , the call never came. The Talmidim were students who wanted more than know what the Rabbi knew, he wanted to be what the Rabbi is! Talmidim were embraced by passion, commitment - I have to ask, is that what you want?
Student - teacher relationship Not going to college, but to a person - rabbi
Affection and love bound the teacher to student. Journey together, live life together. Imparting the life of the teacher into the life of the student
And for those who were called, they would walk with the Rabbi until he said you have completed your work (Grasshopper) Go and Make Disciples
Jesus was a traveling Rabbi with A few remarkable differences
Jesus picked his disciples - imagine their surprise to be Called! (I know that feeling!)
Jesus went out and found people and called them out - “Follow Me.”
To fisherman who never went to rabbi school, “come, Follow Me.”
to Tax collectors and tradesmen - to men and to women, “Follow Me.”
These people were not the winners of Talmud trivia, they weren't on the Torah All Star team
- he picked everyday people, fisherman, tax collectors, not cream of the crop
At first - Jesus had no renown yet they were drawn to Him - Authority
No one expected a noteworthy person to come from Nazareth
Think of how the Jews took the news that their Messiah was a crucified criminal from Nazareth. The story is so ridiculous that it has to be true.
John the Baptizer had to point Him out in a crowd
Jesus not only called His disciples, but often gave them a new start, new names
Simon - curious and headstrong - some say Pebble - became Peter - the Rock
James and John - Sons of Thunder
Levi became Matthew “Gift of the Lord”
You need a new name, a new start?
Jesus warned them that this would be no joyride
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Jesus raised the bar pretty high!
MT 10:24 "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher,
Do you want to be like your teacher, like Jesus? Really want to
Then you know something‘s got to change
Some of your ways need to be left behind
You will have to adopt new behaviors, habits
Disciplines (Disciple) are like working out
The goal isn't to read the Bible but to know the Bible, not to be informed by it but to be FORMED by it
The goal isn't to give generously but to BE generous, to empty yourself of stuff that has no lasting power
The goal isn’t to pray but to be “in prayer” to be in fellowship
The goal isn't to go to quiet places, or to seek solitude, but to be quiet, still.
Passion and commitment - when Jesus said - take up a cross - it wasn't to scare people off - it was to fire them up!
Next Step
Remember Jesus said, You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you
You can walk out of here today and say “I won’t be a disciple” but
You can't walk out of here and say “I can’t be a disciple”
Jesus believes in you, calls you -
He taps you on the shoulder and says, Come follow me
How could I become a disciple Do we have the fire to want to be like Jesus
Where can I get that fire?
Am I consumed to be like Rabbi Jesus - not just to know what He taught - but to KNOW this Rabbi - to be like Him?
I will study the text, I will plunge into community - I will be like my teacher
