The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. (John 1:35-37, ESV)
Patty Tavatanakit. It took me a minute to learn to say her name, but it took me less than two seconds to see the beauty of her golf swing. I only had to watch it once to become enamored with it.
Do you know the word “enamored”? The first two letters mean in, and the next five letters are amore, which is the Italian word for love.
There I was, and there I still am, in love with her swing. When I have a little time, I will pull up videos of the Thai star’s swing and watch for a few minutes. If I happen to be playing the next day, I swing better because her swing is in my mind.
Here’s something that might surprise you, though. I can’t tell you anything “technical” about her swing. My mind can copy what she does, but my brain can’t, so I leave my brain out of it.
Because I do (or hope to do) what she does, you could say I am a disciple. John and Andrew were disciples of John the Baptist, but he pointed them to Jesus, and they became his disciples. Does that mean they followed him? Yes, but that was only the beginning.
A disciple does more than merely follow a teacher; a true disciple imitates the master.
Did Jesus forgive? As his disciple, I will forgive. Did Jesus love his enemies? As his disciple, I will love them. Did Jesus always ask the Father what to do and then do it? I will do the same.
Do I know how Jesus did what he did? Not technically, but I am not supposed to duplicate what he did—I am only an imitator. I see the picture of Jesus doing what he did in the words of the Bible.
There is more color and life in them than in the videos of golf swings on YouTube, and I can read them over and over without a WiFi connection.
And so I read them, hear them, see them, and imitate them because they are in my mind. Being a disciple of Jesus means absorbing his way of living into your very being and imitating it. That is when, to your delight and surprise, someone might say, “I saw Jesus in you.”
Prayer: Father, may we absorb the way of Jesus into our very being and be true disciples of his. In his perfect name, Amen