Dust

We had a full house today in Sunday School.  Some students are in from school because the semester is over.  It is good to have a full class and we had a good lesson today.  It was called Dust and gave so many good insights into the way the 1st century Christians and Jews would have understood some things that were happening.  I will try to share a few of them with you this week.

The first thing we learned was to think about Jesus being a Jewish rabbi and what it took to become a rabbi.  Boys received their education and it consisted of memorizing the first 5 books of the Bible.  They are called the Torah by the Jews and are the most important scriptures because they were written by Moses.  When this was finished, by the time a boy was 9 or 10, the best students were selected to further their education.  This phase required them to memorize all the rest of the Old Testament.  Pretty mind boggling, if you ask me.  Now when the boys were 14 or 15, most boys studied a trade and became an apprentice.  But the best students went to a rabbi and asked to be a disciple.  The rabbi evaluated the student to see if he had what it took to know what he knows, do what he does and BE LIKE HIM.

Now when we see Jesus call his disciples, we have greater insight into what was happening.  When he calls them he is choosing men who are not the brightest students.  They didn't make the cut and get selected to study under another rabbi.  And so this new rabbi shows up and says, "Come, follow me."  He's telling them he thinks they have what it takes to be his disciple.  He has evaluated them and is telling them they can know what he knows, do what he does, and BE LIKE HIM.

No wonder they dropped everything and followed him.  

More later.