By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
1 Kings 19: 16b, 19-21; Galatians 5: 1,13-18, Luke 9: 51-62
To follow or not to follow: that is the question!
Today, following is a term which is found all over. You can decide to follow someone on Facebook, on Twitter, on Google Plus, on WhatsApp… here, to follow is to get to know all that the person is doing and have your own comment to pass or your like button to press, or not! Following, in Jesus’ terms, is not that simple! When Jesus tells you, Follow me – that is a serious affair. The Readings today lay bare to us the elements of a real following, following in Jesus’s terms.
First of all to follow Jesus, is to leave your past behind!
There can be no compromise, no mere walking the line, when it comes to following Jesus. I am challenged to go all the way. Today, Elisha is given as the model for us – he kills the bulls and burns the yoke, and follows Elijah – a call for us to leave our past behind and follow Jesus. It is a symbolic act and St. Paul develops that same symbol for us in the second reading – never to return to the yoke that Jesus has freed us from! The yoke of slavery to sin, to worldliness, to love of comfort. We are called to leave behind these yokes and walk in the liberty that Christ gives us. It is Faith that helps us to make this leap. Whole of last week, we have been reading about Abraham, who took that step in faith, he left everything and walked in the way that God showed him.
The second element of the following is to look to the future!
To leave behind something that we have always held on to, is not that easy. One needs an impetus to really take that decision. Jesus offers us the impetus in the Reign of God. Jesus calls us to be sons and daughters of the Reign, to look forward with Hope the coming of the Reign, and not just that, but to proclaim, promote and make present that Reign wherever we are. That is the meaning of being a follower of Christ, who lived and died and rose again to make us the liberated Children of the Reign. To go and Proclaim the Reign is the mandate that Jesus gives each of us and He expects that we do it everyday, through our words, our gestures, our attitudes, our priorities, in short, through our testimony. Amidst the crisis and the gloom that we find ourselves in, we are called to remain people of Hope and announce a future that is found only in the Lord!
Thirdly, to follow Jesus is to live the present in His way!
Leaving the past and looking to the future, is to ensure that we live our present fully and in the way that God wants us. St. Paul underlines the mode of living when one chooses to follow Christ. It is to walk by the Spirit, to be led by the Spirit! It is love of God, through love for one another, loving one another, reaching out to the needy – all done in Love.
It is not an easy journey, following the road map laid out here! It throws numerous challenges. Jesus does not hide anything. He says everything in clear terms – if you wish to follow Christ you may not have anywhere to lay your head; you will have to lose things that you consider dear, you will have to walk towards your own suffering! In spite of all these, there should be NO TURNING BACK… If you turn back, you are not worthy of the call that you have received. The trophy is only at the end, the finish line is the last part of the race, the end finishes the journey… our job is to keep on walking, to keep on running, to keep on journeying with the Lord… that is truly following the Lord.
As I thought of this no turning back I was reminded of the famous story told of Hernán Cortés, the Spanish Conquistador, about burning the boats. When you decide on your target, there should be no turning back, no second thoughts, no rethinking absolutely! That is the true sense of following the Lord. May be to end the reflection you can hear that story narrated by Andy Andrews: Burn your Boats.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.