What a great weekend we had at Cursillo! If you haven’t
heard about Cursillo, it is an intensive short course in the Christian faith.
But it’s not necessarily what most people think.
We talk a lot in the church about being a disciple of Jesus
or following Jesus, but we don’t do a very good job of explaining exactly what
that means. Most of us have the idea that discipleship is about learning
something new, probably something we didn’t know before. I think that’s true to
a certain extent, but I also think we often confuse information with formation.
We go to Bible studies, and Sunday school classes and we
expect to learn new things. That is a good thing, up to a point. The problem is
that we think that once we have learned something new, or even been inspired or
blessed, that is the end of the story. But new information is not the goal of
true discipleship. I’m pretty sure that when we get to heaven, St. Peter isn’t
going to give us a Bible quiz to see how much we know. I think he’s going to
ask us if we love Jesus.
I have spent a fair portion of my life learning new Bible
information. I went to seminary. I actually paid somebody to teach me
all that stuff. But information is not formation, and I think of discipleship
in terms of formation.
If you have ever seen the movie, The Karate Kid, (the
original) it’s the story of a boy named Daniel from New Jersey who moves to
California and doesn’t fit in. He gets teased, and finally beat up by bigger
kids who know Karate. There is a little Japanese man in his building who comes
to his rescue one day and sends the other bigger kids packing. Daniel begs him
to teach him how to fight, and the man agrees. You may remember the scene where
Mr. Miyagi invites Daniel over to his house and has him wax his car and sand
his deck. Daniel wants to learn Karate, but Mr. Miyagi knows that a foundation
must be laid first. He must be formed before he can be informed. All that hard
work, it turns out, was strengthening and training his muscles, so that when
the actual training began, he would be ready.
It is much the same with the Christian life. I wonder how
many people consider that “disciple” and “discipline” come from the same root?
If we want to be disciples, we must be disciplined in our actions and in our
faith. We must do the hard work of following Jesus.
I wonder how many folks set aside time each day to be with
Jesus, to spend time in prayer. I wonder how many people take the time to read
their Bibles, not for more information, but to learn how Jesus was able to love
those who ridiculed him, spat on him, and nailed him to a cross.
As we come to Holy Week, when we remember the last days of Jesus’ life, don’t just spend time learning about him, let’s try to learn from him. Let’s make this year’s Holy Week an experience to remember, not because we learned something new, but because we met someone new. Come and meet Jesus.
