Ephesians 1:22–23: And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (ESV)
I want to spend some time considering what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. When I say that, what I mean is that I feel like I understand the word "disciple," but not the meaning. It is as if the word cannot hold in the fullness of the meaning that Jesus gives it in how he taught and how he lived.
The word "disciple" isn't big enough to hold the meaning, and I am not big enough to take it all in. The reason? Because what it means to be a disciple of Jesus is to become like him in every way- and he is full in every way. Too full to...uh...fully comprehend.
That word "full" sounds strange, but only because so much of our lives is empty that we are not used to full. Yes, we have full (read: busy) lives and most of the time full stomachs, but there is an emptiness to that. Looking for an identity in what we do or how we perform reveals a soul emptiness. Counting down the minutes until it is socially acceptable to drink our anxieties away shows emptiness. The feeling of hopelessness that comes from years of hollow friendships where people are too afraid to be known and accepted fully points to a deep emptiness of relationships.
We are so used to emptiness that our capacity for fullness has shrunk.
I long for people to be full and when I read scripture and I see Jesus' life, I feel his fullness; an internal life that is both rock solid, tender, and bursting out with life.
What it fully means to follow Jesus seems illusive, but I also know that he isn't trying to keep that life from us. On the contrary, he wants us to have his abundant life (see John 10:10) and I want to explore that through my own reading a book of Luke. I may make some notes over the next few weeks as I read through Luke's gospel asking the questions "How is Jesus teaching us to following him?" and "How is Jesus showing us what it means to have a full life?"