The Week After Easter
Imagine Jesus’ disciples post resurrection, post ascension. I’m sure they were still in shock and feeling a little “left behind.” What were they supposed to do now? Jesus made it clear - keep going. They were supposed to keep preaching, keep healing, and keep leading others to follow Jesus (Matthew 28). As disciples, they were supposed to multiply by making more disciples, even though the one they were following was no longer physically visible.
The word disciple literally means “follower.”
In ancient times it was used to describe young men who attached themselves to a certain expert or teacher to study their ways of thinking and living. This was also known as an apprentice. Disciple and apprentice are not wording we use on a regular basis in today’s culture, but yet we are all disciples of something. Everyone is apprenticing themselves to some master-teacher. Our opinions are shaped by our favorite leaders, we model our fashion after our favorite influencers, we decide our entertainment based what’s trending. With so many “voices” available to us, instead of deciding to follow one teacher and learn from him as in ancient times, we now have to consciously decide who we are not going to listen to so that we don’t become unintentional disciples of whoever or whatever has the microphone. It’s more important than ever to determine who will have your ear, who are you going to listen to and model your life after, and then carefully tune in to that frequency.
As Christians, our goal is to be followers of Jesus.
Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Following Jesus means orienting our lives around his ways, and surrendering to his Lordship. We should want to learn from him. We should want to model our lives after his life. He was not just a great teacher; this was God in the flesh. He came to earth to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, but he also showed us how God acts, thinks, and speaks. So, in follow-up to our Easter celebrations, it’s only appropriate that we consider how we can be obedient to the God that we’ve just given praise too. Do we honor him with our lips on Sunday and then forget about it Monday? Do we have grateful hearts on Easter, but not stop to truly consider if we are applying the Gospel to our lives? You may have heard it said that “the Gospel is not just the diving board, it’s the pool we swim in.”
Don’t get out of the water.
In this week following Easter, what will you do with your knowledge of Jesus? Are you content with the egg hunt, Easter dinner, and a good church service? Or are you hungry for more? Are you already easing out of the water to dry off, or are you staying in and learning to swim? I want to encourage you to become an intentional disciple. Find ways throughout your day to re-tune your heart to Jesus. Preach the Gospel to yourself every day. Pay attention to who you are listening to and remember that Jesus is better. Be aware of who you are becoming and what is shaping your life. If it’s not the one true living God, then what is it? We are all disciples of something, but it takes discipline and practice to be a follower of only one person – the only person worth following. Will you study his words? Will you follow his example of compassion? Will you commit to joining arms with his Church? Will you die to yourself and the short-lived desires that often consume us to walk closely with the resurrected King? Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.”
Come back next week as we talk more about how to go deeper in the water on this journey of apprenticeship.
