The relationship of a rabbi and his students in Israel was seen as a master-disciple relationship. The students of any particular rabbi were bound to imbibe the thought and style of their master. There were even a number of schools of thought to choose from in deciding which rabbinic school of thought to enter.

In the Christian walk, we are called to follow Jesus intimately. He is our Master as he has shown us the way to the Father. In fact, Jesus is the only way to the Father. Our lives as Christians not only need to be modeled upon the life and thought of Jesus. They also need to come into submission to it. “Submission” is another word which our society is not very fond of. However, again, this is precisely the right word to describe the type of master-disciple relationship that is necessary for Christian discipleship.

Jesus becomes the Master of our lives or he does not. The extremity of these comparisons captures the difference between a mediocre life and the life of a saint. It is because the saints lived their lives out there on the edge of human existence that they appeal so much to our imagination. The difficult thing to do is to tell ourselves that the saints not only have to live in our imagination but that we must also follow in their footsteps in the same way that they followed in Jesus’ footsteps.

A life of discipleship is about putting Christian principles into daily practice, not just thinking about how good it would be if only we could put them into practice. The saints were probably the greatest individualists of their times but their lives were always in total submission to their Master, Jesus Christ. It is time to start putting some of those thoughts into practice. Jesus was a man of action. He never stood by and did nothing. Ask the Lord Jesus today to take hold of your life and make something out of it by following his example.