Call

 Matthew 4:12-23

They were called to. Jesus was walking by and called and they followed. Why? What would compel them from someone just walking by to drop everything and follow? Why do we follow?

Our answers are probably just as varied as our backgrounds. We follow because we were raised that way. We follow because we have been changed so much inside we desire to learn this way. We follow because by following we may become more and more like him. We follow because we want the healing which comes from deep with in.

Following Jesus is a lifelong journey. We give our best to follow because of words like grace and mercy, which we long to be given all wrapped in love. So we follow to learn how we do this and sometimes we do give grace and mercy and feel it deeply in our own hearts.

We follow to learn. To learn more of this story. To see who else Jesus reached out to. To find the place where we were touched and healed and remade and powerfully became more than we thought.

So we try our best to learn to forgive one another. To forgive ourselves. To walk in this way of touching and reaching out to touch others because Jesus touched us within and moved us closer to the heart of God.

Following Jesus isn't easy because just when we think we know the story best or know everything there is to know we find ourselves surrendering once again , we don't know a thing. We have been changed and remade once again. Our concrete ideas are challenged and fall to dust. Because we will always learn something new about this life.

We follow Jesus because at the times when we are most broken, most vulnerable, most really us we are met with love and kindness wrapping its arms around us in prayer. We are not alone and when ever we break Jesus is there to bring us healing love asking what we most need. We can empty our hurt selves there and find rest and see his scars, his wounds and know it is not weak, but a different strength we couldn't ever fathom.

We follow Jesus because it challenges us to meet the unclean, the outcast, the people society says are worthless and find Jesus in them. Across the room, across the table, in the places where maybe we ourselves have been and yet someone still dared to see us. See them.

So answer the call which comes today. Follow Jesus in the stories. Follow Jesus into our neighborhood. Follow Jesus in the public space. Follow Jesus and learn to heal, to cast our demons, to know Jesus holds us along the way. Wherever it leads.