Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: Preview, Part 2

The following are additional excerpts from Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg, with a few reflections at the end by me. (Buy the book!)

Discipleship

Chapter 4 explains the meaning of “disciple.” We think it means learner or student, but there was much more to it than that.

Modern Christians have sometimes been confused about what discipleship is, equating it with “discipline.” Of course discipline is vital to the spiritual life. … But the overall goal of discipleship is not simply to grow in self-discipline, but to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.

(page 58)

Disciples were expected to be more loyal to their rabbis than to their earthly fathers. And disciples were expected to serve their rabbis, sometimes in menial ways.

An Eastern view of discipleship seems far more in keeping with the gospel. … [This view] recognizes that Jesus lived transparently in front of his disciples in order to teach them how to live. They, in turn, were to live transparently before others, humbly teaching them the way of Christ. This approach involves not just information but transformation. God’s goal isn’t simply to fill the world with people who believe the right things. It is to fill the world with people who shine with the brilliance of Christ.

(page 64)

Conclusion

This and the previous post are but a sampling from the first third of the book, but hopefully it’s enough to show how much our faith can be enriched through the study of the Jewish roots of Christianity. We really need to get away from the notion that Jesus was a blue-eyed, Western, Anglo whom God placed in Palestine. He was a Jew. He looked like a Jew. He was deeply observant of the Torah, and he was a rabbi who was accepted as a rabbi.

His “disciples” weren’t mere students. They were devoted followers who studied everything about him so they could be just like him — in every way possible. When Jesus told us to go and make “disciples,” he didn’t mean great students or masters of discipline. He meant people who would emulate his teaching and his life. And this is precisely what we see his apostles doing in Acts.

(John 13:15-17)  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

(Eph 5:1-2)  Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

To Western ears, Paul’s declarations sound arrogant —

(1 Cor 11:1)  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

(Phil 3:17)  Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.

But this is how rabbis taught. It’s how we should teach — and if we can’t teach that with a straight face, we need to work on our own discipleship.

And Paul taught the next generation of leaders to do the same —

(1 Tim 4:12-16)  Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

(Titus 2:7-8)  In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

Now, take a step back. Jesus concluded his ministry saying,

(Mat 28:19-20)  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We are to make disciples. And we are to teach what Jesus taught. And just what did Jesus teach on acts of worship? Or church organization? Or elder re-affirmation? Why, then, is it that our teaching is often based entirely on inferences drawn on silences and examples arising after Jesus’ death? Why isn’t our teaching centered on the commands of Jesus himself?

And if we find a discrepancy between Paul’s teaching and Jesus’, we have surely misunderstood Paul. Paul wasn’t a great legislator, building new rules on top of what Jesus had only begun. Rather, Paul was an interpreter of Jesus, explaining Jesus’ teachings to the very different Gentile cultures in which he ministered — but with roots deeply planted in the words of Jesus and the prophets who went before.

Jesus taught faith and faithfulness, grace and mercy, ethics and morality. He taught love for our neighbors and the poor. And he taught baptism and the coming of the Spirit. But he didn’t preach a constitution of church governance or 5 acts of worship. We have seriously misunderstood what Christianity is all about.