When
I first became a Christian, I was told all I had to do was believe in Jesus as
Lord and I would be saved. Then, the only extra thing to do was tell other people
to believe in Jesus and be saved.
But
as I have read more of the Bible I am aware that Jesus asked people to follow
him, just as he asked Simon and Andrew and James and John.
Jesus
didn’t ask people to like him,
or
to be his best friend
or
to be his bodyguard.
In
the calling of the disciples,
they
are asked,
in
the midst of family and work,
to
follow.
These
were not the spiritual elite or people at worship every day. They were not an intellectual
elite or the wealthy.
These
were ordinary people, doing ordinary every day things,
and Jesus said to them: Come with me!
and Jesus said to them: Come with me!
One
thing I find difficult to understand is how these 4 fishermen, stopped what
they were doing, and left to follow Jesus. According to Matthew’s gospel, all
Jesus did was ask them to follow, and they immediately left their nets
and followed.
These
four men, and later other men and women, answered the call to follow Jesus, to
be with Jesus as he saved and healed and taught. They were present with Jesus
for meals and travelling and stories.
Their
lives were disrupted and then transformed, they were called to a different way
of living, to create a new community; a community that would be like a light
shining in the darkness of Roman ruled Galilee. [i]
The
reading from Matthew started with the news of the imprisonment of John the
Baptist. Preaching a message of repentance was not going to win Jesus friends
in high places.
He
knows there will be consequences, real and scary. In spite of this awareness he
begins his ministry.[ii]
We
are not asked to only believe; “belief alone is not enough, we need action.
That’s incarnational, God using us to advance God’s desire for the world….” [iii]
What
would it mean for each of us to choose to follow Jesus?
to follow Jesus in speaking with the outcasts
to follow Jesus in offering forgiveness
to follow Jesus in offering inclusion to the disabled
to follow Jesus in speaking with the outcasts
to follow Jesus in offering forgiveness
to follow Jesus in offering inclusion to the disabled
to
offer comfort to the ill
What
would it mean for us to follow Jesus
in speaking out against injustice,
refusing to repay violence with violence.
in speaking out against injustice,
refusing to repay violence with violence.
What
would it mean for us?
The
lives of the four fishermen, Andrew, Simon, James and John were disrupted and
transformed, when they responded to the call of Jesus: Come with me!
If
we decide to follow Jesus, in bringing light to the hidden places of oppression
and poverty and injustice, we too will find our lives disrupted and transformed,
and possibly uncomfortable and even at risk.
Last
week, someone spoke to me of seeing people from the Jehovah Witnesses doorknocking
on one of those very hot days. I am not
advocating we go door to door, as some churches do, but this person was wondering
out loud, when the last time they had done something for God that was
uncomfortable.
We
are called to follow, not to simply bask in the love and grace of God.[iv]
Following
Jesus will mean giving something up, we may be uncomfortable, we may lose friends,
relationship with family may be strained. Andrew, Simon, James and John gave up
fishing and left their families to join Jesus.
I
wonder how willing we are to have our lives turned upside down, how willing are
we to experience the kind of repentance that turns away from materialism and
self-interest. [v]
What
has been transformed in your life?
What
are you willing to have transformed in your life for Jesus?
-1 minute
silence -
(written
from the view of a disciple)
Reflection
Will you follow me
he asked—and we never hesitated
because it was an adventure,
and we never tired of those,
the risk, the randomness, the
gamble.
...........
..........
[Spill the Beans]
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