I visited my family for an overnight this past Wednesday. My grandma, my aunt, my sister, and two of their friends belong to a dart league at our local tavern. After their game was over, we talked about faith and our commitment to following Jesus with all of our heart and soul.
Well, then it was time to leave. But one of the women couldn’t find her keys. So she came back into and we searched and searched. Lift chairs, lifted table, called some of the folks who had already left to see if they had accidentally taken the keys. We then again looked everywhere inside. I then walked outside, got on my hands and knees, and looked behind the car tires, looking to see if they had fallen. Well, after about 30 minutes of searching it was time to give up so she could call her husband to pick her up. But just as I got into my car to leave, she looked at her car again. And she saw the keys in her car. They were there the whole time, but the door locked. Thankfully…she could unlock the door with her smartphone.
Follow me, Jesus says, come and follow me, come and follow me, and immediately they drop their nets, and they walk and follow him, leave their daily routine, stop working, leave their family to follow Jesus. They had no clue what was going on, but there was something about this man that their intuition told them: follow him.
Each one of us is called to follow Jesus, to take up his life as our life, to take up his movement as our movement, for us to listen to him, to listen to the heart of his compassion, to the heart of its empathy, to the heart of his love, to the heart of his mercy and forgiveness. We are to follow him; he is our guiding star. He is the light that rises above the darkness. He’s the light that rises above the chaos. He’s the light that illuminates a path.
Jesus calls us to follow him. We follow a guy who disrupted the status quo, rustled some feathers, told parables that challenged people’s thinking, frustrated the powers by demonstrating, the disciples followed him during all this time through his ministry and his message, and they would follow him all the way to Jerusalem, but they would see him crucified and murdered, and then they were afraid for a few days until they were there to witness an empty, an empty tomb, and then to witness his presence amongst them, a resurrection moment. They had to follow him to the darkest days of their life, to the deepest grief of their life, to the greatest moments of fear in their life, and let’s not kill ourselves, they were fearful for their lives after Jesus was murdered, but they saw that moment dissipate, fade away, when they recognize that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. All that fear that they had towards those who would kill Jesus dissipated, and it was a clear sign that God was with Jesus, that God had vindicated Jesus’s message, so they followed him, and they saw the resurrection.
They saw the hope, they saw the passion, they saw the power, they saw the glory of the Lord on the high, proclaiming this, this is the one who you are to dedicate your life to, to witness to the times of tribulation that he and you experienced, and then testify to the resurrection, to the moment of triumph, to the glory, testify to the witness of the powers of evil were not able to defeat him, but he defeated the powers of evil on the cross, he defeated the powers of evil, our reading from Paul today, speaking to a church that is divided. There seems to be some division amongst the people. Paul writes: What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”
Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Paul says that we do not belong to him; We belong to Christ. You are to follow Jesus Christ. You are to testify to Christ’s gospel. You are to be a testament to his gospel. You are to testify to your tribulations. You are to testify to the times that evil walked amongst you and tried to beat and keep you down. You are to testify that Christ saw you through and then raised you up from the ashes. When you testify to his Gospels, tell your listeners of your tribulations and your triumph. Demonstrate to them your new life: a life where people take other people’s well-being seriously, a life where it is filled with love, where people join together and share a meal, and they go out and heal people because they’re concerned not just about their own people, but they’re concerned about everybody.
We belong to Christ. And he calls us to repentance. Quite literally to change our hearts. He says the Kingdom of God has come near.
The Kingdom of God has come near. Near is not thousands of miles away, not 100,000 years away. It is near. It is at hand. He speaks of the urgency. That urgency has never gone away. The urgency is to live a life in the Kingdom of God now.
The Way of Christ is not easy. It wasn’t for his earliest follows and that’s the same. Following Jesus.
About 20 years ago, when I was in college and in a Bible study with a friend. We went through the book of Revelation. I made a commitment to align myself as best as I can with the heart of Jesus’ message. I decided I would follow Christ to the best of my ability. I decided I would let him guide my life. I’m always trying to discern how I best can align with God’s values.
I try to ask what Jesus does today. That’s an old saying that goes back to the social gospel days in the early 1900s. Charles Sheldon wrote: In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?
Set in the town of Raymond, the story follows a group of Christians who commit to making every decision for a year by first considering how Jesus would act in their place. As they apply this question to their work, relationships, wealth, and social responsibilities, they are confronted with the cost of genuine discipleship.
The central character, Reverend Henry Maxwell, came up with the idea after
A homeless, unemployed man interrupts one of Maxwell’s comfortable Sunday services and challenges the congregation. He points out the gap between what Christians say they believe and how they actually live—especially regarding poverty, injustice, and indifference to suffering. Shortly afterward, the man collapses and later dies.
Shaken by this confrontation and feeling personally responsible, Maxwell reflects deeply on his own preaching and lifestyle. Out of that moral crisis, he challenges his congregation to a radical experiment: for one year, before making any decision, they must honestly ask, “What would Jesus do?” and then act accordingly, no matter the cost.
How would your life change if you asked that central question: What Would Jesus Do?
Ponder that question.
Amen.