Jesus grew up in Israel in a Orthodox Jewish region called Gaililee. The Jewish kids in these communities would begin their education of the Torah (1st 5 books of the Old Testament), around age 6. Then about the age of 14 or 15, the Rabbi would begin identifying the best students by how well the understood the text and were able to take it even furtherl. At that point they were invited to become a talmidim (disciple) of a specific Rabbi who called them. If a Rabbi called you to be his disciple, he actually believed he could train you to be like him. If you were not identified and chosen be a Rabbi you then were sent home to learn your families trade.
At the time when Jesus would have been training his students/disciples, He saw two brothers, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting nets out into the lake. For they were fishermen. Jesus calls to them to follow him and become his disciples. Some time later Jesus comes upon James and John fishing with their father, Zebedee. They were apprentices learning the family's business. Now these two boys were still with their father. Which would mean they were you teens. Jesus took on both of them to train and make into his disciples. These were four who didn't make the cut! Their local Rabbis didn't think they had what it took to be like them....but, Jesus saw something different.
At one point during Jesus' teaching he comes walking up to the boat some of his disciples are fishing in. They are in the water fishing. Jesus is walking to them on the water. Suddenly Peter gets out because he wants to try walking on the water. But, he begins to sink. Who does Peter loose faith in? Not Jesus. He looses faith in himself.
The whole system of becoming a Rabbi was based on the faith the Rabbi had in his student to be great. Think about all the times in the Bible that Jesus, the Rabbi gets frustrated with his disciples. It's not because they were incapable. It's because of how capable they are. It's not their failure that is the problem, it's their greatness. They don't realize how great and capable they are.
Isn't that so true for us as well? We have no clue how capable we are. I know that's one of the biggest goals we have for our students as youth leaders. For you to see yourselves like God sees you. God has an incredibly high view of his people. We have been taught to have faith in God, but what we need to learn is that God has faith in us.
Think about that? Think about where you are in your life. A parent, a student, an athlete, a coach, etc. What would we be capable of if we really realized the faith God has in us?
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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What a paradigm shift...seeing our frustration as a not realizing our greatness and the resource He is, vs just focusing on what we can't do. Love it. Thanks, Bec.
ReplyDeleteLoved the note for today Becky. I have some input on the disciples though. I believe that they weren’t merely chosen because they were Einstein’s but because of they’re lack of knowledge and wanting to understand. Do you remember in (Mathew 8.23-27 or Mark 4.35-41) Jesus was on a boat with the disciples in a heaver storm. Jesus was asleep and the disciples woke him up because they thought they were going to drown. After Jesus calms the storms he says “Don’t you have any faith?”
ReplyDeleteAnother example is when he tells the paradigm about the farmer planting the seeds in Luke 8.4-8. The disciples don’t understand his stories so they ask Jesus what do they mean? This tells you that they are seeking wisdom but can’t figure it out on their own. God I believe chose people just like us so that we could relate more on their level. Without those chosen disciples the bible wouldn’t have as much insight as it gives. Jesus chose carefully.
Last I think that you are so right when you say that God wants us to believe in ourselves with the faith we have in him. We can’t just keep praying and hoping. He’s so much more powerful then we can imagine.
Don’t tell God how big your storm is, Tell your storm how big your god is. Amen
-Ashton
Love it, Becky. To be confronted w/ the fact that His frustration may stem from the fact that we're not trusting Him w/ our abilities. And, you know what? Often, we are most able to be used when we're at the END of our abilities...that's when we turn to Him. Thank you for making me think differently today. Love ya!
ReplyDeleteHey Becky, That hits home with me big time right now- I've been told a freaky amount of times in some way or another in the past week that i need to witness more-its obvious that God wants me to step out of my comfort zone and tell more people about Him. Thanks for the encouragement today!
ReplyDeleteBrandi