The Success of Failure

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM
On the other hand, we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ had to establish the kingdom of God, regardless of the aptitudes of the disciples to embody it. God cannot change his demands by virtue of the human condition, since the reality of sin, typical of the fallen human nature, is not his responsibility. However, what was the point of Jesus revealing the gospel of the kingdom of God to people who were unable to live it? It is difficult to imagine that Jesus’ only intention was to establish the truth, since, as the apostle John says, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
Christ brought not only truth, but also grace... especially grace. Of course, truth had to be established among men, and not only did it have to be known, but it also had to be lived. The problem, however, was that the demands of the kingdom of God were divine, heavenly demands; while the disciples, on the other hand, lived in human and earthly conditions. For the fallen human nature, the demands of the Kingdom are not ingrained. In essence, exposing the truths of the kingdom of God could give the disciples the vision of what they had to live and embody, but not the power to do it.

NATURAL INABILITY
For example, did it make sense then that the Lord would ask and demand of his disciples, that they fulfill the Sermon on the Mount? To get closer to a possible answer, we must first ask if the disciples, while listening to their teacher, were aware of their total inability to fulfill what they heard. As we will see later, the disciples were not fully aware of their true condition. In fact, man has never been aware of his true state. Man is blind, and the only possibility for him to get to know himself is for God to reveal to him his condition. Discovering our total helplessness is a significant revelation. Until that time comes, we all respond to the divine demands just as the people of Israel did when the law was given to them: "We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey" (Ex. 24: 7, NIV).
It is true that Paul says “Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law" (Gal. 3:11 RSV). This judgment is spiritual and it does not imply that men have understood it from the beginning. On the contrary, many not only believed that they could keep the law, but also thought that they were indeed keeping it. In fact, not only men like Saul of Tarsus or the rich young man presumed to keep the law, but also groups such as the Pharisees and the Essenes.

DIVINE EDUCATION
The confusion here is further compounded by the oh-so-logical idea, which is ever so prevalent in the Christian mentality, that if God demands something from man, it must be because man can fulfill it. Otherwise, how would God ask for something that man cannot accomplish? But it is precisely in this supposed divine incoherence that we find the answer to the initial question we have asked ourselves: Did it make sense for Jesus to demand heavenly conduct from sinful men? The answer is yes, definitely yes! Not because the Lord expected his disciples to fulfill his demands, but rather because his initial goal was for the disciples to clash again and again with his commandments, until they had experienced their total inability to fulfill them.
His methodology would be to allow one failure after another until his disciples were empty of themselves, to then be filled with the life of the Risen One. This is the entire point. Jesus Christ did indeed bring God's grace to men, but for some reason that is not easy for us to understand; He did not begin by telling them about grace, but rather by speaking truth.
Jesus Christ knew better than anyone that the only way to prepare the heart of man to receive the grace of God was simply to make men first experience their own absolute helplessness in keeping the truth. Hence the importance of Jesus showing himself before his disciples in all his glory and power, because only in this way could their total inability be discovered. Our self-assessment depends on whom we measure or compare ourselves against. As the saying goes: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." If the disciples had only compared themselves to each other, some would have felt better than others. But, when facing Christ, who can remain standing?

A DEVASTATING PROCESS
Many of us, in total ignorance of reality, have envied the privileged opportunity that the first disciples of the Lord had, i.e. being discipled directly by Jesus! When we imagine that situation, we surround it with so much romanticism and mysticism that it is difficult not to exhale a “Wow!”. However, nothing could be further from the truth. For the disciples, following Jesus was a terrible experience. Again and again they felt that they were not up to his standards. Frequently they made fools of themselves and experienced many embarrassments. He was so different from them that they were gradually filled with fear and confusion.
Jesus often treated the disciples mercilessly and harshly, or at least it appeared that way. In essence, the discipleship process was actually a demolition job perpetuated on the disciples. The only thing that sustained and kept them from giving up the process was the undeniable and glorious fact that Jesus Christ "…having loved his own who were in the world, He loved them to the end" (John 13:1, RSV). Here, "to the end" does not only mean that He loved them until the last day, but rather “to the extreme”, i.e. to giving his very life for them. Only Jesus’ unconditional love for them prevented the disciples from abandoning their Master.
Join me, then, on this journey with Jesus, through the three and a half years of training, or rather destruction to which his disciples were subjected, in what we might call a true school of discipleship. For this purpose, we will follow the gospel of Mark for the simple reason that Mark is the gospel that uses the strongest and most stark language when describing the reactions and feelings of the disciples.