To me spending some time considering the radically of call of the twelve disciples is an important exercise to engage in. For there was a cost to be paid in following Jesus. While the Messiah had yet to fully unpack and present the Good News that He was sent to teach and share, something was at work in each of the 12 that helped them realize the power of the choice they were making. The very nature, mission, and message of Jesus would call much of what they believed into conflict.
These were fishermen and tax collectors. They were regular people with regular jobs and regular understanding of life and faith in Yahweh. They were as unremarkable as anyone that we know and interact with now. But when they met Jesus, and heard His teaching it called out a response. . . a response that might come as a surprise to us.
Father Richard Rohr says it this way:
"It’s hard and very rare to call your own job into question. When Jesus called his disciples, he also called them away from their jobs, and their families too (see Matthew 4:22). Of course, jobs and families are not bad things. But Jesus called them to leave their nets, because as long as anyone is tied to job security, there are a lot of things they cannot see and cannot say."
If we choose to follow Jesus' teaching we will find that a lot of things that we value are called into question as well. Or as I read this week in a different book:
"I have trusted your (God's) teaching all these years. Now I have to trust where it has led me."
In Lent, Christ may not call us to leave behind everything and follow him, but we should take some time, and we must take some, to consider what the teachings of Christ mean for our lives. What things does Jesus ask us to leave behind? We have trusted in the power of the gospel, I wonder if we can notice where that choice takes us and what it calls us to do?
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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