WE MAY BE DAUNTED by thoughts of following Jesus when we consider the cost involved in that journey. In the Book, there are some that follow eagerly, willingly, and immediately. He beckoned to Simon and Andrew, the first two, “‘Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Mark 1:17) So it was also with James and John, the second two, “and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.” (Mark 1:20)
All immediately left not only their livelihood, but in the latters’ case broke cultural norms and left their father. That process normally involved ritual, and a father’s loving but guiding release into not just manhood, but a life of self-determination. There is no mention here of Zebedee blessing his sons. Yet off they went, all these first four, their boats and their nets behind them. If they felt any hesitancy, it is not recorded in scripture, except, perhaps, in a later statement.
Others came to him wanting to follow him, but were turned away. One felt both a personal and a cultural pressure to bury his father first. Another, a rich young ruler, could not give up his wealth. Jesus offered neither an exception from the cost of following him. To the first he said, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead” (Matt. 8:22), and to the second he said to sell his wealth, give to the poor, and “Then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21) Unlike the first four, these could not make the commitment.
Jesus seems harsh at times. He demands exclusivity; he must be more important than anything else. The story of the rich young ruler is told in all three of the synoptic gospels, and each time, immediately after, scripture says: “Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” (Mark 10:28, Matt. 19:27, Luke 18:28) And each time, Jesus responds, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” (Luke 18:28-30)
We are not sure how any of this works. But we note that in these examples, the ones that followed were the ones that Jesus called, and the ones that did not were attracted to him and asked to follow him. We who do follow know that Jesus’ call is powerfully attractional, and have personally experienced that as a force that has brought us, like so many others, to a strange understanding about life in the Kingdom of Heaven: Less is more, loss is gain, out is in, up is down; everything about following Jesus calls us to devalue this world in favor of the heavenly realm.
The greatest of Jesus’ eight “I am” statements in John’s gospel is this: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Often we quote that, but usually topically, along with our arsenal of other key scriptures. The call to follow Jesus is always tinged with the tantalizing beckoning revelation of a new reality, one that both promises and threatens to take us deeper and further than we’ve known. Jesus’ next declaration is one that shatters the laws of physics. If we’re bold enough, we enter into the awesome realm of God, where creation is an on-going process. “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7)
Paul describes his relationship with Jesus as one of slave to master, “A servant of Christ Jesus set apart for the gospel of God.” (Rom. 1:1) We have difficulty reconciling not only our modern western cultural biases, but more deeply, the rebellious nature that is at the core of a universal concept of individuality, to this idea of slavery. But Paul balances the concept of slavery and freedom—this the freedom found in Christ—in this following revelation: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” To be a slave to Jesus is to willingly enter into a lifelong process of having the boundary of time stripped away, and the chains of experience struck off our wrists. We begin, timidly and yet with hope, to step into eternity and infinity. Being a slave to Jesus is the pathway to not only eternal life, but freedom of thought and action in this life as the will of the Father becomes our will. And at some point, the inflection in our voice changes, as loss becomes gain. We more fully grasp Paul’s thoughts on these matters. “Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. I consider them garbage.” (Phil 3:7-9)
Q. What must I lose next to gain what God wants next for me?
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