Attitude of Gratitude
If discipleship means doing what Jesus did then I can find all kinds of reasons to believe it is impossible.
After all there is a reason why Ann Landers answered David Brinkley's inquiry, "What question do you receive most frequently from your readers?" as, "What is wrong with me?" This question hits at the heart of the matter. We all know ourselves too well, we know our failures, their number to great to count, their scars to deep to heal, their repetitions too familiar to mention and their results too devasting to bear. How could Jesus believe that I could do what he did? That would be impossible.
But if I can change the meaning of discipleship to doing what Jesus is doing then I can embrace the concept wholeheartedly. don't you think Jesus is capable of knowing each one of your failures? And yet He insisted that with faith in Him we will do what he had been doing. That is because Jesus does not choose to know our failures the way we know our failures. He asks us to put our faith in Him to reinterpret and reconstruct our failures. That was Jesus' work, to heal the brokenhearted, set the captives free, give the blind sight and speak good news to the poor.
When we see Jesus doing the very things He is asking us to do then it is possible to dream the impossible dream. When we see Jesus in us then His call to follow Him is like finding ourselves anew. Old things will begin passing away and all things become new. As it was the Father living in Jesus who did His work, so it is Jesus in us that will do our work. It is the work we were created to do and that is why it is like coming home to our true selves. We can do what Jesus is doing because He is in each one of us doing.