Faith and discipleship

This afternoon, I knew that we would be looking at the New Testament passages. The retreat director told us last night that he would spend afternoon sessions looking at some of the encounters Jesus had with ordinary folk, as these encounters are discribed in the gospels, but like most times that I - and we - allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to be truly seen by God, this afternoon has turned out to be a soul-stirring experience.

First, some background:

Before looking at particular stories of encounter in the bible, there are a few generalities about the work that Jesus is doing in the gospels. The stories of conversion that are recounted generally follow a determined set of steps, and so it is with us: we too can identify certain steps along the way. We call these moments steps to faith. There are some situations in the gospels where Jesus meets someone on the way who does not need these steps. For them, faith is alive and kicking already, but for the majority, and most times for us, there are a series of steps that must be followed in order to come to faith.

There are also a series of stages of faith which are often encountered, by most but not by all potential followers of Jesus. Thus, stories of conversion often have

• an element of encounter or call, where Jesus meets the person or persons in question, and either formally or informally calls them to follow in his footsteps;
• a certain period of time during which the person who has been encountered or called is disturbed or displaced from his-her way of thinking; and
• an ultimate moment when that person is sent or co-missioned to continue the mission of evangelization, calling others to discipleship.

Examples of this process are found in the story of the rich man and of the blind man in Mark's gospel. These encounters with Jesus will be the focus of our meditations for the remainder of the day.