And Again!

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discipleship, follow Jesus, James, Jesus, John, Peter, sheep, shepherd, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transfiguration

AGAIN WITH THE SHEEP! The gospel acclamation this morning is a short verse surrounded before and after with “ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA.” I actually think the word “alleluia” should always be written in all upper case letters and followed by an exclamation point. Otherwise it’s hard to get the enthusiastic meaning…but I digress. The verse itself reminds us once again that “my sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.”

I started to wonder why Jesus spent so much time talking about sheep as a metaphor, so I did some searching on the internet. In addition to what is quite evident, e.g. that their “undercoat” is soft and generally a good market product, here’s what I found.

A sheep is a meek animal, usually very quiet and gentle, holding itself aloof from the world. In a herd, all the sheep tend to listen to the leaders and show esteem to them…

I read lots more but that was the gist of what I found to be necessary. It helped me to understand why Jesus chose to reference them—in addition, of course, to the fact that shepherding was a very common occupation in that era and area. If I were Jesus, I probably would have loved all my followers to be like sheep. I’m sure it would have made his life simpler, his mission easier to achieve. But we know it wasn’t like that for him, and, in reality, he sometimes goaded them into accomplishing amazing things (some after he was gone from this realm). Take for example the feeding of the 5,000 or the vision he showed to Peter, James and John on the mount of Transfiguration…Some of what he presented as lessons took some serious reflection after the fact!

All in all, discipleship is always complicated. It seems that the description of sheep (see above) even fits Jesus somewhat and could be all rolled into a definition of what love is like, so maybe he was trying to teach by example. Jesus needed his followers to exhibit those qualities, but life is never just like that. Often we are, as the disciples were, called to more complicated situations that necessitated stepping out of the “simple life’ that had been theirs before Jesus arrived on the scene. They floundered sometimes in those situations, as do we, but in the end they stepped up for what was needed to further the mission of Jesus.

Now it’s our turn.

Following

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faith, follow Jesus, followers of Christ, Jesus, Matthew, say yes, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I was a freshman in high school one of my favorite songs was “I Will Follow Him” (Follow him wherever he may go. There isn’t an ocean too deep, a mountain so high it can keep, keep me away – away from my love…) A bit extreme – impossible even – but as a 14 year-old who was enamored of a boy in my class (who was “way out of my league”) it was expressive of what I thought was true. Today, it’s much less dramatic to “follow” people on Facebook or Twitter…but it probably could become obsessive as well.

In today’s gospel (MT 8:18-22) a scribe came to Jesus from the midst of a crowd and declared, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus, probably sensing first fervor and wanting the man to be clear about what he was declaring, responded in a rather surprising way. He said, “Foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” My impression is that Jesus probably encountered this kind of enthusiasm often in his public life. We are often drawn to charismatic speakers or people who exude love for others. It is normal to desire the companionship of such a person or to wish to be part of a community led by such a one. When this kind of encounter happens in our life we often want to grab onto it without thinking of the difference between an encounter and a life commitment. I believe that was the impetus for the response of Jesus to the man. It’s as if he is saying: “You’d better really think about what you’re asking. This is not an easy road and there are no guarantees about what will happen in the end.”

It is the maturity of faith that begins to see what such a life (or any life) is about and which causes us to say “yes” to what it is and what it might cost. And it is a commitment that demands a daily “yes” because life is all about change and growth and surprise and reversal. So I am able today to say that I choose to follow Jesus and I hope to say the same tomorrow. But that declaration is about 22 hours away…