Last night our Summer Project put on a soccer tournament. The tournament was amazing. We had thirty-two people show up to play. After the tournament was over some of the players came to a cook-out we hosted afterward. As we were eating, I overheard one of the guys who came to play in the tournament ask the table he was sitting at, "What does it mean to follow Jesus?" It sounded like a sincere question. I knew there were quite a few project students at the table and while I was anxious to hear their responses, I was glad I wasn't one of them.
What does it mean to follow Jesus?
I have been following him for years. Shouldn't I know? I think it might involve a calling of some sort. In the gospels people who followed Jesus were called, like Peter and his brother Andrew who Jesus told to come and follow him.
I also think there is an element of commitment to following Jesus. When Jesus started teaching some difficult ideas a lot of his disciples left. Jesus asked the twelve if they were going to desert him too. Peter answered for the group that they were staying. Peter didn't say, "Wow Jesus following you is a blast how could we leave when we're having so much fun!" He said something more like, "Jesus you have the answers to life, even though sometimes they're hard to hear. We're staying put." After that, when the pharisees were plotting to kill Jesus, Peter's commitment wavered. He told Jesus die with him, but instead he denied him. I get Peter. There are times when left up to myself I would totally walk away from Jesus. The only thing that holds me here his is a force I cannot explain. So even this idea of commitment is not complete. Or maybe it's just not my commitment to Jesus that counts but His commitment to me.
Jesus said if we love him will obey his commands. That's probably key to following him as well. But what does that obedience encompass? Jesus said the whole law could be summed up by loving God with everything you are and have and loving your neighbor as yourself. So following Jesus means that the way I relate to God and people have to be different. But a lot of non-followers treat their neighbors better than I do.
I'm not writing toward an answer that will neatly tie up this question. I just want to start a conversation. How do we follow Jesus?
