Dust of the Rabbi

I would like to take a moment to explain the title of our blog: "Covered in the Dust of the Rabbi." Because Sos lacks the creative gene which God has so graciously bestowed upon me, I was assigned the monumental task of naming our blog, while my friend handled all the lesser tasks (formatting, editing, putting up pictures, etc). Right away, I had about eight or nine great ideas, but eventually I settled on our current title.

During the time of Christ, most Jewish boys would go to the local synagogue around the age of 6 to learn the Torah (the first five books of the OT). Being taught by a Rabbi, most kids would have the entire Torah memorized by age 10. After this, the majority of the kids would be released from the synagogue to learn the trade of their father; only the best students would continue learning the Scriptures in the synagogue. These students would continue until around age 15, during that time they would memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures (the entire OT... Genesis through Malachi). Again, the majority of these students would be released to learn their fathers trade, and only the best of the best would continue on. At this point, the student would apply to a Rabbi in hopes of being one of his disciples and continue his ministry. If the Rabbi accepted, the student would leave everything behind and follow the Rabbi for the rest of his life. A disciple didn't want to simply learn the Rabbi's teaching, he literally wanted to be like the Rabbi. So wherever the Rabbi went, whatever the Rabbi did, his disciples would follow him around and do what the Rabbi does. Traveling the dusty, dirt roads while trying to keep up with their teacher, it wasn't long before the disciples were literally covered in the dust of the Rabbi. So the saying developed among the people, "blessed is he who is covered in the dust of the Rabbi."

This has huge implications in the ministry of Christ, who called fishermen to be his disciples (Mark 1:14-20). If these boys are fishermen, they have already been released from their education in the synagogue, which means they are not the best of the best. It is no wonder these fishermen drop their nets and follow Jesus without hesitation; this was every Jewish boys dream! Jesus was telling these boys, "I think you are good enough, I think you can do what I do; so come, follow me." And it was these uneducated fishermen that took the gospel of Jesus Christ and changed the course of human history.

My hope this semester is that Sos and I will be covered in the dust of our Rabbi, Jesus Christ.

Danny