Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did.

by John Mark Comer

Now, let’s say you were one of the lucky few who became an apprentice to a rabbi. From that day on, your entire life was organized around three driving goals: To be with your rabbi Jesus himself invited his disciples to “be with him.”[18] You would leave your family, your village, your trade, and follow your rabbi twenty-four seven. You were a student, but class wasn’t MWF from 11–11:50am. “Class” was life. You would spend every waking moment with your rabbi—sleeping at his side, eating at his table, sitting at his feet—and end up, after long hours walking behind him from town to town, covered in his dust. All. Day. Every. Day. To become like your rabbi Jesus had this great line about how “the apprentice is not above the rabbi, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their rabbi.”[19] That was the heart and soul of apprenticeship—being with your master for the purpose of becoming like your master. You would copy his tone of voice, his mannerisms, his figures of speech. You wanted to be him. Finally, your goal was… To do as your rabbi did The whole point of apprenticeship was to train under a rabbi in order to one day become a rabbi yourself. If you made it through the gauntlet of discipleship (and that was a real if), then, when he thought you were ready, your rabbi would turn to you and say something like “Okay, kid, I give you my blessing. Go, and make disciples.” This was what it meant to be a disciple. This is still what it means to be a disciple.