Jesus, our Master

Jesus, our Master
There are two meanings for the word master:
  1. One who has authority over others, especially servants or slaves. These carry out the work of the master in things over which the master has authority.
  2. A skilled practitioner of a particular art or activity. An expert.

Both definitions apply to Jesus.

Jesus is our master, or so we say as Christians. Thus He is the expert we learn from, our teacher, our rabi, our mentor, our example.

Unlike Star Wars, Jesus is also the Owner and Creator of everything, and the One from whom the Force, The Holy Spirit, flows.

In Eastern practices, as it was in the days of Jesus, the apprentices or disciples spend a lot of time with their master. They watch him, eat with him, follow him. One day, they begin to do things he does, the way he does them. They ask questions. They try. They fail and try again. Over time they begin to see their master’s motives behind what he says and does.

As they understand their master’s motives, they begin to trust his judgement and then a great thing happens. The words, the actions, even the motives become their own. They become like the master, so much so that people recognize them as his disciples. They recognize the master in the words and actions of his followers.

If Jesus really is our Master, then we will spend much time in His presence, we will spend plenty of time with His words, we will meditate on his actions and allow all this to reveal His character and motives to us.

If we stay at it, we won’t need to tell people we are Christians, they will know. They might even ask us to introduce them to our Master so they too can follow him.

I’ve been challenged to go through the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) again, looking this time as an apprentice/disciple/jedi. I’ll be looking for three things:

  1. What did Jesus say?
  2. What did Jesus do?
  3. What, and how, did Jesus pray?



Would you like to join me in this basic Jedi training exercise?

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