Discipleship, a cornerstone of the Christian faith, is a term that signifies far more than mere intellectual assent or casual affiliation. Derived from the Greek word mathetes, meaning “learner” or “apprentice,” a disciple in the New Testament context is one who commits wholly to the person and teachings of a master, reorienting their entire life around that relationship. The Gospels present this journey not as a single event, but as a dynamic process that begins with a compelling call and proceeds through a series of profound demands.
The Story of the Call to Discipleship
The call to follow Jesus is consistently portrayed as an authoritative, life-altering invitation that demands an immediate and decisive response. The Gospel writers present this through two key archetypal events: the calling of the Galilean fishermen and the calling of a tax collector.
1. The Call of the First Disciples (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11)
The initial call narratives focus on four fishermen by the Sea of Galilee: the brothers Simon (Peter) and Andrew, and the brothers James and John, sons of Zebedee. While Matthew and Mark offer concise, parallel accounts, Luke provides a more detailed and dramatic version that enriches our understanding.
- The Synoptic View (Matthew & Mark): In both Matthew 4 and Mark 1, the scene is strikingly direct. Jesus, walking by the sea, sees the brothers fishing. His call is simple yet profound: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17). The response is equally stark and immediate. Peter and Andrew “immediately left their nets and followed him.” Shortly after, upon seeing James and John mending their nets with their father, Jesus calls them. They too respond instantly, leaving not only their nets—their source of livelihood—but also their father, Zebedee, representing their familial ties and obligations.The key takeaways from these accounts are the authority of Jesus’s call and the immediacy of the disciples’ response. There is no negotiation or hesitation. The call itself is a creative act; Jesus does not ask them if they want to be “fishers of men,” but declares that he will make them so. This implies a complete transformation of their identity and purpose, moving from a trade that sustains physical life to a mission that brings spiritual life.
- Luke’s Detailed Account (Luke 5:1-11): Luke frames the call within a miracle. Pressed by a crowd, Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and teaches from the water. Afterward, he instructs Simon to go into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon, a veteran fisherman, protests based on a long, fruitless night of work but ultimately obeys: “But at your word I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5).The resulting catch is so overwhelmingly large that the nets begin to break and a second boat is needed. This miraculous demonstration of power elicits a different response from Simon Peter. He is not just impressed; he is overcome with a sense of his own sinfulness in the presence of divine power, falling at Jesus’s knees and crying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8).Jesus’s response is not a rebuke but a reassurance and a commission: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” It is only after this profound personal encounter—an experience of grace overwhelming unworthiness—that they pull their boats ashore, “left everything, and followed him.” Luke emphasizes that the call is not just to a new task but is rooted in an encounter with the divine that exposes one’s need for grace. The response is not just leaving nets, but leaving everything.
2. The Call of the Outsider (Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32)
The call of Matthew (or Levi in Mark and Luke) serves as a critical counterpoint to the call of the fishermen. As a tax collector, Matthew was a collaborator with the Roman occupiers and was widely viewed as a “sinner”—a religious and social outcast, ritually unclean and known for extortion.
- The Narrative: Jesus sees Matthew sitting at his tax booth and offers the same concise, authoritative command: “Follow me.” Just like the fishermen, Matthew gets up, leaves his post, and follows. This action would have been irreversible. He was not merely leaving a job; he was abandoning a lucrative but despised position, severing ties with his Roman employers and stepping into a completely uncertain future.
- The Significance: The call of Matthew radically expands the scope of discipleship. It demonstrates that Jesus’s invitation is not limited to the conventionally pious or socially acceptable. It is extended to the marginalized and the despised. This is immediately reinforced by the subsequent scene where Jesus dines at Matthew’s house with a large crowd of “tax collectors and sinners.”When the Pharisees criticize Jesus for this association, he delivers a foundational statement of his mission: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick… For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13). This act clarifies that discipleship creates a new community, one defined not by previous social or religious status, but by a shared need for the spiritual healing that Jesus offers. The call is an open invitation to all who recognize their need for grace.
The Demands of Discipleship
If the call is an act of grace, the journey that follows is one of profound and often startling demands. Jesus makes it clear that following Him is not a path of comfort or convenience but one that requires absolute allegiance and a willingness to subordinate all other loyalties.
1. The Demand for Radical Surrender (Matthew 8:18-22; Luke 9:57-62)
In these parallel passages, Jesus interacts with several would-be followers, using their enthusiasm to articulate the non-negotiable terms of discipleship.
- The Cost of Homelessness and Insecurity: The first man enthusiastically declares, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus’s reply is sobering: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58). This is a call to relinquish the basic human need for security, stability, and a home. To follow Jesus is to embrace a life of itinerancy and dependence on God, rejecting earthly comforts as the primary source of one’s identity.
- The Cost of Absolute Priority: Another man expresses a desire to follow, but with a condition: “Lord, let me first go and bury my father” (Matthew 8:21; Luke 9:59). In Jewish culture, ensuring a proper burial for a parent was one of the most sacred duties. Jesus’s response is shocking: “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60).This is not a command to be callous or disrespectful. It is a radical statement about priorities. The “dead” refers to the spiritually dead—those unconcerned with the new life of the Kingdom. The urgency of proclaiming God’s reign is so great that it must take precedence over even the most profound familial and cultural obligations. The allegiance required by Christ is supreme.
- The Cost of Unwavering Focus (Luke 9:61-62): Luke adds a third interaction. A man wishes to follow but first wants to say goodbye to his family. Jesus replies with a powerful agricultural metaphor: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” A plowman must keep his eyes fixed forward to cut a straight furrow. Looking back causes the line to waver and results in a ruined field. Discipleship requires the same single-minded focus. It is a forward-looking commitment with no room for lingering attachments to one’s old life.
2. Counting the Cost (Luke 14:25-33)
Speaking to a large crowd, Jesus lays out the cost of discipleship in the starkest terms possible, using hyperbole and parables to ensure no one follows under false pretenses.
- The Demand of Supreme Love: Jesus declares, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). The word “hate” is a Semitic idiom of preference. It does not mean to feel emotional animosity but to “love less by comparison.” The disciple’s love for Christ must be so absolute that all other loves, even the most natural and precious, look like hatred in comparison. This includes “hating” one’s own life, a call to complete self-denial.
- The Demand to Bear a Cross: The next condition is to “carry their cross and follow me” (Luke 14:27). To a first-century audience living under Roman occupation, a cross was not a piece of jewelry; it was an instrument of excruciating public execution reserved for rebels and criminals. To carry one’s cross meant to identify with the condemned, to embrace suffering, shame, and potential death for the sake of the master.
- The Parables of Calculation: Jesus then offers two parables. The first is of a man who starts building a tower without first calculating the cost, only to be ridiculed when he cannot finish. The second is of a king who must assess whether his army of 10,000 is strong enough to face an enemy with 20,000. The point of both is identical: do not begin a commitment without first understanding its full cost. Discipleship is a serious undertaking that requires sober calculation and intentional commitment.
The conclusion is unequivocal: “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). This is the ultimate demand—a total renunciation of possessions, relationships, and self-interest, placing all one is and has at the feet of Jesus.
Conclusion
The Gospel accounts present a clear and challenging picture of discipleship. It begins with a gracious and sovereign call from Jesus—an invitation extended to fishermen and tax collectors, the ordinary and the outcast alike. This call is authoritative, demanding an immediate reorientation of life and purpose.
However, this initial invitation is inseparable from its radical demands. True discipleship requires a calculated, conscious decision to place Christ above all else: above comfort, security, family, and even life itself. It is a call to take up a cross, to embrace a life of insecurity, and to move forward with an unwavering focus on the Kingdom of God. The journey of a disciple is therefore one of total transformation, powered by the grace of the initial call and defined by the ongoing cost of absolute commitment.
References
- Bock, Darrell L. Luke: 1:1–9:50. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Baker Academic, 1994.
- Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, 1995.
- Carson, D. A. “Matthew.” In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 8. Zondervan, 1984.
- France, R. T. The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text. The New International Greek Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, 2002.
- Wright, N. T. Jesus and the Victory of God. Fortress Press, 1996.
