The Way Of The Rabbi Series

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