The Conditions of Discipleship Revisited

 "If anyone comes to Me and doesn't hate his own father and mother and woman and children and brothers and sisters still also his own ego, it isn't possible for him to be My disciple. ... Anyone who doesn't bear up his own cross and come behind Me, it isn't possible for him to be My disciple. ... So then, every single one of you who doesn't say good-bye to everything he started off with, it isn't possible for him to be My disciple."
     These are how Luke records the conditions for being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Matthew records the first one a little differently, "he who loves father or mother more than Me..." rather than "hating" the members of one's family, but the general idea remains the same: if there is anything, any relationship, any ideal, any possession, even your own ego, if anything presents itself as an obstacle, a barrier, or as more important than being a disciple of Jesus Christ, than it is impossible for that person to be one. Constantly in the Gospels, Jesus teaches His disciples to let go of anything which presents itself as more important, and it didn't matter what it was.
     Did it happen overnight with everyone who followed Him? No. Not overnight. It took time as they gradually learned to trust Him. But this was one of the lessons being taught when He sent out the twelve as well as the seventy, "Take nothing with you... because the worker is worthy of his wages." They were being taught to trust that what they needed would be provided by God when it was needed. Because they belonged to Him, and He to the Father, and the Father owns everything, so also they had access to everything the Father owns and all they had to do was ask for when they needed something. What point is there in clinging to anything when everything is yours to use when needed?
     They were being taught to love as He loves as well. As human beings we form attachments to people, but attachment isn't love. Attachment is about how the other person makes you feel, love is about caring about the other person and wanting the best for them regardless of how they make you feel. You and your ego are taken out of the equation. By loving as He loves, no one is excluded from that love, but all are loved regardless of who they are, what relationship they hold to you, or how they make you feel. We don't exclude anyone from that love, and favoritism is impossible.
     These practices underlie everything being a disciple meant, and if they weren't followed it was impossible to be His disciple, because you were voluntarily choosing not to live as He taught or walk as He walked. You were voluntarily choosing not to be His disciple. This is the reason why they were still maintained even after the ascension, as everyone still held everything in common and as such, no one lacked anything. The standard of practice was the love which each disciple had for everyone else. No one was left behind. Those who made mistakes were corrected with mercy. Those in leadership who fell off the Path were publicly corrected, because that's what He did with the Apostles. Nothing was hidden or left in the darkness. Those who outright refused to follow what He taught were removed until they came to their senses.
        What's not understood today is that this had nothing to do with whether or not God forgave and let that person into His presence. This had to do with that person's behavior and reflection of Jesus Christ. This had to do with salvation from one's malfunctioning behaviors, and not with whether or not one would be "saved" from the consequences of those behaviors. But that is another Ramble altogether.
     Just because you call yourself a Christian doesn't make you a disciple of Jesus Christ. You can't outright contradict Him and do the opposite of what He said and be His disciple. If He said, for example, "turn the other cheek," then a disciple will endeavor to do just that. They might make mistakes. They might find the flesh's desire for aggression or to strike back too overwhelming. But the disciple will acknowledge the mistake, confess it, and seek to rectify it. The disciple will continue to practice until the mistake is not made. This is true as well for loving one's enemy, not judging, forgiving, having mercy, and foundationally, cooperating with the Spirit of Christ's control in everything they say and do. The disciple will strive to be like his Teacher in every way.
     The first Khristianoi were disciples of Jesus Christ. They made mistakes, learned from them, and eventually moved past those mistakes to reflect Jesus Christ in everything. They did not decide that what He taught was impractical or too hard. Those that did were no longer counted among them.

Do to Others Like You Want Them to Do to You

 

"Do to others what you would want them to do to you." Likewise, "Don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you."

      This principle is a tenet found in nearly every ancient philosophy and faith in one way or another. From Aristotle to the Buddha to the words of Jesus Christ Himself, it is a foundational understanding of right practice that we simply treat other people the way we would want to be treated. It is a simple concept, yet so profound and so profoundly difficult.

      How would I want to be treated if I were poor? How would I want to be treated if I were sick? How would I want to be treated if I was black? White? Asian? Latino? Queer? Transgender? How would I want to be treated if I was mentally ill? How would I want to be treated if I was having a crisis of faith? How would I want to be treated if I no longer believed the things I did in my youth? How would I want to be treated if...? How would I not want to be treated in any of these situations or a dozen more circumstances I might or might not be able to imagine?

      Would I want to be judged for things seemingly beyond my control? Would I want a grudge held against me? Would I want to be forgiven for a grievous mistake? Would I want to be yelled at? Belittled? Verbally abused?

      Treat others how you want to be treated. Forgive others and you will be forgiven. Don't judge and you won't be judged. These are, in many ways, the ABCs of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, and are teachings even Atheists know that He taught. They form the foundation of Christian practice towards one another which Paul goes into great detail about in his letters, and can also be summed up in "You will love your neighbor like you love yourself."

      And in order to really do this, we have to let go of all of our preconceptions, judgments, moral codes, and even our own self-identities. We have to let go of anything and everything that prevents us from being love incarnate to the other person in front of us, because that is who Jesus Christ is, and that is who we are to be as His disciples. Love incarnate to all those around us.

      To do to others as you would have them do to you requires that you first see yourself in the other person. You have to look at things from their perspective, try to see things through their eyes. Thich Nhat Hanh and other Buddhist authors call this "Looking Deeply" at the other person. If we are going to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and we are going to do to others as we would want them to do to us or not do to them what we wouldn't want done to us, then we must learn to look deeply at them. We must learn to see the whole person, the child they were, the adult they are, the pains, the frustrations, the triumphs, the successes, the failures, and the struggles they have endured. We must endeavor to understand where they are coming from, and not judge them but have compassion and mercy for who they are right now in this moment.