6 - Concluding Reflections

Summary

Summary

In this study we have focused on discipleship of Jesus in a quite specific sense: the discipleship to which Jesus himself actually called his hearers during his ministry in first-century Palestine. The outlines of that call and of the discipleship to which he called are clear.

1. (1) It begins from God and focuses on God. God's rule as Creator and as the one who alone can command allegiance and accountability from all created beings is the primary motive for discipleship. The call is primarily for life and living to be oriented entirely in accordance with that fact – to seek first the Kingdom of God. It is an urgent call: To delay might be not only dangerous, but fatal.

2. The discipleship to which Jesus called also turned upside down the social and religious conventions of his day.

3. (2) It gave first place to the poor (“pride of place” would distort the emphasis). The Kingdom of God is theirs! Not as something which can be imposed or fully implemented in this age; but as a recognition of God's priorities, in contrast to those of human society, and as an enabling to live and work within the structures and relationships of this age in the light of these priorities.

4. (3) It gave equal first place to sinners – those marginalized or even excluded from the circle of God's favor by the righteous. Jesus' call to discipleship is a permanent warning against any form of discipleship which exists by drawing tight definitions and strictly controlled practices round it as a barrier cutting itself off from others. His discipleship is rather to be characterized by the outgoing love, acceptance, and service which marked his own ministry.

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