Following Jesus

26th Week in Ordinary Time - Wednesday (3 October 2018)

Job 9:1-16

Luke 9:57-62

“Follow me.”

Any mother or father, teacher or speaker knows that repetition and using different examples help to make a point. When Jesus is telling his prospective disciples that they shouldn’t delay or procrastinate, he makes the point twice. Don’t delay burying the past, don’t even go to bid it farewell. Jesus says, Follow me now, or never. He asks us to confront our hesitation and procrastination.

Christian life is not static but one that is ready to move, one that calls for promptness. It calls for energy on the Christian way and courage in persevering when the journey is hard. But it seems that we Christians have been worshipping Jesus' journey instead of doing his journey. The first feels very religious; the second just feels human, and not glorious at all.

In other words, an encounter with Jesus is not the fruit of historical research or of doctrinal reflection. It happens only through personal commitment and faithful following. We begin to encounter Jesus when we begin to trust God as he did, when we believe in love as he did, when we look at people as he did, when we confront life and death with hope as he did, when we pass on the Good News of the kingdom as he did. Following Jesus Christ, therefore, is a demanding thing; it is being “radical.” And mediocrity is a real possibility when one is not radical enough. “Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus calls you to follow him as you are. Even in the eternal nature of things, you're somehow you in your you-ness, on the path that God is leading you on, the journey you are going through, the burdens that you are bearing. All of these are combining to create the precise alchemy of your soul, your holiness, and your response. In the eternal scheme of things, we discover that all God wants from you is you. It's just so humbling, because it always feels like not enough, doesn't it?