For me, to be a disciple is to be a
follower, someone who is willing to commit himself and do everything for the
greater glory and honor of God. That was my personal understanding of the word
disciple. I did not realize that the word disciple literally translated from
the Greek means to be "a learner." Thus, to be a disciple is to be a
learner or student of Jesus. If that is the case, I have a lot of quizzes to
pass, homework to submit, projects to accomplish and big exams to review for. I
needed to do all of these if I want to pass as a student and impress my
greatest teacher, Jesus.
Growing up in the Catholic faith, I remember learning the basic and fundamental teachings of my religion from my school teachers and my parents as well. In school, we would have our weekly catechism classes while at home I would remember praying the holy rosary with my family and join the block rosary together with the elders in my town where I grew up in. It was a start of my learning the A,B,Cs of my faith as a Catholic.
As I grow older, I felt that I needed to learn more about Jesus,
thus, I enrolled myself in a bible class on my own expense just to learn more
about Him. I remember having a lot of trivial and intricate questions that
bogged my mind and shook my faith as a student. It was like trying to
understand my lessons, struggling to review for my exams, and having difficulty
doing my homework which gave me a very hard and tumultuous learning experience
which eventually I have well comprehended by the grace of God.
However, being a learner of Jesus
does not end there. This time, I needed to apply what I have learned. It is
where I have to be a follower of Jesus and enter into a discipleship which is
the process of learning about the teachings of Jesus, internalizing them and
then acting upon them has to take place. This I believe is the greatest
challenge for any student like me for that matter. It is where I have to take
that internship or practicum of life by being able to apply everything that I
have learned in the classroom of Jesus.
I remember being asked by my Grade 4
students the question, “What will make you happy?” I simply said, “To be with
God in heaven together with my family and friends.” I truly believe that this
can happen if I will do my best to be a good student of Jesus. Not just
learning everything in the bible but also sharing His goodness and kindness to
others.
In this year of Faith, we are all
reminded to be faithful students of Jesus by being bright learners and humble
followers. Remember, we are all doing this because we wanted to impress our Great
Teacher and be accelerated to the ultimate grade level in life which is heaven.
I believe that as a student of Jesus, we can always do our best to pass all the quizzes, come up with great projects, submit our home works on time and get straight A’s in all our exams if we would always put our trust and faith in Him.
Pick up your bags, read your books and listen very well to our
beloved teacher……..Jesus!
