While doing my annual obsessive consumption of the NFL Draft, I came across this interesting article about the new Denver Bronco, Peyton Manning’s role as mentor to the rookie quarterback the team just drafted.

What struck me while reading it is the tone of the second half of the article:

Manning is in Denver to win, not baby-sit.
However, I think the Manning-Osweiler relationship can grow and Osweiler can learn from Manning without Manning putting too much effort in it or making Osweiler’s development a priority.

This makes total football sense, but it gets even cooler in the next paragraph. He writes:

Osweiler can learn from Manning from simply watching him. During an interview with ESPN on Saturday, Osweiler said he is planning on buying a huge notebook. He wants to jot down Manning’s every move. That’s perfect.

This is quintessential discipleship and ancient methodology. Disciples learn from their masters, not through obsessive lectures and constant testing, as our freakishly inappropriate present learning models are obsessed with, but through constant observation and notation. Noticing everything the master does. Learning not just what to do, but when is essential. They are already staging a truly old-school relationship, rabbinic style.

The article concludes with a final line that nails it:

Just by being Peyton Manning, Manning can help Osweiler grow.

This is what the disciples did with Jesus. They followed him. They learned by doing everything their rabbi did. When they were given the opportunity, they didn’t need to ask “What would Jesus do?” because they already knew. They had watched him.