FOLLOW JESUS
«To follow» Jesus is a metaphor that the disciples learn on the roads of Galilee. For them it means concretely: don’t let Jesus out of your sight; don’t get stuck far from him; walk, move, and make tracks behind him. «To follow» Jesus demands a dynamic of movement. That’s why the paralysis within the Church is a deadly sickness: it kills the passion to follow Jesus, sharing his life, his cause, and his destiny.
The first Christian generations never forget that to be Christian is to «follow» Jesus and live as he did. This is what’s fundamental. That’s why Luke gives so much importance to three of Jesus’ sayings.
First saying. To one who comes up to Jesus, ready to follow him, Jesus warns him thus: «The Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest his head». The instinct of survival in the midst of modern society is leading us Christians today to seek security. The hierarchy yearns to recover a social support that is decreasing. The Christian communities continue to lose weight and the power to influence those around them. We don’t know «where to rest our head». It’s the moment to learn to follow Jesus more humbly and vulnerably, but also more authentically and really.
Second saying. To one who asks to first go and bury his father, Jesus says: «Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God». In the Church we frequently go about distracted by customs and obligations that come from the past, but don’t help to generate Gospel living today. There are pastors who feels themselves as «the dead who are dedicated to burying the dead». It’s time to return to Jesus and seek first the Reign of God. Only thus will we put ourselves in the true perspective to understand and live out our faith as he would want.
Third saying. To another he says: «Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God». Just looking back, it’s not possible to announce God’s reign. When creativity burns out or the Gospel imagination gets killed, when every new idea is controlled as dangerous and a static religion is promoted, we are impeding the living following of Jesus. It’s the moment to seek once again, «new wine in new wineskins». Jesus demands it.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
