Jeremy L. Berg

The Christian life of the first disciples who answered when Jesus said “Follow me” is far different from what it is for many today.  Back then, the call of discipleship truly included a cross to take up and carry, as persecution was the lot of most early followers.  Repentance, being far more than contrition for one’s private sins, was an all-encompassing call to bring one’s entire life—one’s spiritual, psychological, physical, economic, social, and political spheres—under the lordship of Jesus’ new way of life.  This life was risky, the change was radical, the consequences were far-reaching, and the pay-off was eternal.

When Matthew first left the familiarity of his tax collectors booth, he was probably not concerned with intellectually grasping the essentials of Christian doctrine, contemplating the meaning of the sacraments, critiquing various worship styles, or finding the most effective twelve-week discipleship program.  His impression of Christianity had not yet been turned sour by the all-to-common cold shoulder of a self-righteous ‘Christian.’  Nor had he tasted that ever-so-common yeast, or ‘hypocrisy’, characterizing so many modern day Pharisees in the church.

Rather, his choice to follow rested solely on his sense that there was something different about this Galilean prophet.  There was something in his message that stirred the stagnant waters of his soul.  He was not intellectually stimulated as much as he was holistically gripped by Jesus’ intoxicating call to a new way of life.  Matthew was moved at the prospects of doing something bigger, something more meaningful, something exciting, something revolutionary.

The kind of discipleship that the church needs to promote should carry this notion of mystery and uncertainty.  Not in the sense that we want to tease and entertain people with religious puzzles or frighten people away with reckless ventures.  But rather in the sense that we show people the tip of a spectacular iceberg and to invite them into the mysterious waters of faith to further explore the grandeur of the life that lies below the surface.

The church today must also begin inviting others to experience the same feelings of complete abandonment and total dependence that Christ’s first disciples experienced.  This is accomplished in part by cultivating a similar attitude of humble curiosity and childlike anticipation.   It is as if we are preparing to embark on a great journey of faith, a wild adventure of risky obedience, a thrilling pilgrimage of personal transformation—the destination and path for which remains largely unknown at the journey’s start.  As Dallas Willard puts it, “You lead people to become disciples of Jesus by ravishing them with a vision of life in the kingdom of the heavens in the fellowship of Jesus.”

This begs the question: What would be the best vehicle for ravishing people with such a vision?  I believe without a doubt that the medium of story is the most effective way to probe the inner longings of the human heart and to stir up a renewed passion for authentic discipleship in the church today.  While modernity’s churches have usually been successful in stimulating the mind with propositional truths about God, the emerging postmodern culture insists that our whole persons be touched with tangible experiences of a life lived in relationship with God.  More on that next time…