Come Follow ME

 

Do you think we could drop everything; leave our families and communities, and follow a stranger we never met and didn’t know? Both Matthew and Mark emphasize the word “immediately" to describe how quickly the new disciples were ready to do just that. Snap decisions are not always good, and don't always work but sometimes they are and do. I think we all have made impulsive decisions that turned out really well. Don’t we sometimes wonder what prompted those decisions? Matthew 4: 12-23.

And so what does Matthew’s Gospel mean to us? Does it mean leaving behind  a steady income and loving family? Or, maybe its letting go of things that hold us in place not unlike the fisherman’s nets in our story. It can be any manner of things and will vary from one person to another. While Jesus does not ask everyone to leave everything behind, no one can be a disciple and follow His call to repent without leaving something behind, or without letting go of the nets that keep us ensnared.

Jesus is calling us to a new way of life and asking us to “repent,” or turn the focus of our lives to being God centered. At its most basic level, discipleship means saying “yes” to Jesus and following him wherever he leads. There are times we try to run away and go back to where we were before but we can’t hide, no matter how hard we try out of God's sight. He is relentless, and as often as we try to run and hide, he will find us.

With regard to “snap decisions” or responding to what we are inspired to do, John Powell writes "There have been quite a few times when I have felt the winds of God’s grace in the sails of my small boat. Sometimes these graces have moved me in pleasant and sunlit directions. At other times the requested acts of love were born in the darkness of struggle and suffering. There have been spring times and there have been long cold winters of struggle for survival. God has come to me at times with the purest kindness, at times with the most affirming encouragement, and at other times with bold frightening challenges. I think that all of us have to watch and pray, to be ready to say 'yes' when God’s language is concrete and his request is specific-'yes' in the sunlit spring times and 'yes’ in the darkness of winter nights." (John Powell, S.J., The Christian Vision, The Truth That Sets Us Free, p147)