Follow Me
Brethren, in yesterday's first reading, we saw the Israelites demanding a king from Samuel. This indirectly meant that Israelites had refused God as their king because Israel was a theocratic nation meaning it was led by God himself as a king. That's why we see Samuel anointing Saul as a king of Israel. Don't we sometimes also reject God as our king and prefer to make others our kings, or even make our own egos our kings? The similar scene is also seen in the New Testament, when the Jews rejected Jesus as their king preferring Ceaser. How often do we reject Jesus as our king and give in to sin? However, though we reject Jesus, he is always waiting for and inviting us to follow him, as we see in the gospel of today, and our role is to have a positive response to Jesus.
Once again, Jesus walked along the sea. The crowds that came to him received teaching, healing, and often a call to mission. So often we can be stuck, sitting still, lost in the world of our own problems. But Christ is never still. He is always coming toward us, seeking us out. Yet, he doesn’t impose himself. He walks along the shore of our life awaiting an invitation from each of us. He wants to bring us wisdom, healing, and a sense of mission and purpose.
Jesus calls us today to follow him, are you ready to follow Jesus as Levi did. Levi, also known as Matthew, was considered a “public sinner” because he collected taxes for the Romans, who ruled over the Jewish people. A famous painting, The Call of St. Matthew by Caravaggio, has St. Matthew pointing at himself as if he is saying, “Who, me?” Sometimes we wonder when we see a problem, “Why does no one do anything about this?” or “Someone should say something.” Today’s Gospel is an invitation to ask ourselves, “Who, me?” Christ often calls us to say or do something, but we defer or reject the call because we feel unqualified. Levi was a public sinner, yet he became a great saint. When we feel compelled by the Spirit to act, we trust in the fact that God always equips the called.
Jesus came to call sinners. St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians speaks of this mystery of Christian life: “God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27). When God called us to be his apostles, he didn’t just ask us to give him our strengths and talents, but also our weakness and brokenness. He is the Divine Physician. “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Jesus wants us to serve him with all that we are and have, both the good and the bad, through our weakness and our strength.
Let us Pray
Dear Jesus, I ask that today you take all that I am and all that I have. Come more deeply into my life. I don’t want to leave you standing on the outskirts. I want you to enter into my heart. Come, use my weaknesses and brokenness to do great things for me. I believe that with you I can do all things. Be with me today Lord, and let me follow you. Amen
Be blessed
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