Thoughts on the Disciples Prior to the Cross

 The thing which is often overlooked or glossed over is that Jesus' disciples were in fact His disciples, followers of the Way, prior to the cross. They had already been baptized, and were not re-baptized after the resurrection. The same was true of John's disciples, as it is recorded that those who only knew the baptism of John were also considered followers of the Way.  If following the Way was only about believing that Jesus Christ was a substitutionary sacrifice as payment for sins committed, this would make no sense whatsoever. And in fact, among Evangelical Christian commentaries in particular, there is a great deal of theological gymnastics given in order to force their pre-cross discipleship to fit their definition, but it just doesn't fit.
     Every time Jesus talked about His death and resurrection, His disciples tried to pretend He hadn't because it upset them, or they argued with Him about it. When He was arrested and crucified, they were scared, depressed, upset, angry, and didn't consider His torture and death a necessary part of their discipleship. Clearly, it wasn't the basis of their discipleship at the time. When He rose from the dead and appeared to them, they were also terrified, but in a good way. They were overjoyed, they were beside themselves, but it still wasn't the basis of their discipleship at that point. The basis of their discipleship was living as He taught and walking as He walked. His death and resurrection was the final proof of who He was in their minds, but their discipleship, the practice of imitating Him was rooted in what He taught and how He lived.
     His death and resurrection were the ultimate examples of what He taught and how they were to live just as He lived, dying to themselves so that they might live conjoined with Him. After the cross and resurrection, to be baptized meant to die with Him that one might be raised with Him, to be free from one's own malfunctioning flesh's responses and to commit to enslaving oneself to the Spirit of Christ with whom they were one. If one was dead, one was free from their malfunction. Their malfunction had no more Ownership of them because what was malfunctioning was dead. And so the Christian was to put their own flesh based responses, their "old man" to death, to live as though dead that He might live through them.
     But the Way itself hadn't changed, neither had what it meant to be a disciple.