Friends, many among us used to sing a song that went, "I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men if you follow me." I haven't heard this song sung in years. Probably because we have stopped fishing for people. Why is that? We have stopped FOLLOWING JESUS.
What have we done instead? We praise Jesus. We worship Jesus. We proclaim Jesus. We declare, "Christ above all!" We do everything in our power to make other people look like us; pray like us; act like us. We have stopped doing what Jesus told us to do in order to fish for people. FOLLOW HIM!
Why is that? Because following Jesus is hard. It is easier to praise, worship, and proclaim Jesus than to follow him. It is very dangerous. It means loving our neighbor, which includes the unlovable and, yes, our enemies. It means taking up the cross. It means going against empire. It means being red-tagged, vilified, and demonized. It means being crucified. It means offering one's life as a ransom for many.
Jesus is, right now, waiting for you and me to follow him to Galilee. By the sea. To go fish for people.
Friends, another song comes to mind. We have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back!
*Art, "St. Peter and St. Andrew," by Peter Koenig (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives)
No comments:
Post a Comment