Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

Other observations point in the same direction: Jesus by no means called everyone who met him openly and in faith to be his disciple. He went to the home of the toll collector Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) as well as that of the toll collector Levi (Mark 2:14-17). But Zacchaeus did not receive an invitation to discipleship as Levi did. Zacchaeus vows to change his life; in the future he will give half of his wealth to the poor of Israel and return wrongfully obtained money fourfold.⁷ But he will stay in Jericho and continue to practice his usual calling as a toll collector. Apparently there existed alongside the disciples a broad spectrum of people who opened themselves to the Gospel and took Jesus’ call to repentance to heart but who did not enter into his immediate circle of disciples.

Why was the group of disciples so important to Jesus? Obviously his disciples helped him in many ways: they found lodging (Mark 14:13-16; Luke 9:52), took care of meals and other things (Mark 6:37). It is said explicitly that the women who followed Jesus supported him and the whole group of disciples financially (Luke 8:3). But as indispensable as those things were, they were not the main reason. As Mark 3:14 says of the Twelve, the disciples were to be always “with him.”

The coming of the reign of God was not a theory, an abstract dogma, a mere teaching; it was the beginning of a dramatic history. The reign of God requires a dedicated community, a form of life into which it can enter and be made visible. The circle of men and women who followed Jesus, their solidary community, their being-together with one another, was to show that now, in the midst of Israel, a bit of “new society” had begun. In this way above all the disciples are Jesus’ “witnesses” of the reign of God now coming to be. They are, certainly, supposed to witness to the reign of God through their words, but not only in words; they witness also by their believing life together. That is why there are also so many “instructions for disciples” handed on to us in the gospels.

Participants in Jesus’ Story

If we look through the gospels we see that the Twelve and the group of disciples surrounding them play a crucial role. For example, the relatively short Gospel of Mark speaks of Jesus’ “disciples” forty-four times. But we have already come across the fact that the Twelve and the other disciples are by no means all those who were on Jesus’ side and played a role in the Jesus movement. Mark gives us an important example in the story of the blind beggar Bartimaeus (10:46-52).

This story takes place at the gate leading out of Jericho in the direction of Jerusalem. The blind man is sitting precisely where the Galilean pilgrims would set out on the last stage of their journey to the holy city. He hears Jesus passing by with a crowd of disciples and festival pilgrims, and he cries loudly, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” His cry for help is thus a messianic confession as well. Those around him are angry and order him to be quiet, but the blind man shouts still louder. Jesus notices him and heals him with the words, “Go; your faith has made you well.” So Jesus does not call the healed man to join his disciples. He does not tell him, “Come, follow me!” In fact, he releases him. But Bartimaeus, who can see again, is filled with so much gratitude that he follows Jesus. Mark says literally that he “followed him on the way” (10:52).

In the context that can only mean he accompanies Jesus to Jerusalem. He does not follow Jesus as a disciple but apparently as someone who goes part of the way with him. And he does not go just anywhere but walks with Jesus on the last part of his way, the part that will end at the cross. So the healed man becomes a participant in Jesus’ story—and that is a great, great thing.

Another example: Mark tells a story about the healing of a possessed man in the region of Gerasa (5:1-20). When Jesus has freed the man from his demons, the man begs him “that he might be with him” (Mark 5:18). That is exactly the expression Mark uses to describe a function of the Twelve, namely, “that they would be with Jesus” (cf. 3:14). So the healed man is, in fact, asking to be allowed to remain as close as possible to Jesus, as a disciple. “But he refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed” (Mark 5:19-20).