Ray Vander Laan starts off this video teaching series by stating that the Jewish model is the Mishnah, not the Bible. We are continuing to learn about discipleship. Ray then said, “Find a rabbi and follow him. Walk with him, drink in his words as if you are thirsty, and always be covered with the dust of his feet.” The disciple wants to be like the rabbi more than anything in the world, so when he walks, you want his dust on you. “Stay dusty.”

How do you become a disciple? You stay close. You stay in contact with his teaching. In a metaphorical sense, if you are at the back of the line and not observing what the rabbi is like, his dust will not fall on you. Stay close to Jesus. The closer you walk, the more his dust will be on you, and the more like him you will become.

Jesus said to walk as he walked (1 John 2:6). We look at how God prepared for that calling as much as 1,800 years before. We have walked through much of that preparation and reached the point where we talk about the original disciples and the original education system that helped them become knowledgeable about the text and how to practice it.

There were two levels of text education: Beth Sefer and Beth Midrash. Beth Sefer is basically elementary school. The entire curriculum revolved around the Book. Students were probably boys and girls ages 6–12. Jesus went to his first Passover at age 12–13, and at age 12 he had mastered what they asked him to learn (Luke 2:41–47). He was expected to understand, apply, and possibly write the text. He was taught by a Torah teacher, who was bound by accepted community interpretations. Authoritative rabbis could offer new interpretations.

While they were studying, children also learned the family trade because studying alone was not going to prepare them for a career, but for life.

The second level of education was open to everyone all the time but was more advanced. Beth Midrash means to interpret, explain, or apply. It goes beyond what is written in the Bible and teaches how to interpret it. This level was taught by rabbis who possessed authority.

If you had a week off, you went to the rabbi and studied with him in your free time. For example, if you were a farmer and your crops were harvested, grapevines trimmed, olives crushed, and oil stored, you would go to the synagogue and listen. Women might bring their infants to listen. This was where you would find people interested in the Scripture passage of the day.

Evidence shows that some of the more gifted young men were encouraged to attend Beth Midrash as much as possible. They might not attend every day, but if they demonstrated unusual ability to memorize or the discipline to study hard and long, they began to absorb other interpretations and learn how to apply them. The subject matter went beyond the Torah and Psalms. They studied prophets like Joel. As the Beth Midrash rabbi explained and modeled the text, the student would take the yoke and the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). The world believed Jesus was educated in both Beth Sefer and Beth Midrash. One never truly finishes Beth Midrash. Unless you were a disciple, you went when you had opportunity—like attending church instead of a discipleship class. After discipleship, you became a rabbi.

What is discipleship? It is like graduate school. It is the equivalent of PhD-level work. Anyone could come and listen to a rabbi, but only an unusual person would become a disciple. Students were often younger men who demonstrated unusual ability in Beth Midrash. They would have spent time in both Sefer and Midrash. By the time they reached the rabbi, they would have been taught the Torah and Tanakh and become knowledgeable about the text.

They also wanted more than anything else to interpret and model Scripture the way their rabbi did. They were committed to leaving home and accepting his yoke from the beginning. Rabbis were often itinerant. They did not settle permanently in one town but might be based in one and travel with their disciples. This accomplished two things. First, disciples saw the rabbi in daily life and observed how he responded to lepers, handled arguments, made a living, and survived.

There was no higher compliment than to call someone “rabbi.” That is why the rabbi’s invitation was “Come, follow me,” not “Study with me” (Matthew 4:19). You decided to study before you joined. You were committed from day one. Judas was unusual in that regard.

Discipleship went much deeper and was much more thorough. Disciples tried to become like the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Discipleship involves being a student, admirer, follower, believer, scholar, and imitator. Ray likes the idea that, above all, the disciple wants to be like the teacher-rabbi.

Is the devil a believer? In a sense, yes. He knows the truth but lies (John 8:44). Is he a student? Yes, probably one of the best in the universe. Think of how he tempted Jesus—he is brilliant in his use of Scripture (Matthew 4:1–11). But does Satan imitate Jesus? No. He is the complete opposite.

A talmid is a disciple. The root word is lamad. Lamad is an intense Hebrew word. It is difficult to describe. It means to practice intentionally. It is the mindset that says, “I want to be the best follower of Jesus I can possibly be, as God enables me. I am going to practice in every situation to be like Jesus—not because I am better than someone else or because it will save me, but because I want to be like Jesus.”

How badly do you want to be like the rabbi?

When Ray first started exploring the Jewish approach in New Jersey, people asked him what a disciple was. The concept was so intense and broad that no single word or phrase captured it. Ray began writing down words and phrases, which did not always seem logical or connected. Now he has a definition he ran by about 100 rabbis and scholars. According to Ray, a talmid is a follower of the rabbi who first has an intense or intentional commitment to become like the rabbi. It is not about personality; it is about becoming like the Word made flesh and ultimately partnering in God’s mission to bring shalom to chaos. He wants to capture the intensity—every single moment, every single day.

In the Christian world, Ray says he does not know many disciples. He knows many saved people, but not many disciples with a fire in their souls. We love Jesus, and he does not question anyone’s salvation. But the fire and intensity—the deep desire to be like Jesus—is rare. He believes that if the Christian church recaptured the essence of what discipleship looked like, we would see more true disciples.

That raises an issue. You can only be like the rabbi if you know what the rabbi is like. Ray knew a well-known scholar who said that Christians talk about being disciples, but he questioned it: “If you claim to be a disciple of Jesus and do not read the four Gospels once a week, every week, you are a liar. You cannot possibly know Jesus well enough to be like him if you do not read the Gospels once a week every year.”

Ray decided to begin. He thought once a week was too much, so he reads them once every month.

He reads Matthew in May, Mark in June, John in August, and then starts over. He does this four times a year for three years. He promises that if we read the Gospels once a month for three years, we will not be the same person afterward. If we are going to be disciples, we must follow Jesus and know what he said. We must read the Gospels to know Jesus.

There were rabbis who were so gifted and knowledgeable that people believed they had authority to develop interpretation and application. This was a very small group. They did not have degrees, but they were respected enough to be recognized as having authority. We might think of it as developing new or extended teaching. So when Jesus was asked, “By what authority are you doing these things?” (Matthew 21:23), or “Do you have the Spirit of God that gives you authority to teach this?”—near the end of his life Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). He becomes the final and only interpreter Ray follows. This is how Ray ends his teaching series this week.