Be All that You can Be

I'm still listening to Rob Bell and still being blown away. The teaching that I mentioned before is called (something like) "Covered in the Dust." It really is amazing - I'm passively looking for a way that I can share it with you, but until I do, all I can really do is just tell you about it.

For whatever reason, I've never clued in to the fact that I need to understand Jesus in much the same way that people of the day, or at the very least the gospel writers, need to understand him. His disciples saw him as a Rabbi - the Rabbi was the center of the community. According to Bell, it was the Harvard or the Yale to study under a powerful Rabbi.

What we need to remember is that all of Jesus' disciples were chosen from vocations, called from the family trade. The practical part of all this means that they were most likely rejected by another Rabbi - they were trained in the practial Jewish Education traditions and then were told by another Rabbi that you couldn't do "it" so go back and learn to work with your father or a family relative.

The JESUS comes along and says, "I (an up-and-coming powerful Rabbi) think you are worthy to be my follower. I want to train you; I want you to learn to be like me!"

That was the greatest thing that you could be - a student of a powerful Rabbi. Not only that, Jesus selected those that were otherwise rejected and renewed them, redeemed them, essentially. Jesus, as Rabbi, wanted His teachings to be carried on LONG after his death, and selected students that He knew could do that.

He selected a band of rejects on which to build his Church.

There is still hope.

Grace.

Des