Not
long ago, I purchased a new original language Bible. Since then, I
have been reading back through different New Testament books,
transferring notes from my old Greek New Testament. The book I have
been going through most recently is Matthew. Several weeks ago, I
went through Matthew 10, and after making some notes and a Facebook
comment, I moved on, but I find myself continuing to come back to it
in my mind.
There
were two things which stood out most to me then. The first was that
this was more than just Jesus prepping his twelve disciples for a
missionary road trip. This was their formal consecration as Apostles.
The rules they were given by Jesus here weren't just for the
immediate journey, but they were a rule of religious life which the
Apostles were to continue following for the rest of their lives.
Virtually the same rules were laid down for the seventy disciples who
were sent out as well in Luke 10:1-11.
The
second observation flows from the first, and this is that voluntary
poverty was a part of their religious practice from this point in
time onward(vs. 9-10), and appears to have been a mandated
requirement to be one of Jesus's disciples. Jesus Himself lays this
requirement on the rich young ruler, the only thing he lacked was to
sell everything he had, give the proceeds to the destitute, then come
and follow him in Matthew 19:21. Jesus was also clear that He Himself
was homeless, and becoming His disciple meant following Him into
homelessness in Matthew 8:20 (compare with the instructions to the
Apostles in v. 11-14). His Apostles in the gospels also reiterated
that they had given up everything to follow Him (Luke 18:28, Matthew
19:27). Jesus's admonishment towards voluntary, absolute poverty,
homelessness, and detachment from earthly relationships for His
disciples was strong, repeated, and consistent throughout the gospels
(Luke 14:26-33, Matthew 10:37-39; 16:24-26). And it appears to have
carried over into the practice of the Apostolic Church immediately
before and after Pentecost in Acts 1-2.
Finally,
He was also clear that those who didn't follow these conditions
couldn't be His disciples. He said this over and over again. This is
what keeps running through my mind. How can we reconcile the modern,
western, materialistic life with being a disciple of Jesus Christ?
And yet those most guilty of this at times are those professing to be
“Christians”. About the only Christian populations today that
continue to maintain these conditions of discipleship are some,
though not all, religious and monastic orders.
One
of the things that strikes me most about the conditions of
discipleship is how similar this life was to the practice of the
Buddha and his bhikkus (bhikku is “disciple” in Pali) as
described in the Gospel of Buddha. They too were expected to
renounce, or at least detach from all earthly relationships. They
were expected to renounce or detach from all material possessions and
enter a state of voluntary, near absolute poverty. And they too were
expected to enter into homelessness. They were also expected to
remain chaste and/or celibate.
Where
this last part is concerned, the Jewish law already expected this in
that only heterosexual marriage was permitted, and celibacy was
expected otherwise on pain of death or forced marriage according to
the Mosaic Law. And it is clear from, not only what Jesus taught, but
also the letters of the Apostles in the rest of the New Testament
that chastity was expected of Jesus's disciples both before and after
Pentecost with the only exception being a monogamous, heterosexual
marriage. Otherwise, the disciple was expected to remain celibate.
Another
example I keep coming back to is that of several of the recognized
Saints. One such example is that of Saint Theresa of Calcutta (she'll
be fully canonized this year). I recently watched the movie, "The
Letters" again, which is about her life and work. As a nun, she
assumed voluntary poverty and chastity to begin with. But in going
out from her security in her convent to live and work with Calcutta's
poorest of the poor, she also, in a way, went forward into
homelessness as well. Other examples may be St. Francis of Assisi, or
St. Ignatius of Loyola. It occurs to me that, according to the
writings and biographies of the Saints for the last two thousand
years, the power and presence of Christ is most apparent and most
active in those who adhere to the conditions of discipleship that He
Himself laid out.
What
does that look like with a spouse? With a family? What does that look
like with responsibilities within society? And yet weren’t these
questions that the Apostles and the seventy also had to wrestle with?
St. Paul mentions that St. Peter had a wife that went with him, and
the gospel writers also allude to his wife when they mention his
mother-in-law with a fever.
I
think there is a great deal of soul searching that needs to be done
by those today that profess themselves to be His disciples. Do we
despise the homeless, or do we join them as He did? Do we look down
on those in poverty, or do we sell everything we have and give the
proceeds to them as He taught? Do we indulge our sensual desires, or
do we remain chaste as He did? And what would, and what did Jesus do
and teach? What did He say we must do in order to truly be His
disciples? If we don’t ask these questions and be honest with
ourselves about the answers, how can we seriously even begin to call
ourselves by His name?
