Dust

Jewish Rabbis who taught the Torah were the most respected members of their 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 studying in the Jewish synagouge 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 education, which was called Bet Talmud ("House of Learning") and lasted until sometime around the age of fourteen.
Students who did not 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 extended family as you learned the family trade in anticipation of carrying it on someday and passing it down to the next generation. Meanwhile, the best of the best, continuing their education in Bet Talmud, would then go on to further their learning of the Scriptures, having them fully memorized...Genesis through Malachi...thirty-nine books...memorized, as well as studying the art of questions and the oral tradition surrounding the text. These remaining students would now apply to a well known rabbi to become one of that raddi's talmidim (disciples). We often think of a disciple as a student, but being a disciple was far more than just being a student. The goal of a disciple wasn't just to know what the rabbi knew, but to be just like the rabbi.
This level of education was called Bet Midrash ("House of Study"). A student would present himself to a well known rabbi and say, "Rabbi, I want to become one of your disciples." When a student applied to a rabbi to be one of his disciples, he was desiring to take that rabbi's yoke upon him. He wanted to learn to do what the rabbi did. So when this student came to the rabbi and said, "I want to follow you," the rabbi wanted to know a few things: Can this student do what I do? Can this kid spread my yoke? Can this kid be like me? Does this kid have what it takes? The rabbi would then question and drill the student because he wanted to know if this kid could do what he did. He did not have time to train someone who wouldn't ultimately be able to do what he did. If the rabbi believed that the student did have what it took, he would say, "Come follow me." The student would then follow the rabbi everywhere. He would learn to apply the oral and written law to situations. He gave up his whole life to be just like his rabbi.
One of the earliest sages of the Mishnah, Yose ben Yoezer, said to disciples, "Cover yourself with the dust of your rabbi's feet."
This idea of being covered in the dust of your rabbi came from something everybody had seen. A rabbi would come to town, and right behind him would be this group of students, doing their best to keep up with the rabbi as he went about teaching his yoke from one place to another. By the end of a day of walking in the dirt directly behind their rabbi, the students would have the dest from his feet all over them.....and that was a good thing.
So at the age of thirty, when a rabbi generally began his public teaching and training of disciples, we find Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee.
"He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen." Why were they fishermen? Because they aren't disciples. They weren't good enough; they didn't make the cut.
Jesus called the not-good-enoughs.
The story continues: "At once they left their nets and followed Him."
This is strange isnt it? Why do they just drop their nets? Why would they quit their jobs for some rabbi they had never met? And those Christian movies don't help. Jesus is usually wearing a white bathrobe with a light blue beauty pagent sash, and his hair is blow-dried and his eyes are glazed over....and he is Swedish. But given the first century context, it's clear what is going on here. Can you imagine what this must havebeen like- to have a rabbi say, "Come follow me"? To have a rabbi say, "You can be like me?" Of course you would drop your net. The rabbi believes you can do what he does. He thinks you can be like him.
Jesus took some boys who didn't make the cut and changed the course of human history.
At one point, Jesus' disciples are riding in a boat and Jesus comes walking by on the water. And one of the disciples says, "If it's you, let me come to you on the water." It's a weird story, isn't it? And it gets weirder when Peter jumps out of the boat because he wants to walk on water like Jesus. But it makes sense- maybe not the water part but the disciple part. If you are a disciple, you have commited your entire life to being like your rabbi. If you see your rabbi walk on water, what do you immediately want to do? Walk on water. So this disciple gets out on the water and he starts to sink, so he yells, "Jesus save me!" And Jesus says, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
Who does Peter lose faith in? Not Jesus; Jesus is doing fine. Peter loses faith in himself. Peter loses faith that he can do what his rabbi is doing. If the rabbi calls you to be his disciple, then he believes you can actually be like him. As we read the stories of Jesus' life with his disciples, what do we find frustrates him to no end? When his disciples lose faith in themselves. Is he frustrated because they are incapable? No, because of how capable they are. He sees what they could be and could do, and when they fall short, it provokes him like crazy. It isn't their failure that's the problem; it's their greatness. They don't realize what they are capable of.
So Jesus tells the disciples to go the ends of the earth and make more disciples. And then he leaves. He promises to send his Spirit to guide them and give them power, but Jesus himself leaves the future of the movement in their hands. He trusts that they can actually do it.
God has an incredibly high view of people. God believes that people are capable of amazing things. He believes they can be like Him, that everyone can be like Him. That they can spread His yoke, His love, His Kingdom.

I have been told that I need to believe in Jesus. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that Jesus believes in me.
I have been told that I need to have faith in God. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that God has faith in me.
The rabbi thinks we can be like him.
May you be covered in the dust of you rabbi.