Has the church in America lost its sense of discipleship? I ask this question in the face of the mass-marketing of Christianity in the public square, on billboards, in bookstores, and in politics, where it's beneficial from a societal standpoint to be a Christian. Christian consumerism has bred an environment where people go to church, not to involve and immerse themselves in the ministries of the church, not to serve fellow brothers and sisters in tangible ways, but to be served and to shop around for the sake of convenient Christianity. Further, the political realm has turned Christianity in America into little more than competing fraternities and sororities, each swearing allegiance to a set of mostly impractical propositions. The "I follow Paul" and "I follow Cephas" factions of the Corinthian church in the NT has become the "I follow Perry" and "I follow Obama" factions of American politics, neither following Christ to the cross. Our political arena uses Christianity to great effect to strengthen its platforms; this is the opposite of service and sacrifice to which the gospel calls. The marketing of Christianity in America has bled into the church where many American Christians view the church like a catering service, which provides goods and services for them, not the other way around. There is little sense of commitment to the cross as a way of life. We are in a sense asleep to the hard realities of the Christian life; we need something to awaken us from our slumber. The Gospel of Mark does this with a heavy dose of discipleship. Mark reminds us what Christianity is all about: following Christ to the cross. Mark's Gospel sets apart the life of Christ as well-pleasing to God (1:11), and challenges us to mirror his servant-heart as God's grace empowers us.
Mark's emphasis on discipleship presents Christianity as an active relationship, not a passive religion. I would argue that this is exactly what the church in America needs to experience. I define discipleship as turning men and women into fully devoted, mature followers of Christ, who follow Jesus into the waters of baptism so they can follow him to the cross. I'll speak more on the baptismal undercurrent of discipleship in my next post, which deals with the baptism of Jesus in Mark 1:1-13. The word discipline is embedded in the word discipleship. I'm not talking about church discipline, but simply about the fact that the Christian relationship is not a bed of roses. It's not a smooth path. Christianity is not convenient. It's anything but the glitz and glam of the political arena, or the marketing strategy that says, "Membership has its privileges." Christianity is a hard life, and people need to understand this reality before signing up. If the example of Jesus means anything, our master lived a life of service, suffering, and sacrifice. We must regain a sense of selflessness which seeks the betterment of the church rather than the betterment of our own self-centered lives. To attend a church primarily for the services it provides is symptomatic of the illness - Christian consumerism.
Mark's Gospel disciplines us by calling us to model the sacrificial ministry of Jesus. Beginning with our baptism, we emulate our master; our dying in baptism is a metaphor for our daily dying as sacrificial servants. Baptism is not a once-and-done religious ritual; it is a reminder of our commitment to grow continually as disciples, and to die daily as we model the ministry of Christ. What is more, there are not many warm fuzzy feelings in Mark. There are no pictures of me and Jesus walking hand in hand down the beach, nor is he carrying me, as in the Footprints poem. Instead, Mark paints a picture of Jesus walking as a sacrificial servant in front of me on a rocky path, while I follow him carrying my own cross. Discipleship, then, involves our desire to learn from Christ what it means practically to be a child of God.
