Would-Be Followers of Jesus

Jesus is alluring, appealing, and desirable, as long as we can keep the cross and suffering out of following Him.

The parable that needs to connected to today’s Gospel is the parable of the Sower-Seed-Soil. As stated previously in our daily reflections, it is not 4 different types of soil, but one soil being transformed by the Word-Seed of the God-Sower. And some seed fell on rocky thorny soil and the cares and worries of the world strangled the life of faith from the soil.

We have grown in society with certain understanding of what is required for life, what is security, how to relate to life in general etc. These are the backbone of our existence, and depending on these we go about life. And when we experience Christ, we are overjoyed and welcome Him in our life. But then Christ leads us on to perfect us, and then we come to unfamiliar ground, and our following of Christ till now has been of that of an audience, Christ now wants us to mature, and choose Him for who He is – the Source and Joy of Life. That means, the backbone to our existence needs to be changed, and we need to relearn from Jesus – because Jesus himself is the proper backbone for everyone’s existence. Insert today’s Gospel here. What will be your answer. Does following Jesus means discarding everything from your life that you hold dear. What I propose is that no, it is about putting everything second to Christ. Follow Christ and you will see how your desires are satisfied in their correct way and in a correct manner.

But taking that first step to walking on water is tough. But you need to remind yourself of what Peter needed to do to continue walking on water, put his trust, faith and gaze on Jesus.

Come Holy Spirit help us see, believe and trust even as you lead us to paths of eternal life.