Jesus Calls His Disciples

Firstly, Jesus was Jewish and he would teach in different synagogues throughout the villages he travelled to. While in those villages Jesus would also heal those who were suffering. In his teachings he touched the hearts of the people and this created instability which frightened Jewish religious authorities. A group of men who Jesus touched started to follow and became his disciples. Jesus taught them about the will of God; as well as about a “new covenant” that God will bring to humanity through Himself, Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells the crowd that just as bread was supplied for the people then, the Father is supplying bread for them right now. It is interesting that the people ask for that bread and they ask that it be supplied forever. Jesus’ answer tells them that they can have the bread and without them having to ask, it will be supplied for eternity. He says: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” God has sent Jesus to fulfill the spiritual hunger of the people.

After what the people had seen Jesus do they said that truly this is the prophet the one prophesied by Moses (Deut. 18:15), to come into the world. There is a lesson in the Leftover. God gives in abundance.

Yet only in Matthew does Peter have a role in the story. Upon seeing Jesus on the water, he calls out, "'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water'"(Mt. 14.28). He almost succeeds, yet he suddenly gives in to fear and begins sinking. Jesus scolds him by saying, " 'You of little faith, why do you doubt?'"(14.31). This draws a strange picture of Peter. He no longer simply listens to Jesus, but tries to become actively involved in his teacher's lessons. This idea is again shown in Matthew 15.15. After the parable of the blind leading the blind, Peter asks, " "Explain this parable to us." Jesus replies with a rather impatient remark, but dives a little further into the meaning. He often comes to Jesus with questions throughout Matthew and these questions always ask for clear definitions of stories or truths about some spiritual detail. Many times Jesus snaps a little at him, but Peter obviously is not swayed by any impatience his teacher bestows. This seems to paint a closer relationship between the two men, where Peter is not afraid of Jesus and Jesus is not simply polite to Peter, as teachers tend to be. Jesus' obvious favoritism of Peter, shown in the transfiguration and throughout the gospel, leads one to believe that the two are indeed close friends with trust and mutual respect, which allows them to be freer with their words to one another. Friends tend to be less polite and more open with

Jesus performed several miracles,revealing his power over nature and spirits, and hence confirming the Kingdom of God is at hand. His very initial miracle is when he changed water into wine at Cana (See John 2:1-11).

The crowd found Jesus in the synagogue, asking Him the question When, Instead of How, did He get there. Jesus responds to their first question: Rabbi, when did You come here, with an answer they were not looking for; A question of greater importance: Their motives for looking for Him. Being at the miracle He performed in the previous passage (Feeding of 5,000), and

Jesus also performed a miracle of feeding four-thousand (Matthew 15: 32, Mark 8: 1), which is much like the miracle of Jesus feeding the five-thousand. There were many more astonishing acts performed by the wondrous miracle worker, Jesus. The coin in the fish’s mouth, walking on the water, and raising of Lazarus from the dead, are just a minute amount, out of approximately thirty-six. The miracle of Jesus feeding the five-thousand is just one of the many.

The teachings of Jesus focused primarily on the "the kingdom of God" and were usually relayed through parables drawing on familiar images from agricultural life. He rebuked the hypocrisy of some Jewish leaders and taught the importance of love and kindness, even to one's enemies. Jesus' popularity grew quickly, but so did opposition from local leaders. Roman rulers were uncomfortable with the common perception that he was the Messiah who would liberate the Jews from Roman rule, while Jewish leaders were disquieted by Jesus' shocking interpretations of Jewish law, his power with the people, and the rumor that he had been alluding to his own divinity. In the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly suggests to his disciples his end is near, but they do not fully understand or accept the idea. The clearest expression of this is at the "Last Supper," which took place on the night before his death. All four Gospels record that Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples, asking them to "do this in remembrance of me." Christians celebrate this event in the sacrament of the Eucharist, or Communion. On this evening Jesus also predicts that one of them will betray him, which is met with astonishment and denial. But that very night, Jesus' fate was sealed when Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples and possibly the group's treasurer, led Roman soldiers to Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. As they arrested Jesus, the ever-colorful Peter defended his master with a sword, slicing off

The people wanted to see if Jesus was who they heard He was. I believe the crowd wanted to see signs and miracles but they also wanted to be taught by Him. They wanted to be near Him, to hear Him teach, and to be healed. They had faith that He could heal them. They wanted to know more about Him. They’d heard stories and wanted to witness Him in action. The people also believed Jesus was a true Prophet after they were fed and saw the miracle He’d performed.

There are many connections linking the Old Testament and the New Testament. These connections are formed to parallel Jesus Christ in the Gospels from the stories of the Old Testament. These examples are used to show the truth of the Old Testament and to present the fulfillment of Jesus Christ. A few of these examples are Moses and the Pharaoh and Jesus and King Herod, Lamb of God and Passover, Moses and the Burning Bush and “I AM” statements, and finally, the parting of the Red Sea and Jesus Christ’s baptism. All of these examples are shown in the Old and New Testament and are shown as miracles because these parallels happened years apart from each other. This is the fulfillment of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Throughout the book of John, Jesus did many signs and miracles. Through these signs, Jesus attempted to show both the multitudes as well as his disciples one small truth about Him—His is God. In this gospel, Jesus goes toe-to-toe with many of the Jewish spiritual leaders (i.e., Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, etc.) in order to show the people who He truly is. Scholars disagree with how many Messianic signs Jesus performed, but one thing remains—every single sign pointed back to the fact that Jesus was who He claimed to be. The signs performed by Jesus show both the Israelites of old, as well as the people of today, that He is, indeed, God.

John composed this book to show how glorious messiah by using the miraculous signs. It is believed that Jesus performed seven Gospel Signs to prove that he was the messiah. One of the signs that Jesus used happened in Cana in Galilee when he turned water into wine. Jesus was attending a wedding ceremony together with his mother and the twelve disciples. At some point the host announced that they were out of wine and Jesus offered to help by changing 180 gallons of water to vintage wine. This miracle signified that God was present in his life and accommodative. He made his disciples to believe in him (Harris,

8:27.While Mark has been clearly focusing on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee where his authority was exhibited in his teaching and the miraculous, he now transits by altering his scene of action from Galilee to the ‘the way’ to Jerusalem via Caesarea Philippi. The construction ‘Jesus and his disciples’ is not frequently employed by the author especially when reporting on Jesus’ journeying episodes. Often times he renders the verbal form in singular when referring to Jesus alone or the third person plural ‘they’ for both Jesus and his disciples . This pointing is significant for it marks a turning point on what is to follow. This path is exclusively Jesus’ as it will climax with Jesus alone at the cross when all his disciples will have deserted him.

Each of the four Gospels contains points in ecclesiology. In the Great Commission, Jesus’ last instruction to the Apostles is to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching people (Matthew 28:19-20). For Jesus’ mission to continue and for his Church to grow, discipleship is necessary. Discipleship is a prominent theme in all four Gospels, for purposes of this essay, only the Gospels of John and Luke-Acts will be analyzed. The similarities regarding discipleship in these Gospels include images of the net and fishing, and the sheep/shepherd/sheepfold. The differences include the preparing of the Twelve to carry on Jesus' ministry in Luke, and service to the community and passing of authority in John's Gospel.

“Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, this is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him! When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. Jesus came to them and touched them and said, get up, and do not be afraid. Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has