Jeremy L. Berg

Just skimmed a little book by the great NT scholar, James Dunn, on Jesus’ Call to Discipleship (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992). If you’ve ever wanted a short, concise summary of the heart of Jesus’ radical teaching and summons to discipleship, here’s a great summary from pp. 121-122:

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.  It gave first place to the poor. 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.

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.

4) Not least it was a discipleship which reaffirmed Jesus’ own heritage, even while opening it to wider circles. His concern was that his fellow Jews should participate in the full blessings of God’s covenant promises for Israel. But the resulting community of discipleship should be an extended family, open to all who seek to do God’s will. It should be prepared to share his mission, and his suffering. And it should beware of the danger of conforming its structure and relationships to the pattern of the institutions of this age. In this, as in other matters, Jesus himself provides the primary role model.