How to be a Super Model.
Apologies for the misleading title, this isn't about fad diets and choosing the right publicist (though you could probably find an article on those subjects by Mark Greene on the LICC website) this is about role models: copying a guru's good behaviour.
The art of copying someone or something = often gets both good and bad press in society. For example copying a £20 note might take some skill but is generally frowned upon and mimicking the dress sense of the trendiest kid in school could result, in days of yore, in earning the negative moniker 'copycat'.
However there are positive connotations as well and nowhere more so than in the arena of apprenticing. Think of any 'famous' apprenticing scenario you like and the idea of a novice closely following a master in order to observe and imitate their behaviour is a familiar tale. There's obviously Sir Sugar and his would be shadows but most coaching relationships involve show and tell - the master acts and the student copies. And many a great artist also learned their trade by painstakingly nicking ideas from other great artists.
You often see this in the world of movies where a director will nab a camera angle or an editing technique from a past master - although it's not called nabbing but rather a 'homage'. So in Star Wars George Lucas displays his love of all things Japanese by 'borrowing' twice from the culture. Everywhere you look - on the both dark and light sides of the force - you can see samurai helmets - Darth would very much be vogue in 17th century Tokyo.
And aspects of the original Star Wars borrow from famed director Akira Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress. All very deliberate on the part of Lucas partly because copying a master - the apprentice and mentoring theme - is extremely strong in Star Wars full stop. As Lucas says:
'Mentors help novices learn by doing - applying theory in practice - and also inspire them to keep motivated and persevere. I've featured such relationships between mentors and apprentices in my Star Wars films.'
It's very true that the best apprenticing relationships feature the master assigning a task to a student and then reflecting on their performance. The only way the student matures is by being given increasingly more difficult tasks to master.
But first comes observation, first comes witnessing the technique before attempting to copy.
And this is the case with Jesus teaching of the disciples. For instance in Mark's gospel we read, with more specificity than in any other gospel, why Jesus chooses the twelve:
'He appointed twelve -designating them apostles - that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.' Mark 3.14
By the time Jesus actually sends out the twelve in chapter six of Mark they've had plenty of opportunity to observe how he preaches, what he preaches, how he drives out demons and the authority with which he does so. There's a strong consociation expected of their life with Jesus - 'that they might be with him' precisely that they might not simply support him but in order to provide multiple informal and formal opportunities for teaching. They learn through close contact with the master.
No wonder that when Jesus left the building of his church in the hands of the spirit empowered disciples they knew precisely what they should get on with: doing what the master did.
It's also no wonder that many parallels have been made with the concept of apprenticeship and the concept of discipling. Apprenticing implies a hands on teaching style where novice mimics master as does discipling. This is why we see the apostles travelling with partners or groups and why we see, Paul in particular, taking young disciples under their wing.
This is an aspect of disciple making that we can't afford to overlook: that faith is better caught than taught. There is only so much that young people can learn from the formal teaching settings of church. It's through spending time observing those whose template for living is fashioned on Christ's model that they learn most.
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