What should it mean to follow Jesus?

 

What should it mean to follow Jesus?  I thought about this question and others as I read Matthew’s Gospel today [Matthew 4:12-23].

In this Gospel, Jesus walked along the shore of Galilee, passing by fishing boats with crews of men working with their nets. “Come follow me”, He said, and they dropped everything and began their journeys as disciples/apostles.  Jesus called, and Peter, Andrew, James, and John responded.  Not grudgingly, not eventually, but “immediately”!  They left their fishing, they left their father, and they were on their way.  Matthew’s gospel has been called a “training manual for disciples,” and shortly after this calling, Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps the greatest manifesto of discipleship in all of the gospels.  As Jesus began His preaching, His words were (and continue to be) challenging but also very hopeful.  By saying that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Jesus stirred interest and holy curiosity among His first listeners.  His call to repentance was softened by His new proclamation about the Kingdom.

But it wasn’t first and foremost Christ’s teachings, but rather Christ’s personal call, that animated those first disciples to leave the shores of Galilee and embark on The Way.

One helpful insight we can take from these first words of Jesus’ public ministry is that this is the best way to share the Gospel with those who do not yet follow Christ.  Oftentimes, when we see someone living in serious sin, we want to judge and condemn.  But usually what they need the most is hope—hope that there is something much greater that comes from repentance.  Certainly we need to speak against sin.  One of the most effective ways to do so is by initially offering the listener hope of something much better than the sin with which they struggle—specifically, the hope of the Kingdom of God.

I think of my life and wonder how I can follow Jesus?  Family, work, life challenges such as health all can push to a secondary consideration my desire to see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly, follow Him more nearly day by day.     

I don’t believe He is asking me to “cast away my nets” in order to serve Him.  My way of serving Him is doing everything while walking with Him each day.  I can embrace every challenge, difficulty, problem, each day as a gift from Him to better myself.  To find all the joys of children, grandchildren, my wife, my friendships in my life as extraordinary of His Love for me.  I must begin and end each day knowing I am trying to follow Him. 

We shouldn’t forget that whatever the immediacy of their response, the disciples didn’t leave their flaws, misunderstandings, or humanity behind.  Nor did the second generation of believers.  To dispel any illusions we may have about the assumed idealism of the early Christian community, it’s a good idea to read Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. The scandals, in-fighting, and polarization in first-century Corinth could match anything we see in today’s news headlines!  In this light, St. Paul’s exhortation to that early Church [1 Corinthians 1:10-17] speaks through the ages, because division and rivalry are never markers of the Spirit.  Likewise, we Catholics should not “belong to Pope Benedict” or “belong to Pope Francis,” because we ultimately belong to Christ.  May our church communities strive to exemplify the unity in diversity that Paul labored so mightily to bring about in Corinth.

Lord, as You began Your public ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven, You instilled hope and a holy curiosity in the minds and hearts of Your first hearers. Please continue this good work and use me as You will to be an instrument of this hope in those I encounter every day. Jesus, I trust in You.