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JESUS THE SUPREME EXAMPLE OF DISCIPLESHIP
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2
Luke 9:51-62

Matthew 16:24-25

 

“…I will follow thee

whithersoever thou goest.”

 

JESUS THE SUPREME EXAMPLE OF DISCIPLESHIP
 
This juncture marks a turning point in Jesus’ redemptive mission on earth. He was now all set to face the cross in Jerusalem. There was no fickleness or wavering on His part. He was sure and stedfast. Note that Jesus spoke no words here. His facial expression of holy determination did all the talking. The Lamb of God would soon lay down His life for His sheep (Isa 53:7).
 
Jesus had planned a brief stay in Samaria enroute to Jerusalem, but the Samaritans would not receive Him. They rudely turned Him away. After all the good He had done for them during His Samarian ministry just about three years back, this was the cold reception He got (John 4). His disciples were so angry that they wanted to command fire to come down from heaven to consume those ingrates. But this was exactly what Jesus would not do. He rebuked His disciples for their vindictiveness. They did not share the same spirit as their Master. “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
 
Jesus suffered much in His life (Matt 8:20). He made Himself lower than His creatures. Since His birth, He suffered the rejection of the people He had come to save. He was rejected by the Samaritans when He entered into their city for some food and rest (Luke 9:52-53). Truly “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). When He was about to be born, “there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). In Judea, “did the Jews persecute Jesus” (John 5:16). Many of the Galileans “went back, and walked no more with him” (John 6:66). The city of Gadara “besought him that he would depart out of their coasts” (Matt 8:34). Indeed, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain…” (Luke 9:22).
 
Jesus set the supreme example of discipleship. He was ready to lay down His life in total obedience to God in order to save such sinners who had so ill-treated Him. A true disciple of Jesus must also be willing to lay down his life for his Lord, to follow Him till the end. Read Matthew 16:24-25.
 
THOUGHT: The cost of discipleship is life itself.

PRAYER: Father, I will follow Thee to the very end.

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