Come and Follow Me

On my personal blog the most popular page on the site is a post of Rob Bell Quotes. People either love him, hate him, disagree with him, totally agree with him, or could really care less.  Either way, I just love some of the emotional comments I get on the post.  One quote, or rather a story I like from Velvet Elvis is when Rob comments about the jewish rabbi tradition.

Often the story of when Jesus called the disciples to follow him is seen as some kind of tough sacrificial act on the part of the disciples.  We think and teach that to them it was a hard decision to make, to leave their family, their homes, their jobs to follow some stranger who approached them on the shore beside the Sea of Galilee.  However, to them in their historical context it was probably more like winning the lottery.

Rabbis who taught the Torah were the most respected members of the community.  They were the best of the best, the smartest students who knew the text inside and out.  Not everybody could be a rabbi.

 

By age ten, students had begun to sort themselves out.  Some would demonstrate natural abilities with the Scriptures and distance themselves from the others.  These students went on to the next level of eduction, which was called Bet Talmud (“House of Learning”) and lasted until sometime around the age of fourteen.

 

Students who didn’t continue their education would continue learning the family trade if your family made sandals or wine or were farmers, you would apprentice with your parents and extend family as you learned the family trade in anticipation of carrying it on someday and passing it down to the next generation.

The higher level students would continue their eduction and later apply to follow a rabbi.

…If the rabbi decided that this kid did not have what it took, if this student was not the best of the best, then he would send the student home.   He might say, “You obviously love God and know the Torah, but you do not have what it takes to be one of my talmidim.” And then he might add, “Go home and continue learning the family business.”

 

But if the rabbi believed that this kid di have what it took, he would say, “Come, follow me.”

Tagged as: jewish, rabbi, rob bell, traditions